By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis gives Andre Ward the slight edge over IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night. Lewis thinks Ward has to get off to a fast start against Kovalev, and to make sure he gets close to him so that he can get his shots off.
The closer the better for Ward, as he’s got a great inside game that he uses to dominate his opponents. Lewis sees Kovalev being tough on the outside where he can land his big power shots. That’s not good for Ward to let Kovalev stay outside. Ward needs to crowd Kovalev to keep him from getting his big shots off the way he likes to do.