By Allan Fox: Sergey Kovalev will be facing a very slick fighter on July 11 in Isaac Chilemba on July 11 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. This is a fight to prepare Kovalev for the slick style of former WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward, who Kovalev(29-0-1, 26 KOs) will be fighting later this year if he and Ward win their next fights.
Kovalev, 32, will be defending his IBF/WBA/WBO 175lb titles against the 28-year-old Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs) at the Palace of Sports.
By Allan Fox:
Trainer Abel Sanchez thinks unbeaten Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) won’t be competitive if he faces IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) later this year in November. Sanchez, who trains Sullivan Barrera, says what he saw from the 31-year-old Ward in his 12 round decision win over Barrera last March wouldn’t be enough for him to be competitive with a huge puncher like Kovalev.
Sanchez feels that Ward would need at least two more fights to sharpen up before he could be competitive against Kovalev. Unfortunately for Ward, he’s only going to get one more tune-up fight before he’ll be asked to fight Kovalev later this year in November.
By Jeff Aranow: Undefeated IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) is getting ready for his next fight in the summer. His management are looking at June 18 or June 25 as potential dates for his fight, which will be a warmup fight to get him ready for a big pay-per-view fight later this year in November on HBO against unbeaten former super middleweight world champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs).
Kovalev, says, 33, says he’s not sure if he can beat the Oakland native Ward, but he wants to find out if he can.
By Allan Fox: IBFWBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) is now one fight away from meeting up with unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) this year in November on HBO PPV. Kovalev, 6’0”, is looking forward to the fight with Ward so that he can prove to him who the better fighter is between them.
Last Saturday night, Kovalev was asked by the media about his thoughts on who would win a fight between IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) and Ward if that fight were to take place at some point in the future. Kovalev tried his best to be diplomatic with his answer, but he finally just spoke bluntly by saying that Golovkin has more ways of winning due to his punching power and his boxing skills.
By Dan Ambrose: HBO commentator Roy Jones Jr. says it’s unfair for boxing fans to put pressure on former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) for him to go and fight unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev right now because he thinks Ward should be able to have another tune-up to get as sharp as possible before he takes the fight.
Jones points out that Ward just came off of a nine-month layoff from the sport to beat Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs), and he thinks he needs at least one more tune-up before he gets inside the ring with Kovalev.
By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) believes he got some valuable experience in facing the crafty Bernard Hopkins in their fight in November 2014. Hopkins has a fighting style very similar to that of the 32-year-old Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs), and Kovalev had little problems in beating Hopkins by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 120-106, 120-107 and 120-107. Hopkins was focusing on his defense a good portion of the fight, and not throwing a lot of punches.
In watching Hopkins fight, it was very similar to how Ward fought Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) last Saturday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Ward was focusing on his offense only around 25 percent of the time.
By Allan Fox: Andre Ward’s debut at light heavyweight went well last Saturday night with him beating the highly ranked #1 IBF Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 117-108, 119-109 and 117-109 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
This was Ward’s first fight at the full weight of 175lbs in the light heavyweight division, and his first fight against a true light heavyweight. Ward’s previous fight was against an out of shape super middleweight Paul Smith at a catch-weight of 172lbs. The Barrera fight was Ward’s first fight of his three-fight contract with HBO Boxing.
Ward now says he wants to take another tune-up fight before he faces IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev later this year in November. It is unknown what HBO thinks about Ward eating up two-thirds of his three-fight contract with them fighting tune-up bouts.
By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev was scouting out former WBA/WBC 168lb champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) last Saturday in watching him defeat Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) by a fairly one-sided 12 round unanimous decision at the Oracles Arena in Oakland, California. The fight was televised on HBO Boxing.
Kovalev came away from seeing the Ward-Barrera fight in feeling confident that he’ll be able to hit Ward with his shots when the two of them face each other later this year in November on HBO PPV.
By Jeff Aranow: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) says that he would be open to fighting #1 IBF Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) in his next fight in the summer. Kovalev still doesn’t have an opponent scheduled for his next fight, and he’d be willing to face Barrera if that’s a fight that could happen.
Barrera was beaten by former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) last Saturday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Kovalev was in attendance at that fight, and he was impressed with what he saw from Ward.
By Allan Fox: Abel Sanchez, the trainer for Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs), is giving former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) no chance whatsoever to defeat IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev if the two fighters square off later this year in November.
Sanchez feels that the 31-year-old Ward has lost way too much from his game from six years ago, when he was clearly at his best in the Super Six tournament, for him to be able to beat a fighter that is in the zenith of his career in Kovalev.