Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward - November 19 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

Kovalev vs Ward
November 19, 2016
T-Mobile Arena
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Main Card:
Sergey Kovalev (30-0)         vs.           (30-0) Andre Ward   
Main Event |  IBF - WBA - WBO Title Fight | Light Heavyweight | 175 lbs (79 kg)


ON Saturday, November 19 the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer will be crowned. Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs), the WBO, WBA and IBF light-heavyweight World Champion, and Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) two-time world champion, officially announced their long-awaited showdown following Ward’s victory over Alexander Brand at the conclusion of the live HBO World Championship Boxing® telecast Saturday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Kovalev vs. Ward will take place Saturday, Nov. 19.  

Kovalev and Ward are currently ranked the number two and number four pound-for-pound boxers in the world, respectively, by The Ring Magazine, making their hotly anticipated fight only the third bout in the history of The Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list to pit two undefeated top-five ranked pound-for-pound fighters against each other. Odds makers and pundits have this fight evenly matched at 50-50 and it is poised to be a sure-fire 2016 Fight of the Year candidate.

Same records and two of the top boxers in the world fighting in a cross-promotion. Got to catch this one.

Here is Ward's last fight. I'm watching it now. They say you are only as good as your last fight sometimes, I don't buy that with Ward. I watched the fight when it was on, and people talk of it as though Ward underperformed. I think Ward has to be pushed hard to rise to the top, he may have fought to the level of his opponent.

Kovalev though went 12 rounds with 50-year-old Popkins his last fight, and he is as good as his last fight.

He is too slow for Ward.

Based on Ward's last fight: Ward looks plenty sharp to me. He fought an awkward opponent, and won every single round.

The one thing I was watching for is I've seen some people say Ward is a 1-handed fighter now.

He had his right shoulder surgically repaired and was out for like a year, but he's also a natural lefty, who fights orthodox (though he switches southpaw as well and did it a bit in the Brand fight).

However, he does throw some pretty solid right hands, including a few that stun Bran.

Dela Hoya is another natural lefty who fights orthodox, and if you watch his fights he uses his left hand a lot, and was even criticized for his lack of a right hand.

Ward throws a number of hard bodyshots with his right in particular, which doesn't seem indicative of a guy that's worried about his right shoulder (his body shots come from strange angles at times, and also would seem to risk tying up the arms and shit, which would seem dangerous to one with an injury. That said; it could as well be said that unleashing hard right hands does have a greater injury potential, due to the speed involved--a bit like a pitcher--and so Ward may indeed favor that shoulder. He did land some hard rights upstairs, but it is something to think about, at the very least.)

Ward-Froch.

This might be the most similar sort of opponent to Kovalev on Ward's record. Froch and Kovalev are completely different fighters; and Froch may not have faired well in a fight with Kovalev (that said--he was a serious fighter, but Kovalev is a different sort of beast than Froch, on the face of it at least).

Froch is a powerful puncher, who goes in gunning, and has some boxing skills to go with his brawling style.

Could be an interesting re-look.

Just 2 rounds in, I think Froch does have a fairly comparable style to Kovalev. The doubters would say this is pre-layoff and injury Ward, but I do think Ward is still pretty sharp.

Froch went on a fierce attack in the 2nd, and did land some shots, but Ward defended well enough.

What stuck out for me though was that Ward responded to Froch's aggression with aggression, which is something I like to see.

One observation on the Froch fight: Ward is an 80% left handed fighter or so, pre-injury as well.

Next observation: Ward is physically manhandling Froch to some extent.

On round 5; and Froch tries to get physical; Ward out physicals him.

I could just be seeing what I want to see, but that tells me he can hang at the higher weight.

Ward also won his gold medal at 178, in the Olympics, in 2004. En route, he beat the guy who beat Deontay Wilder at 201 in the semi-finals of the 2008 Olympics.

Digging deeper, they are both listed at 6'0.

Kovalev's reach is listed at 72 1/2 to Ward's 70.

Ward was born in 1984 and is 32. Kovalev was born in 1983 and is 33.

Kovalev won a silver medal in the Russian Championships in 2004 at middleweight, which is the same year Ward won the Olympic gold medal at light heavyweight.

I don't think Kovalev has a physical advantage in this fight.

Kovalev-Popins

This fight is awesome. I've always considered myself a casual for boxing but this fight seems important on the whole scale of combat sports. Don't often see two 30-0 fighters risking everything.

Audax wrote:This fight is awesome. I've always considered myself a casual for boxing but this fight seems important on the whole scale of combat sports. Don't often see two 30-0 fighters risking everything.

Yup, I'd like to catch this one as well. I used to love watching boxing, was my favorite combat sport prior to MMA but MMA has taken over. I still like to catch the big fights like this though and I still like the sport.

Robbery

Kingfedor wrote:Robbery

That's what I heard. I missed the fight but heard Ward got dropped as well.