Providing they each win their upcoming tune-up bouts, Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, both unbeaten and rated highly in the various pound-for-pound rankings, will fight on November 19th at The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. ESPN.com reports the fight will be available on HBO pay-per-view. A genuinely intriguing, hard to pick fight, Ward-Kovalev is a classic boxer Vs. puncher match-up.
Outside of a Kovalev-Adonis Stevenson unification clash, Kovalev-Ward is the biggest and best fight that can currently be made in the 175-pound division.
Ward will likely box his tune-up, against a TBA, on August 6, ESPN.com reports, while Kovalev will defend his three world titles against the tricky, never stopped Isaac Chilemba on July 11. As big as Ward-Kovalev is, the last thing anyone wants is for either guy to fall foul of a monstrous upset along the way. This scenario aside, fans can expect a fascinating fight in November. Both men have genuine skill and talent and both have been fighting quality opposition for some time. This fight, though, represents the toughest test yet for both.
Ward is a master boxer, and though he has had just one fight up at light-heavyweight (a one-sided points win over the capable Sullivan Barrera) he will be confident of being able to take Kovalev’s withering power away from him and box his way to a decision win. Kovalev though, is not only wickedly powerful, he is patient and he also has boxing skills of his own. Has Ward, unbeaten since the age of 12, bitten off more than he can chew with this fight? Both men deserve much credit for agreeing to test their mettle against one another when they so easily could have played it safe and looked for easier fights.
32-year-old Ward is 29-0(15) and as a superb super-middleweight he scored impressive wins over the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, the Froch victory seeing him win the “Super Six” tournament in 2011. Quite amazingly, Ward has boxed just four times since then. Ward better hope his recent inactive spells will not hurt him against the man known as “Krusher.”
Kovalev, a year the older man and 29-0-1(26) holds great wins over Nathan Cleverly, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal, who he has beaten twice. It is perhaps that patient, calm and controlled points win over Hopkins that Kovalev supporters will point to as proof he can win in November. Yes Hopkins was pushing 50 at the time of the fight, whereas Ward is arguably still in his prime, but Hopkins still presented Kovalev with a bag of tricks, none of which fazed him.
Ward might also find that the moves he has used to such effect on previous fighters are not as successful against Kovalev, a fighter who is way more than just a one dimensional slugger. At this early juncture, I lean towards a Kovalev points win in Vegas.
