By Cliff Rold
One might find fights that will sell more tickets or draw more money, but for many entrenched boxing fans there is one date on the calendar this year.
November 19.
That’s the Saturday in Las Vegas when unified light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KO) is slated to face former unified and lineal super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KO). It remains to be seen if the fight is a thriller in the ring.
It’s a thrilling wait in the meantime.
Kovalev-Ward is that rare combination of talents where fans, pundits, and experts will be genuinely split heading into the fight. Both men should be at the top of their games, both still undefeated with matching 30-0 marks by then.
What will we get in November? Sometimes fights like this blow us away, exceeding expectations. Think about Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor or Roberto Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard I, nights when men who had risen in weight stamped their legends against younger men of superior physical talent in enduring classics.
Sometimes they serve as one-sided confirmations of singular superiority. Think about Roy Jones-James Toney, Floyd Mayweather-Diego Corrales, or Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad, nights when great fighters showed the world there was a chasm between them and the peers in their realm.
Sometimes, they fail to launch and everyone wonders what all the fuss was about. We won’t know what we have until we see it…but we have to see it. That’s always the mark of something special; anticipation fueled by possibilities without foregone conclusion.
November 19 can’t get here soon enough.
First, it has to get here.
Next Monday, making a home team defense in his native Russia (HBO, 10:15 PM EST/PST), Kovalev has the burden of holding this potential classic together.
Before we get to Kovalev-Ward, Kovalev has to successfully defend against Isaac Chilemba (24-3, 10 KO). He should be able to do that.
What if he doesn’t?
The question isn’t as palpable for Ward’s last stop before the Kovalev contest. Ward will face Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KO) in August. It’s a fight most familiar with Brand scoff at, nodding at Ward’s ability to get HBO to pay for it.
Of the two, Kovalev is at greater risk.
That’s not the same as great risk. Chilemba enters the fight coming off a competitive but clear loss to Eleider Alvarez in a fight most forgot while they were watching it. It was like a lot of Chilemba’s career. Matched with a little better echelon of fighter, he came up short. It was the same story twice against Tony Bellew (a debated draw and loss) and against Thomas Oosthuizen (another debatable draw).
Chilemba, lacking power and sometimes fire in his style, can keep fights close but often fails to make the case as strongly as he could. This, his biggest opportunity to date, will require him to be better than he’s ever been. Kovalev isn’t just a wrecking ball with impressive power. He’s a talented boxer with a nasty jab and a disposition that is endearing in its lack of refinement.
He wants to hurt people and seems to enjoy it. In a hurt business, that’s not a bad thing. So far, he’s been a gamer. When the situation calls for him to impress, Kovalev does. He exploded on the scene by going through still respected former titlist Gabriel Campillo, destroyed undefeated Nathan Cleverly on the road, and went through Jean Pascal twice in Canada.
He doesn’t fade from the moment.
Monday is a moment for him. Chilemba is a low but not no-risk opponent. A top-ten light heavyweight according to (ESPN (#8) and The Ring (#6), Chilemba is fighting with almost nothing to lose. That equation has produced strange results before.
Buster Douglas, Hasim Rahman, and Carlos Baldomir were just ways to pass time on the way to Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah until they weren’t.
Well, Baldomir still wasn’t but it cost Judah some coin.
One wouldn’t expect to find an unfocused or less conditioned Kovalev next Monday, something one could argue was the case in all those upsets. It doesn’t change what Chilemba represents.
He is the obstacle, both to Kovalev in front of him and the fun of the build to come. Can he prove to be a formidable one?
That build to November 19th can’t start in earnest until we get to July 12th.
Cliff’s Notes…
So it seems like we might not get an announcement on Roman Gonzalez potentially challenging Carlos Cuadras until the Gennady Golovkin-Chris Eubank situation is resolved. That has been the pattern for Gonzalez’s last two fights and that’s fine as long as we get what looks like another intriguing Gonzalez clash on HBO…In more flyweight speculation, Juan Francisco Estrada-Donnie Nietes looks more real for September and that’s one to circle if it comes off. Nietes will be looking for a defining win while Estrada would be looking to recharge the buzz he’d generated. Nice fight…So too are a pair or recently signed clashes for Japan. Kohei Kono-Luis Concepcion at 115, and the 118 lb. rematch between Shinsuke Yamanaka and Anselmo Moreno, should both be highly competitive…2016 is recovering nicely.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
