By Radio Rahim
Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward (29-0, 15KOs) will oubox and outhustle WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0, 26KOs), according to Sky Sports' pundit Johnny Nelson - who held the WBO cruiserweight title for over seven years and made thirteen defenses.
Ward and Kovalev are on a collision course for November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas - and the fight will headline an HBO Pay-Per-View event.
Both boxers are scheduled for interim bouts in the coming weeks. Kovalev will defend his titles against Isaac Chilemba on July 11 in Russia, and then Ward will face Alexander Brand on August 5th in Oakland, California.
Ward dominated the super middleweight division for several years, and practically cleaned out the competition before officially making the jump to 175-pounds earlier this year with a dominating performance over Sullivan Barrera. Kovalev has elevated his position to be among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, with crushing victories against Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal and Nathan Cleverly.
"Because of the way that I've been brought up, I'm gonna go with the skill of boxing. And with the skill of boxing, Andre Ward is the one who exhibits that. He's the one who knows all of the old school tricks that only the old school trainers know - and he's gotten that from Virgil Hunter. Inside work, outside work," Nelson told BoxingScene.com.
"He has the boxing ability, he's young enough, he's strong enough to deal with the onslaught of a crude, strong, aggressive fighter. And that's why I would tip him to oubox, out-fox, out-move, out-maneuver, frustrate and really do a good job on Kovalev - if he's on form, on point. I expect him to win on points if not a late stoppage, but a points win is probably what I would be going towards."
