Kovalev vs Ward in the Fall of 2016

[Roars Like Me]

Ward take this on decision. There is lot of love for Kovalev and deservedly so he's exciting and has heavy power. He's just not as gifted all round as Ward end of. Ward UD or who knows even late stoppage.

[PredatorHayds]

Comparing this Hopkins to current Ward is just DUMB. Hopkins is old and slow and barely throws any punches - like 10 a round. Ward is prime, fleet of foot and hand, and actually throws punches inside and out. There is zero comparison whatsoever between the 2 currently.

... on the other hand, Hopkins still has an iron chin, while Ward doesn't. He will not dare to face Kovalev, because he knows he will get stopped.

Does Ward have a weak chin?
Not something I was aware of....

I think Ward has a great chin. Hasn't been tested hugely but I wouldn't be surprised if it was made of granite.
He doesn't fight like someone who's protective of his chin.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Ever since this fight was originally mooted folks picking Ward have yet to give a convincing account of how he wins. 'Superior skills and defence' doesn't do it for me. At the end of the day Kovalev is going to dictate the pace of this fight. Ward is going to be on the retreat. Any chance Ward takes to land enough punches to outscore Kovalev will be a risk for him. He will feel the artillery coming back early, and his output will drop, as is natural. Lower output from a fighter who isn't the busiest to begin with means less chance of landing anything, particularly against the volume coming back. People talk about clinching as if it's somehow going to work out for Ward here. I don't agree. Kovalev can land punches anywhere. He's going to be able to shorten his punches or at least match Ward for strength in the clinch.

Disclaimer: Overall, Hopkins isn't Ward but Bernard is a master at finding openings. He found NONE vs Sergey. He was reduced to running backwards around the ring, waiting, and trying not to get knocked out. Without a punch to trouble Kovalev, for the purposes of this style matchup, Ward=Hopkins in there, only unlike Bernard he tries to win and thus gets stopped inside the distance. Kovalev will always land something, and those seeing Ward coming through this are either saying Kovalev won't land anything significant (naive) or that Andre can withstand Kovalev's best shots. I don't think he can.

[stevedoc]

I don't think ward will retreat I think he will push kovalev back like he did froch and Dawson ,I'm not 100℅ he will be able to but I think that will be his tactics , while krusher obviously can punch I haven't seen anything from ward that suggests he can't take the shots and krusher hasn't fought anyone yet a 50 year old Hopkins is by far his best skalp while ward has beat froch ,Kessler and so on .

[ikorolev]

I haven't seen anything from ward that suggests he can't take the shots

Really ? How about the chicken walk in the Boone fight ? After that fight, he started hanging on his opponents like Wlad, because he knows that he can't take a good punch.

[SFW]

I haven't seen anything from ward that suggests he can't take the shots

Really ? How about the chicken walk in the Boone fight ? After that fight, he started hanging on his opponents like Wlad, because he knows that he can't take a good punch.

Pretty pathetic hanging on to one punch from many years ago, since everything else indicates that joke of an argument isn't taken seriously anyway, but never surprising. Almost as dumb as comparing Hopkins to Ward nowadays. Almost.

[hoagylt]

If Ward fought Hopkins tmrw Ward would be about a -1000 favorite and win every minute of every round. If you're even gonna debate that you are more out of your depth here than I already suspect. Hopkins is ancient and relies solely on spoiling and ring savvy at this stage - because his reflexes and speed are gone and he has to pace himself because he can no longer sustain any sort of work rate. He's 50 years old!! Hopkins is an ATG but he couldn't even beat Dawson.[/quote]

Win every minute of everyone round ? You are talking out of your -ss.

[diddy]

Pacquaio was knocked down repeatedly in his early years. So was Wlad. Those guys definitely should've retired when that happened, huh?

Darnell Boone knocked down a novice Ward. So what ?! Darnell Boone knocked OUT Adonis Stevenson.

[davie]

... on the other hand, Hopkins still has an iron chin, while Ward doesn't. He will not dare to face Kovalev, because he knows he will get stopped.

Does Ward have a weak chin?
Not something I was aware of....

I think Ward has a great chin. Hasn't been tested hugely but I wouldn't be surprised if it was made of granite.
He doesn't fight like someone who's protective of his chin.

That's pretty much what I was thinking

[davie]

Ever since this fight was originally mooted folks picking Ward have yet to give a convincing account of how he wins. 'Superior skills and defence' doesn't do it for me. At the end of the day Kovalev is going to dictate the pace of this fight. Ward is going to be on the retreat. Any chance Ward takes to land enough punches to outscore Kovalev will be a risk for him. He will feel the artillery coming back early, and his output will drop, as is natural. Lower output from a fighter who isn't the busiest to begin with means less chance of landing anything, particularly against the volume coming back. People talk about clinching as if it's somehow going to work out for Ward here. I don't agree. Kovalev can land punches anywhere. He's going to be able to shorten his punches or at least match Ward for strength in the clinch.

