By Allan Fox: Former super middleweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward appeared to upset IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev when he ignored him at their recent press conference to hype their fight this month on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view. Ward says he doesn’t care about what Kovalev may be thinking, and he doesn’t see any point in shaking the Russian fighters’ hand before the fight.
In Ward’s mind, Kovalev is going out there to try and hurt him on November 19, and he plans on not letting him accomplish that goal. Ward has some strategies he’s going to use to keep Kovalev from being able to land his big shots.
Ward isn’t saying that he’s playing mind games with the 33-year-old Kovalev by ignoring him or choosing not to shake his hand before the fight, but it comes out to be the same. If you can’t get yourself to interest with an opponent before the fight, it suggests that you’re trying to gain an edge against that opponent before you step inside the ring. Whether Ward doesn’t feel he’s got the talent to beat Kovalev without mind games is unclear.
You can make a strong argument that fighters that tend to use intimidation or mind games before fights are ones that seem to have some self-doubt about they’re good enough to perform athletically without gaining some kind of edge outside of the ring. If Ward believes in himself, then he shouldn’t have to ignore Kovalev before the fight to gain an edge against him on the night of the fight.
If Ward isn’t good enough to beat Kovalev on November 19, then no amount of mind games that he’s used ahead of time will help him on the night. Mind games tend to work against novice fighters or fighters rather than the top tier professionals. Ward’s tactics are the type that would be good for the lower level fighters that he fought in the past, but not for someone like Kovalev.
Ward said this to Fighhype.com about his fight against Kovalev:
“I think he’s good. He’s a good champion,” said Ward about Kovalev. I’m not going to crown him the best fighter in the world, but he’s a good fighter. You have to respect that,” said Ward.
When told that Kovalev appeared to be annoyed at the press conference at being ignored, Ward said, “He’s going to have to work that out within himself. I can’t speak on him getting emotional and feeling some type of way about anything. I don’t have to do anything. We’re cool. He’s preparing right now to try and hurt me, and I’m prepared not to let that happen. There’s nothing to think about. Why shake his hand. For what?” said Ward.
In response to a question about whether he’s underprepared for the Kovalev fight in terms of fights against light heavyweight opposition, Ward said, “At the end of the day, I’ve been preparing for this moment since I was a baby. I’ve been in these gyms since I was nine years old. I better be ready after 22 years.”
I don’t think Ward’s excuse about him having prepared for the Kovalev fight since he was a baby is a good excuse. The question that was asked of Ward was a question about how he’s not been facing light heavyweights on a consistent manner since he moved up to the 175lb division in 2015. For some reason, Ward has been matched against only one light heavyweight in Sullivan Barrera of the three fights he’s had since moving up to 175. The other two fighters were super middleweights Paul Smith and Alexander Brand. I don’t think Ward has the needed experience at 175 for a fight against Kovalev. For Ward to be totally prepared for the Kovalev fight, he should have fought these types of guys: Artur Beterbiev, Joe Smith Jr., Oleksandr Govozdyk and Andrzej Fonfara. Those guys are a lot more similar to Kovalev than the three guys that Ward fought. It’s as if Ward prepared to fight a super middleweight like Badou Jack rather than to fight a light heavyweight in Kovalev. At least if Ward loses the fight to Kovalev, he’ll have a good excuse to tell the boxing media for why he lost. Ward can blame it on his lack of preparation for the fight. I don’t think the boxing fans will believe news like that, but it’s one thing that Ward could do.
When asked if he has the power to hurt Kovakev, Ward said, “I don’t know. We are going to find out.”
It’s not likely that Ward will be able to hurt Kovalev. Ward wasn’t able to hurt any of the three fighters he’s faced since he made his comeback last year. Two of those opponents were super middleweights rather than light heavyweights. Ward was never a puncher to begin with when he fought at 168. But now that he’s fighting in the 175lb division, Ward’s power is even less pronounced. He does not have the pop in his punches to hurt a guy like Kovalev. But what potentially is even more problematic for Ward is his low work rate. He’s still a pot shot fighter who wins rounds based on landing a low number of clean landing shots.
It worked for Ward in his three comeback fights against Paul Smith, Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand. I thought Ward’s win over Barrera was a lot closer than the scores handed down by the judges. The two fighters appeared to land about the same amount of shots in the fight, but Barrera’s punches were a lot harder. I thought the fight should have been a draw at best if not a win for Barrera.
The Kovalev vs. Ward fight will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
