By Edward Chaykovsky

During a recent interview, former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi broke down the highly anticipated upcoming fight between IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-0, 26KOs) and Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward (30-0, 15KOs).

The PPV showdown is going to be Ward's third appearance in the light heavyweight division. Back in March, he made his debut at 175 with a dominating decision over Sullivan Barrera. Then in August he got another lopsided win, this time over the severely overmatched Alexander Brand. 

To many fans and experts alike, Kovalev represents the most dangerous opponent of Ward's career. And nobody knows how Ward will react if caught flush by one of Kovalev's bombs.

Only Bernard Hopkins and Isaac Chilemba have lasted the twelve round distance with Kovalev - but both of them found themselves down on the mat when Kovalev landed.

Because of Ward's top notch defensive skills, he rarely gets hit flush. While Malignaggi has questions regarding Ward's chin, he also has questions about Kovalev's ability to fight going backwards.

"You have a terrific fighter in Andre Ward, I think he's a bit more versatile [than Kovalev]. But Kovalev is not just a puncher. Kovalev himself is a pretty disciplined fighter and he will try to set up his power as well. I don't think he's as polished as Golovkin, but he is pretty polished, and he will know how to set up his power. He's awfully, awfully strong. Dare I say even stronger than Golovkin," Malignaggi told Sky Sports' Toe To Toe Podcast.

"For Andre Ward, he's moving up in weight and it's the kind of power that you haven't dealt with before. Ward got a hurt in a few fights early in his career, so we still don't know how great his chin is. But Ward has more versatility - and one thing we do know about these Eastern Europeans, especially the guys with big punching power, they don't back up very well. And the thing Andre Ward is adept at doing is trying to back you up and being a bully."