Andre Ward's Next Fight: Potential Opponents for Next Bout
Andre Ward is back.
And the light heavyweights have got him.
The former 168-pound elite made his inaugural championship appearance as a 175-pounder a stirring one Saturday night, rallying from the brink of oblivion to overcome Sergey Kovalev and take his IBF, WBA and WBO title belts by the narrowest of unanimous decisions.
All three judges had it 114-113 for Ward, which mirrored the Bleacher Report card.
Ward's victory was his 31st in a pristine career that began after he won Olympic gold in Greece in 2004, but it was his toughest "W" yet. Kovalev dumped him hard to the canvas with a right hand in Round 2, and Ward looked fortunate to get through the third.
He began slowing the pace and landing shots of his own in the fourth, however, and effectively neutralized Kovalev in many of the middle and late rounds with body work and his ability to get in close.
Kovalev landed 126 punches to Ward's 116, but the American's connect rate of 34.4 percent was superior to the Russian's 26.6, according to CompuBox.
Each man threw more punches than the other in six of the 12 rounds.
Kovalev had reigned since beating Nathan Cleverly in 2013 and picked up two more belts with a win over Bernard Hopkins the following year, but on Saturday he fell to 30-1-1.
The win opens up a rankings list's worth of possibilities for Ward, and though most post-fight reaction points toward one rival in particular, we threw together a list with some other nice options too.
After all, with this being boxing, it always helps to have a Plan B.
5. Oleksandr Gvozdyk
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If you're looking to make a light heavyweight splash, what better time than in the penultimate prelim on the most-watched light heavyweight card of the year?
Ukrainian-born Oleksandr Gvozdyk made the most of his Kovalev-Ward opportunity Saturday night, taking care of veteran measuring stick Isaac Chilemba to legitimize his desire to be next in line now that Ward has captured three belts.
Chilemba went 12 rounds with Kovalev in the now-former champion's final pre-Ward fight.
In his last two fights before downing Chilemba, Gvozdyk beat another ex-Kovalev victim, Nadjib Mohammedi (KO 2) and knocked out three-time world title challenger Tommy Karpency.
Along the way, he's earned raves, albeit predictable ones, from his promoter.
"(Gvozdyk) is the guy who I think would beat Stevenson today and probably would beat Kovalev in the next six months," Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com's Ryan Burton (via Undisputed Champion Network). "He is going to be a breakout star.”
4. Artur Beterbiev
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Exit one unbeaten Russian slugger, enter another.
And now that Ward has become the kingpin at light heavyweight, he'll soon have another burly Eastern European native nipping at his heels.
Thirty-one-year-old Artur Beterbiev is ranked in the top 10 by all of the sanctioning bodies for which Ward is now champion—second by the IBF, third by the WBA, third by the WBO. Presuming he gets through a Dec. 23 tuneup fight, he's figuring to become the new claimant's mandatory date.
Beterbiev is trained by John Scully, who led the corner for Chad Dawson when Ward bludgeoned him in 2012.
"He’s a very big prospect and I think after the Andre Ward and Kovalev fight, Artur is going to be the next guy at 175," Scully told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Beterbiev beat Kovalev in the amateur ranks.
"In terms of power and discipline," Scully said, "he’s right there. He’s been in boxing his whole life, he had 300 amateur fights, he beat Kovalev as an amateur, he beat Ismayl Sillakh as an amateur. He’s very good."
3. Gennady Golovkin
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This being boxing, it only makes sense that one of the best possible fights out there—between two highly decorated amateurs who have evolved into unbeaten, championship-level pros—didn’t happen.
Instead, the mere question of Ward ever getting into a ring with Gennady Golovkin instantly devolved into a he said/he said, with each camp accusing the other of doing its best to avoid the confrontation.
Past salvos saw Ward claim an offer to Team Golovkin was “turned down in five minutes” and that the Kazakh has “hoodwinked” fans in an interview with Fight Hub TV (h/t Daily Mail).
Meanwhile, Golovkin and Co. had their own version of the story, with trainer Abel Sanchez simply referring to Ward as a liar, per Bad Left Hook.
Now that Ward is the new boss at 175, he'll have more opportunities and more leverage with which to bang the Triple-G drum if he chooses.
And Sanchez is sure to return the favor, having recently suggested that his man could beat Kovalev, Ward or Adonis Stevenson at 175, per BoxingScene.com.
"I said a while back that he would be a better 168-pounder than he would be a 160-pounder," Sanchez said. "Those three guys that I mentioned are beatable by Golovkin. We have not seen the best of Golovkin."
2. Adonis Stevenson
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Yes, Virginia, he is still the lineal light heavyweight champion.
And, lest anyone forget, few fighters had been more jolting in going from unknown to mainstream earlier in the decade than Haitian-turned-Canadian Adonis Stevenson, who jumped from super middle to wallop a pair of former 175-pound champs in Chad Dawson (TKO 1) and Tavoris Cloud (TKO 7) within 112 days.
Stevenson’s background at 168 always made Ward a natural foil, and his promotional team once offered Ward a unique two-fight package that would have had them meet once in each weight class.
Now that Ward has supplanted Kovalev, it all needn't be so complicated.
Presuming, that is, Stevenson's existing allegiance to manager Al Haymon makes it possible.
"He's gotta ask Al if he can come out and play," Ward said, per Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com. "I don't even know if he's available to fight. I'm just being real with you. They got their own thing going on."
1. Sergey Kovalev
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OK, after early dominance, a gutsy rally and legions of post-fight dissenters, who wouldn't want to see that again?
Indeed, even though his dance card will be full of prospective suitors, the most attractive competitive option for Ward remains Kovalev, and vice versa.
The two men delivered a compelling fight that lived up to its weekslong buildup, and the marked differences in scoring from one observer to the next—for example, HBO's Harold Lederman had Kovalev up by five points—make a rematch an almost mandatory obligation for the new champion.
Ward hinted at the idea after the fight but didn't commit.
"Of course I would do a rematch," he told HBO's Max Kellerman. "I am not going to negotiate a fight right now. I will go home and relax and see what's next."
The now-former champion, for one, is looking forward to the opportunity.
"Yeah, I want a rematch," Kovalev told Kellerman. "And I'll kick his ass."
