Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward Is a True Superfight Spectators Will Love

Hey, maybe there is a Santa Claus after all.

Though boxing fans have endured a year of promoter-hyped mismatches and brazen grabs for unwarranted pay-per-view cash, the calendar’s penultimate month gives new reason to believe.

Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward will meet Saturday night for Kovalev’s three light heavyweight title belts—the IBF, the WBA and the WBO, to be specific—not to mention a real chance to legitimize a claim as the best fighter on the planet.

Go ahead and read that again to make sure it all sinks in.

It’s not two guys who should have met 10 years and 20 pounds ago. It’s not an interim setup fight designed solely to boost interest in the next one. And it’s not a made-for-publicity spectacle fueled by distraction while the real champion in the division toils elsewhere.

John Locher/Associated Press

In fact, it’s just about everything but.

Kovalev, 33, and Ward, 32, have a collective 19-year professional resume that includes 60 wins in 61 fights—the lone outlier coming via technical draw on an accidental foul—with 41 knockouts and five sanctioning body championships across two adjacent weight classes.

Kovalev earned the WBO title belt in 2013 and will be defending it for the ninth time, in addition to defense No. 5 of the other two baubles he wrested from Bernard Hopkins upon shutting the old man down across 12 rounds in November 2014.

Ward, meanwhile, remains the most recent American male to win Olympic gold—at Athens, Greece, in 2004—and he cleared the decks at 168 pounds thanks to the Showtime Super Six tournament, during which he outgunned the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch.

He pounded 175-pound champion Chad Dawson, too, when "Bad Chad" ill-advisedly decided to drop seven pounds for a summit.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

They’re just two positions apart—Kovalev is No. 2 and Ward is No. 4—on The Ring’s most recent pound-for-pound list, and the weekend winner will have a genuine shot at vaulting past little man Roman Gonzalez to take the top spot when the next rundown is released later this month.

And refreshingly, both men spared the chest-thumping while grasping the enormity of their task.

"I don’t think this fight will be easy," Kovalev said, per Matt Christie of BoxingNewsOnline.net.

"It’s (the) hardest test of my career. I have never fought a boxer at the level of Andre Ward. He’s never lost. If I win I will break his zero, and that is my motivation."

Ward, making his first Vegas appearance and headlining his first pay-per-view, agreed.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

"I feel that this fight with Kovalev is 50-50," he said (via BoxingScene.com). "That’s how I approach all of my big fights. I don’t go into the fight thinking, 'I’ve got a clear-cut advantage here’ or ‘I’ve got to run through this guy.'

"I can’t roll like that. I’ve got to keep myself honest, stay on my grind, keep my head down and force myself to keep working. I truly believe Kovalev is everything they say he is, and I’m everything that I’ve shown over the years."

Even the folks who set the betting lines can’t name a clear favorite.

Odds Shark and its seven partner sportsbooks give Ward a slight edge, with outlays from $130 to $152 necessary to return a $100 profit. Kovalev, on the other hand, would yield windfalls ranging from $105 and $135 for a $100 wager in the event of an upset.

No matter whose hand is raised, it seems a lock that fans will emerge as winners.

"It took 10 months of very hard bargaining before the contracts were signed. Compared to Mayweather and Pacquiao that’s breakneck speed," said Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter, per Colin Hart of the Sun. "This is a fight one dreams about and I’m thrilled I managed to play a major part in getting these two guys together."

Us, too, Kathy. Us, too.