By Radio Rahim
According to former two division world champion Bernard Hopkins, Andre Ward (30-0, 15KOs) will need to go back to his roots if he intends to defeat IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-0, 26KOs).
Headlining an HBO Pay-Per-View card, Ward will challenge Kovalev on November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Hopkins himself has not fought since a twelve round decision loss to Kovalev in their light heavyweight unification back in the fall of 2014.
To be successful, Hopkins says Ward will have to enter that ring with the same mentality that saw him win the Super Six tournament. Hopkins wants to see the Andre Ward of old, and not the Andre Ward who earlier this year defeated Sullivan Barrera and Alexander Brand.
Ward became the undisputed king at super middleweight, after he dominated the competition in the Super Six tourney from 2009 to 2011. During that run, he beat Mikkel Keller, Arthur Abraham, Allan Green, Sakio Bika and Carl Froch.
Having first hand experience in the matter, Hopkins applies extreme caution that Kovalev will be a much tougher task to overcome than Ward's past glories at 168-pounds.
"[The outcome] all depends on how Andre Ward prepares mentally and physically for this fight - and goes back to the Super Six tournament mentality - where I saw him outmuscle, I saw him outbox, I saw him smother, I saw him take away a guy's strength and use it against him," Hopkins said to BoxingScene.com.
"It won't be as easy with Sergey, because I believe he has the momentum - as far as winning, as far as being in the states - so he's adapted to, not only styles, but he's probably picking up little things from other people. I think that whoever wins this fight, they will have to take away one of the other's strength to win. It could be Andre Ward, it could be Sergey Kovalev."
