by David P. Greisman

Ronnie Shields has prepared fighters to face Andre Ward before. And like every trainer who’s cornered a boxer against Ward for close to two decades now, Shields came up short.

Sakio Bika dropped a wide decision to Ward in 2010. Edwin Rodriguez also lost clearly on the scorecards in 2013.

“Edwin said, ‘Man, I can’t hit him flush,’” Shields recalled. “He does so many different things in the ring that make it difficult for any fighter. He frustrates you in a lot of ways. Edwin said, ‘I can’t figure this dude out.’ We worked on everything that you can actually work on in the gym for Andre Ward. He’s just such a hard guy to fight.”

Shields has tremendous respect for Ward and is excited for his bout tonight with Sergey Kovalev. The respected trainer feels that Ward will leave with Kovalev’s three world titles.

“I really like Andre Ward. He’s been one of my favorite fighters for a very long time. I went against him a couple of times. He’s just such a hard guy to fight. On the outside looking in, it don’t look that hard, but on the inside looking out it’s so tough to fight him. He’s just the most awkward guy in the world. He’s a hard to hit kind of guy. Kovalev is going to find that out very early in the fight,” Shields said.

“He’s going to find out it’s really hard to fight Andre. But it’s going to be a good fight. Kovalev has been at 175 for a while, he’s going to be the bigger guy, but I think Andre’s the most experienced guy that he’s ever been in the ring with. He’s going to see how tough it is.”

Kovalev has scored knockouts in 26 of his 30 victories. Shields thinks Ward will be able to handle Kovalev’s power.

“I think a lot of people underestimate Andre Ward’s chin,” Shields said. “He’s been hit by some of the best super middleweights in the world. He always seems to come through, even though he’s been hit by some good punchers.”

But the storyline isn’t just about Ward with Kovalev’s power, but about Kovalev with Ward’s style and skills.

“Kovalev may get in a hit or two, but I don’t think he’s going to hurt him. Andre’s the type of guy, you hit him and he’s going to fire back at you. He’s going to make you do some things you don’t want to do. Andre is going to make it a real ugly fight and do things to Kovalev that he’s never going to seen before. That’s going to be frustrating to Kovalev,” Shields said.

In the end, Shields said, the bout will go the full 12 rounds, with Ward taking the decision.

“Andre’s not the biggest puncher. But you don’t have to be a big puncher in order to be one of the best fighters in the world,” Shields said. “For me, the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world is Andre Ward.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com