On 17th June, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will clash for the second time in a fight being billed as ‘No Excuses’. A Ward victory will cement his position as the best pound for pound fighter in the world, whereas a Kovalev victory sets up the possibility of a trilogy fight.In the first fight Ward recovered from a second round knockdown to snatch a razor thin but controversial unanimous decision win, picking up the WBA, IBF and WBO world light heavyweight championships. Many people feel that Kovalev won the first fight despite all 3 judges favouring Ward by a single point. The build up to the second fight has been much more personal with Kovalev branding Ward a “fake champion” and both fighters seeming to have a real dislike for their opponent, for this reason I’m expecting an even better fight than the first one.
Tale of the Tape
Andre Ward
Age – 33
Height – 1.83m
Reach – 180cm
Record – 31-0 (15 KOs)
Sergey Kovalev
Age – 34
Height – 1.83m
Reach – 184cm
Record – 30-1-1 (26 KOs)
Obviously Kovalev has the power to stop Ward and has said in many interviews that he is looking for the knockout and that he wants to “destroy” Andre Ward. On the flip side it didn’t look like Ward had the power to stop Kovalev in the first fight, but could Kovalev’s anger work against him this time round? I think the only chance Ward has of getting the stoppage is if Kovalev is too aggressive when looking for the knockout and leaves himself open to counters.
Even though Kovalev is technically a great boxer who’s skills are probably underrated, I think Ward has the ability to out box him over the 12 rounds. Ward needs to have a better start to this fight than he had in the first fight and if he does then I believe he will get a more decisive unanimous decision victory than he did in the first fight.
I can see this fight going a very similar way to the first fight – Kovalev having some early success but Ward making adjustments throughout the fight to nullify Kovalev’s attack and get the unanimous decision victory.
I’m not really rooting for a winner in this fight as I love Kovalev’s all action style but I respect the skill that Ward possesses even if he isn’t as exciting to watch as Kovalev. All I hope for from this fight is that there is no controversy about the result and that we get a clear winner and an exciting fight to watch.
My Prediction
You can never count out Kovalev due to his one punch knockout power but I see Ward making more adjustments from the first fight and out boxing Kovalev more convincingly. Kovalev by KO in the first 4 rounds or a Ward UD victory but this time by a wider margin.
The Right Hook 