Kovalev vs. Ward: Top Storylines as Superfight Looms
Sergey Kovalev defends his unified light heavyweight championship against Andre Ward Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on HBO pay-per-view. It's a 50-50 fight that features two pound-for-pound superstars at the top of the sport.
Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KO) holds the IBF, WBA and WBO Light Heavyweight Championships and is the best fighter in the 175-pound division. His bludgeoning wins over former undisputed champions Jean Pascal (twice) and Bernard Hopkins established that beyond a doubt.
Ward (30-0, 15 KO) is a former undisputed super middleweight champion who is perhaps the best technical fighter in the sport. His career has been managed in a questionable way, but he's barely even been challenged in the ring and presents Kovalev's toughest challenge by far.
Here we'll take a look at the top storylines ahead of the biggest fight of the year.
Let's get to it!
Can Kovalev's Power Be Decisive?
1 of 5
Kovalev is a devastating puncher.
He's stopped 26 of his 31 opponents and approaches his task with a cold and calculating Terminator-like mentality that sets him apart from most other fighters. With the possible exception of Gennady Golovkin (and we can debate that), there is nobody most fighters would less like to see staring at them across the ring when the bell rings.
Kovalev is a scary dude.
He lacks expression or emotion in there.
But will it matter?
Will he be able to bring that power to bear against Ward?
In many ways, that could prove to be the single biggest question in the fight.
Ward has only two fights at 175 pounds under his belt, and Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand (a truly awful tune-up opponent) can't compare on any level to what Kovalev can do with his strength and physicality. It's safe to say that Ward has never faced this type of power before.
It's not even a question.
The question is whether Kovalev can make it count.
Will Ward's Technical Skill Be Decisive?
2 of 5
A lot of people might be sleeping on Ward because his era of dominance is a couple of years in the rearview mirror and he's been less active than you'd like to see in a superstar fighter. His management issues have kept him out of sight and out of mind to a certain degree.
But he's not just a good fighter; he's a great one.
Ward's style might not be aesthetically pleasing to everyone.
He's technical and possesses a great sense of timing and distance in the ring. His defensive prowess often contributes to his fights looking a bit sloppy and disjointed, but there's no doubt he gets the job done and makes things hell on his opponents.
But will he be able to keep Kovalev off him, and, if not, can he outmuscle or neutralize him when the action gets into the Krusher's comfort zone? Nobody has been successful at any of that yet.
That's a big part of what makes this fight so intriguing.
Both Kovalev and Ward are approaching a task that will require them to bring the best of their skill sets into the ring, and, even if they do, the other guy still might be better.
We can't wait to find out if Kovalev's power or Ward's skill will win the day.
Will the Winner Be Top P4P?
3 of 5
Kovalev-Ward is being billed as "Pound for Pound" by its promoters, and you can bank on the winner making a compelling case for the mythical top spot as boxing's best prizefighter.
Nicaraguan super flyweight champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez has held that spot ever since the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year. He recently won an underrated gem of a fight over Carlos Cuadras to claim another world title and solidify his position.
Could the winner of this fight jump over him in the rankings, which, again, are mythical and don't carry any real weight beyond providing fans and media a topic to debate and discuss?
Yes, the winner could make the jump, and popular opinion or not, he should.
Kovalev is ranked No. 2 on The Ring Magazine rankings, while Ward holds the No. 4 spot.
It's rare to see two fighters in the top five face each other while in the prime of their careers (look how long it took for Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to finally tangle even with so much money on the line), and the winner deserves the respect for the risk.
The winner will be at the top of the pack.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
How Many Will Buy?
4 of 5
It seems like whenever there's a PPV fight and we put together one of these pieces, we ask the question about how many people will buy the fight. That's not laziness on our part, but a function of trying to understand the financial health of the sport and why some fights succeed on pay platforms while others fail.
Kovalev-Ward has been the crown jewel on the PPV calendar ever since it was officially announced earlier in the year. It comes just two weeks removed from boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao's pay-TV start against Jessie Vargas in a fight that was distributed without the backing of HBO.
We can measure PPV success in a number of ways.
The best fights (from a financial standpoint) are the ones that can attract people beyond the subset of hardcore boxing fans. Those usually require some sort of transcendent star. Fighters like Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya fit that bill at various times.
For all their talent, neither Kovalev nor Ward comes close to meeting that type of commercial success or demand. It's not a criticism, but it takes a long time and a lot of investment to develop the types of stars who can succeed by asking fans to shell out extra hard-earned cash.
So while this is a high-level fight between two of the best fighters in the sport—and clearly the best bout that boxing has produced in 2016—it remains to be seen whether it will be a commercial success.
Will the Fight Rescue the Year?
5 of 5
Boxing hasn't had a banner year.
It hasn't been quite as bad as some would have you believe, but it's been less than stellar. Far too many significant fights didn't pan out because of promotional issues and the diva-like mentality of the sport's bigger stars.
That puts a lot of weight on Kovalev and Ward to deliver a big night for the fans.
So what type of fight should we expect?
Kovalev has solid technical skill. He can still be raw at times, but his ability to land a big punch and change the game at any point is something to watch, and it's also something Ward hasn't grappled with in recent years or at this weight class.
Ward doesn't want this to become a firefight. That would be dangerous for him.
He needs to make this a boxing match where he can keep Kovalev at a comfortable distance and frustrate the hell out of him by neutralizing his power and forcing him into mistakes. That's where he can take advantage and make Kovalev pay.
This one is a 50-50 fight, and it's a lot of pressure to expect it to undo the previous 10-plus months of disappointments, but it has the potential to make us forget a whole lot in a hurry.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
