By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) says he thinks his opponent Andre “SOG” Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) is a “Dirty fighter” and he hopes he’ll be fighting a clean fight when the two of them face each other this month on November 19 on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas,
Nevada. Kovalev wants the two of them to set a good example for the boxing fans that will be paying to see the two of them fight it out.
Kovalev formed his opinion of the 32-year-old Ward being a dirty fighter from having watched his recent fights against Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand, as well as his past fights against Mikkel Kessler and Sakio Bika.
Kovalev, 33, doesn’t say what in particular that he noticed about Ward’s fighting style that he saw that was dirty, but it could be things like the wrestling and the accidental head-butts that he had in some of those fights. Ward was never the type that would throw low blows or rabbit punches like some fighters do. The only thing that you could call dirty was the wrestling that Ward did, which isn’t really considered dirty fighting.
Kovalev said this to Fighthype.com about Ward and his dirty fighting:
“I don’t care about that bull [expletive],” said Kovalev about Ward not acknowledging him at a press conference. “Just to say ‘hi,’ I don’t care. I already forgot about that. Andre Ward is in my way. He wants to take my title. I have to be ready for everything I bring. I saw his last couple of fights against [Alexander] Brand and [Sullivan] Barrera, and a couple of fights; I watched it on the video against Mikkel Kessler and Sakio Bika. Andre Ward can be very dirty. I hope on November 19, we can show to boxing fans and the boxing world a very clean fight, and a very interesting fight. It’s my goal,” said Kovalev.
Kovalev will possibly need to worry about Ward’s holding on November 19. That’s something that Ward may attempt to do if he feels he’s not going to be able to get the better of Kovalev on the outside. If it looks like Kovalev is the better fighter offensively from the outside, then it’s quite possible that Ward will take the action in close to try and wrestle and punch his way to a decision.
Ward likely won’t try and move around the ring a lot, because I don’t think he can do that at this point in his career. Ward appears sluggish with the added weight since he moved up to 175. The combination of him moving up in weight and being out of the ring for two year seems to have taken a significant part from his game. I don’t think he’s going to get it back no matter how many fights he takes. At this point, I suspect Ward will go downhill slightly with every fight. He’s 32, and it’s normal for a fighter to start losing it slowly in their 30s, and I see that happening with Ward.
if Kovalev’s trainer John David Jackson has done his job in training him for Ward’s wrestling and rough stuff, then he should be ready for the fight. If not, then I think Kovalev will be just as confused and helpless as his past opponents were when he used these tactics. The only fighter that seemed to be able to get the better of Ward on the inside was Sakio Bika in their fight in 2010.
Ward still won the fight by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, but he was forced to abandon his inside game by the 6th round because of Bika making it tough on him in close. That was a younger Ward. He was faster then and able to fight well on the outside to win the decision.
If Ward isn’t able to get the better of Kovalev on the inside or the outside, then his only other option might be for him to get on his bike and use movement for 12 rounds. I’m not sure if Ward will be able to win a decision if he’s going to play a hit and run type of fight, because Kovalev will be putting pressure on him at all times and landing a lot of heavy blows each time he catches up to him.