Andre Ward vs. Alexander Brand on August 6

By Boxing News - 06/21/2016 - Comments

Image: Andre Ward vs. Alexander Brand on August 6

By Allan Fox: Former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) will be back in the ring two months from now against #6 WBC 168lb contender Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) in a scheduled 12 round tune-up fight on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, according to ESPN.

The Ward-Brand fight is not official, but the terms have been agreed upon by both fighters. The contracts are expected to be signed this week. The Ward vs. Brand fight will be televised on HBO Boxing. It’s unknown why Ward chose to fight a super middleweight rather than a light heavyweight for this fight.

It could be that his promoters believe Brand is someone that will get him ready to fight the best fighters in the 175lb division.

This will be the 32-year-old Ward’s tune-up bout to get him ready for a title shot later this year on November 19 against unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That fight has been signed and the only thing it needs for it to be a reality is for Ward and Kovalev to win their tune-up fights. Kovalev has a match next month against light heavyweight contender Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) at the DIVS Palace of Sports in Ekaterinburg on July 11 in Russia. The fight will be televised on HBO. Kovalev wisely opted to take on a light heavyweight rather than picking a smaller super middleweight to fight the way that Ward is doing by facing Brand. If Ward or Kovalev lose their interim fights, then their scheduled PPV fight in November will be canceled. They must win their next fights for that match to take place.

The 39-year-old Brand was mentioned as a potential opponent for Ward on November 21 last year for his cancelled fight on the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez card on HBO PPV. However, Ward pulled out of the card due a knee injury. Ward’s promoters at Roc Nation Sports kept Brand on tap and are now using him for Ward’s August 6 fight.

Ward moved up in weight from 168 to 175 on March 26 and defeated previously unbeaten light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. To some boxing fans, it was a good performance from Ward, because he won most of the rounds and knocked Barrera down at one point. For the fans that remembered Ward for how he looked during his best years of his career in the Super Six tournament from 2009 to 2011, he had clearly lost something from his game.

Ward didn’t look like the same fighter he had been five to seven years ago. It’s not surprising though, because Ward has fought only four times in the last four years. That’s an average of just one fight per year. It’s hard for a fighter to keep sharp when they’re out of the ring most of the time.

Normally fighters strive to fight three to four times per year. Ward has fought one one-fourth of that. Ward fought only once in 2012, 2013 and 2015, and not at all in 2014. When you factor in the long lulls in between each time Ward has fought, and add in the fact that he’s now that he’s 32, it’s totally expected for him not to be the fighter he once was. He’s now more of a pot shot fighter than a guy that goes after his opponents looking to throw combinations and to bully them. I don’t think Ward could fight like that now even if he wanted to, because he doesn’t have the size, strength, youth, or punching power to fight in that manner in the 175lb division.

For Ward, this is his second interim fight designed for him to get help him rid the years of rust that has accumulated. I don’t think it’s possible for Ward to turn back the time and get sharp enough for him to be the fighter he was. It’s like with any sport, if you walk away from it and become a part time player for five years, you’re not going to be the player you once were.

We’ve seen pro tennis and golf players take a year off from the sport and try to come back and they can’t get back to the level they were at before. With Ward, we’re talking about a fighter who has been a part time fighter since 2011. It’s not probable that Ward is going to be able to get back to the level he was at after two tune-up fights against lesser fighters. The Barrera fight made sense because he at least was a highly ranked light heavyweight, but the 40ish Alexander Brand makes no sense, because he’s an old super middleweight with limited skills and he’s nothing like Kovalev.

Other Names that were mentioned recently as potential opponents for Ward were Nathan Cleverly and Erik Skoglund. Neither of them materialized. It’s unknown if the 39-year-old Brand was the Plan-A opponent or perhaps the Plan-C after the Cleverly and Skoglund fights failed to happen.

Brand, who comes from Columbia, recently had to struggle badly to defeat 28-year-old Russian light heavyweight Medzhid Bektemirov (16-1, 12 Kos) last on December 5 last year in beating him by a narrow 12 round split decision in Kissimmee, Florida. Brand was knocked down in round one by Bektemirov, but he was able to get back up and fight hard enough to win by the scores of 98-91, 98-91 for Brand, and 95-94 for Bektemirov.

Brand was beaten by an eight round split decision four years ago by Badou Jack in May 2012. Brand has won all of his fights since then in beating eight fighters, but he’s not faced high caliber opposition apart from Bektemirov, who isn’t a major player at 175. Other than Bektemirov and Badou Jack, Brand has fought largely weak opposition during his seven-year pro career. Brand has a long amateur career.

If Ward really wants a chance at beating Kovalev on November 19th, then he needs to fight a lot more guys than just Brand and Barrera to get ready for that bout. He needs to fight top 175lb contenders like Artur Beterbiev, Joe Smith Jr., and Eleider Alvarez. Ward obviously isn’t going to fight any of those guys unfortunately.