Disclaimer: Overall, Hopkins isn't Ward but Bernard is a master at finding openings. He found NONE vs Sergey. He was reduced to running backwards around the ring, waiting, and trying not to get knocked out. Without a punch to trouble Kovalev, for the purposes of this style matchup, Ward=Hopkins in there, only unlike Bernard he tries to win and thus gets stopped inside the distance. Kovalev will always land something, and those seeing Ward coming through this are either saying Kovalev won't land anything significant (naive) or that Andre can withstand Kovalev's best shots. I don't think he can.

"Ever since this fight was originally mooted folks picking Ward have yet to give a convincing account of how he wins. 'Superior skills and defence' doesn't do it for me."

Can see where you're coming from mate, I've never heard of superior skills and defence winning a fight against a bigger stronger opponent. it just doesn't happen........ever!

seriously though, comparing with other fighters/opponents is meaningless.
Neither man has faced anyone close to what they will face in each other.

We can quote how effective Sergey has been at backing up opponents, how strong and powerful he is, how effective and accurate a puncher he is at both short and long range, how he can box and punch.
But he has never faced anyone close to Ward, in terms of being the complete package as a boxer.

Equally with Ward we can talk about how skillful he is, how defensively astute he is, how he has dealt with bigger, stronger, rougher opponents and matched them for strength,
but he's never faced someone as strong and powerful as Kovalev, never seen that combination of physical attributes combined with good boxing skills and composure and he's never faced a fully fledged LHW at the LHW limit


That's what makes this so compelling and hard to pick. I lean toward Kovalev personally, but to write off Ward is to do him an injustice, I wouldn't be in the least surprised if Ward stifles Kovalev and makes this an ugly SD points win

[Bard of Boxrec]

Can see where you're coming from mate, I've never heard of superior skills and defence winning a fight against a bigger stronger opponent. it just doesn't happen........ever!

My point was it's not enough to cite superior skills and defence without considering how they fit in with the actual style matchup.

[ikorolev]

Ward fought a bigger opponent ? Maybe Gonzalez was bigger, but he is not an A level fighter. All Ward's top opponents were smaller than him. Kovalev is about the same size as Ward.

[davie]

Can see where you're coming from mate, I've never heard of superior skills and defence winning a fight against a bigger stronger opponent. it just doesn't happen........ever!

My point was it's not enough to cite superior skills and defence without considering how they fit in with the actual style matchup.

Which is exactly what I went on to do

And if we're in the business of discussing style match ups, if you're going to fight someone that hits as hard and as accurate and Kovalev then the first things you better tick off the list are superior skills and defence.
unless you can hit harder and have a granite chin you better have the above 2 in abundance or you're getting carried out the ring on a stretcher.

The people who cited superior skills and defence, did so exactly because they had considered how they fit in with the actual style match up

[Bard of Boxrec]

Which is exactly what I went on to do

And if we're in the business of discussing style match ups, if you're going to fight someone that hits as hard and as accurate and Kovalev then the first things you better tick off the list are superior skills and defence.
unless you can hit harder and have a granite chin you better have the above 2 in abundance or you're getting carried out the ring on a stretcher.

The people who cited superior skills and defence, did so exactly because they had considered how they fit in with the actual style match up

My point: How do superior skills (FTR I don't even think his skills are that much superior) and defence help Ward to win when he needs workrate, a strong chin and some power in addition to these, considering how the style matchup is likely to unfold (Kovalev pressing the action)?

Ward has never been a huge output type of guy. Kovalev throws more. This means Ward has to match or exceed Sergey's workrate to even have a chance of winning, and he has to do it from the back foot. The catch-22 is increasing your workrate against a guy like Sergey is just giving yourself more chance of being knocked out. Ward also doesn't have power to trouble or slow down Kovalev and I would question his ability to take a punch too.

Of course there is the possibility that Ward makes Kovalev throw less. But Hopkins wasn't able to slow down the action enough to give him a chance, something he is normally a master of. Ward's defence and ringcraft means there aren't too many openings but Kovalev has such an arsenal he can land anything from anywhere.

There is also the possibility that Ward can bully Kovalev in the clinches, but I don't see this as a hugely consequential part of the fight. Ward can't clinch all day, and when he's in the centre of the ring at mid range he is outgunned.

[Counter-puncher]

.
Neither man has faced anyone close to what they will face in each other.

We can quote how effective Sergey has been at backing up opponents, how strong and powerful he is, how effective and accurate a puncher he is at both short and long range, how he can box and punch.
But he has never faced anyone close to Ward, in terms of being the complete package as a boxer.

Equally with Ward we can talk about how skillful he is, how defensively astute he is, how he has dealt with bigger, stronger, rougher opponents and matched them for strength,
but he's never faced someone as strong and powerful as Kovalev, never seen that combination of physical attributes combined with good boxing skills and composure and he's never faced a fully fledged LHW at the LHW limit


That's what makes this so compelling and hard to pick.

there it is, thank you sir for saving me the trouble

[sucracristo]

light heavyweight division is just another ball game, those guys fonfara, egor, bertebiev, kova and stevenson, they a lot stronger and tougher than the best super middleweights like ward, degale or jack, not much of a chance.

is this the same stevenson who got knocked out by darnell boone at 168?
i think the kovalev-stevenson fight will happen before ward