Andre Ward: Beating Kovalev Would Make Me Inarguable No. 1 P4P

By Keith Idec

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has assumed the top spot on most mythical pound-for-pound boxing lists.

BoxingScene.com, The Ring magazine and espn.com are among the media outlets that rank the unbeaten WBC flyweight champion as the No. 1 boxer, pound-for-pound, in the world. Ranking boxers from different weight classes on the same list obviously is a subjective science, but count Andre Ward among those that are certain he and Sergey Kovalev will fight for boxing’s pound-for-pound championship November 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View; $69.95 in HD; $59.95 in SD).

“I think so,” Ward said before a press conference Tuesday in Manhattan. “Again, I don’t have a vote in that. There’s times I felt I should’ve been higher. ‘How’d that guy [get up there]?’ But I’ve learned to – I can put my focus on where I think it should be. Or I could put my focus on the things that I can control. And there always seems to be a ‘but’ in the equation when it comes to me. And my whole motivation is remove it, is to leave individuals without an excuse. Like you can’t deny what just happened. That’s the motivation. That’s the drive.

“I mean, you could waste a lot of energy, [saying], ‘Oh, how’d he get here? I beat this guy.’ Just go remove the but. Put ourselves in the position, once again, where you can’t argue. ‘Well, I don’t like him as a person, but I’ve got to put him up there.’ That’s the goal.”

BoxingScene.com ranks Russia’s Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) second on its pound-for-pound list, one spot above Ward (30-0, 15 KOs), the former undisputed super middleweight champion. The Ring also ranks Kovalev, the IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion, at No. 2 and Ward at No. 4.

Espn.com rates Kovalev No. 3 and Ward No. 5.

Most of Ward’s slippage on such lists relates to the Hayward, California, native’s inactivity before beating Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) and Alexander Brand (25-2, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision in two 12-round bouts over the past five months.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.