By Radio Rahim, Victor Salazar
Abel Sanchez, the trainer of IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, is picking IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) to beat Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) in 2016.
Ward, who for a long time was pushing to face Golovkin, is moving up to light heavyweight for an inevitable fight with Kovalev at the end of next year. Ward recently signed a three fight deal with HBO that includes a showdown with Kovalev on pay-per-view.
While not officially announced as of yet, Ward is slated to return on the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul Alvarez HBO Pay-Per-View undercard on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The rumored opponent is super middleweight contender Rohan Murdock.
Kovalev is lining up a rematch with Jean Pascal for January 30th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Should both win, they are expected to take part in separate fights in the summer and then collide in the fall.
Sanchez feels strongly that Ward's inactivity over the last four years will play a significant role in the outcome of such a fight. He say Ward should have been active instead of sitting on the bench for big offers. Although much of Ward's inactivity was in part to his legal battle to break his contract with late promoter Dan Goossen, many felt he should have remained active during that period.
“Kovalev beats him. Now, if it had been after the Super Six when Andre ward busy, was active and was sharp, then I would say that yeah it’s a good fight. At this point, Kovalev is just on a roll and Andre is sitting back waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone to knock on the door and say ‘here’s a whole ton of money to fight’ when you haven't fought, when in four years you’ve fought only twice. What would Kovalev do to Paul Smith?,” Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.
