By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) says the only name that he’s interested in fighting right now is Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs), but the fight needs to make sense for him. This is the same thing that Ward has been saying since he beat Kovalev by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision in their fight on November 19 last year on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Brendan Earley: Andre Ward’s career has been constructed on taking on and fighting the best. One glance at his resume will support this statement, as over the years he has claimed victories against top competitors such as Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Chad Dawson. Such victories resulted in him being crowned the top fighter at 168 pounds, and helped him forge a reputation as one of the best fighters in the world.
After conquering the Super Middleweight division Ward set his sights on replicating the dominance he enjoyed at 168 in the Light Heavyweight Division of 175 pounds. After a period of inactivity caused by injuries and legal issues, Andre took the plunge to Light Heavyweight in 2015, defeating Paul Smith via TKO. After this Ward continued his conquest on the 175 pound weight class, stringing together wins over Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand, and in late last year S.O.G took on the biggest challenge of his career so far; A fight with Sergey Kovalev.
By Allan Fox: In response to Floyd Mayweather Jr. saying this week that he didn’t see Andre Ward as the winner of his fight against former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in their fight on November 19, Ward took to social media to fire back at Mayweather. Ward told Mayweather that he shouldn’t be a critic, and he doesn’t see it as a good look for him to be doing that.
Mayweather seems to pride himself in giving his unvarnished opinion about fighters. If he believes that they’re lacking in some area of their game or in their career development, he tells it like it is by giving his opinion.
By Yannis Mihanos: Before going up at the light Heavyweight division, Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) had to stay on the sidelines for a considerable period of time.
This was a difficult time but also the only way to get out of a nasty contract agreement. Contracts often tie fighters to do things they don’t want to do, to get fights not so appealing to them.
By Allan Fox: Andre Ward’s promoter Michael Yormark of Roc Nation Sports isn’t sure whether Ward will choose to continue his boxing career and face Sergey Kovalev in a rematch. Yormark says it’s up to Ward whether he wants to continue his career. Ward is sounding like he’s not sure if he wants to continue fighting and face Kovalev a second time.
This of course could be Ward hoping to get a better deal for the rematch with Kovalev, as there would be negotiations that would need to take place before a second fight could be scheduled.
By Allan Fox: With Andre Ward now holding the IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight titles, he now has leverage in the negotiations with Sergey Kovalev for a rematch between them in 2017, according to Ward’s promoter Michael Yormark of Roc Nation Sports. Just how much of the fight needs to be negotiated is the big question. Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva said previously that the figures for the rematch were already in the original contract.
However, it doesn’t seem like that’s the reality, according to Yormark. That’s not good news for Kovalev and Duva. If Ward’s promoters are going to push to get a big slice of the revenue in their favor, it’s going to make it difficult to get the rematch made.
By Allan Fox: If there is to be a rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in 2017, the pay-per-view numbers should be higher than their previous numbers for their fight on November 19 in 2016, according to Ward’s promoter Michael Yormark of Ro Nation Sports. The previous Kovalev-Ward fight brought in 160,000 buys on HBO PPV. This was seen as disappointing numbers in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, because normally big fights like that one bring in far more than 160K on PPV. However, Yormark blames the low numbers on the fact that both guys were headlining a PPV fight for the first time.
Yormark believes the rematch will bring in more if there is one. Right now, it’s still up in the air whether Ward will continue his boxing career to face the 33-year-old Kovalev (30-1-1, 6 KOs) a second time.
By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) is now in the hot seat with his close/controversial 12 round unanimous decision win over former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) on November 19 last year Not only is Kovalev gunning for Ward’s titles in a badly wanted rematch, but also unbeaten #2 IBF Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs), who will be facing the winner of the Ward-Kovalev 2 fight unless the winner chooses to vacate the IBF belt.
Ward had this message on his Twitter over the weekend:
”They might act like it didn’t happen, but I’m here to tell you it did! What a year! Not just in the ring, but my life,”
By Allan Fox: Former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) is talking about potentially adding a Russian coach to his training team to get him ready for his rematch against Andre Ward (31-0, 15 Kos) in 2017. Kovalev is reportedly interested in adding former Russian Olympic coach Nikolai Khromov to his team. Khromov trained the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Russian Olympic boxing teams.
The rematch still isn’t set, but it’s expected to take place in the first half of the New Year. Kovalev isn’t saying he’s going to boot his trainer John David Jackson, but he is talking about wanting to add another coach.
By Allan Fox: Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) is poised to take over the light heavyweight division in 2017 when he faces the winner of the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev fight. Beterbiev destroyed contender Isidro Ranoni Prieto (26-2-3, 22 KOs) in 1 round last Friday night at the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau, Quebec.
The victory showed how great of a puncher Beterbiev is on the inside, and he’s not someone that can be mauled like we saw with Kovalev in his fight against Ward. The inside smothering, mauling and wrestling tactics of Ward would likely be completely effective with Beterbiev.