I wish people would really analyze boxing... I'm worried about Ward v Kovalev

Too bad you're forgetting one thing. When Calzaghe beat Kessler, everyone here called Kessler a bum. So how does he go from being a bum for Calzaghe to a great win for ward? I said kessler in response to your saying froch is the only name. I don't think kessler is an atg but by no means a bum. And as im sure you are aware, people's opinions on here don't pass for gospel. A great win and a solid win over a solid fighter are 2 different things. I wasn't involved in your discussion about ward v hopkins resume and i agree b hops resume is far and away better, but to say ward has fought all bums or only has fought froch is misleading.

Except kessler who was the incumbent champ and also beat froch. He also dominated lhw champ chad dawson which is pretty legit tho dawson was drained Too bad you're forgetting one thing. When Calzaghe beat Kessler, everyone here called Kessler a bum. So how does he go from being a bum for Calzaghe to a great win for ward?

Hopkins struggled with Jermaine Taylor, and then years later, went on to beat Pavlik, Tarver, etc. Ward has beaten nobody but Froch. Nobody thought much of anyone in the Super Six until ward won it. Before that tourny, nobody ever made a peep about the guys at 168 unless it was to bash Joe Calzaghe for not fighting anyone at 168. They said the same thing about Joe at 168 that they say about GGG now. "There is nobody at 168, Joe should move up to prove hes great". Exit Joe, enter andre. Andre wins SS and suddenly, 168 is the deepest division in the history of boxing? lol. And lets be serious, Barrera is fvcking garbage. Nobody had even heard of him until ward signed to fight him, and now hes better than guys who have been at the championship level for years? Fvck outta here. Except kessler who was the incumbent champ and also beat froch. He also dominated lhw champ chad dawson which is pretty legit tho dawson was drained

This isnt the same Ward that won the middleweight tournament he had surgery plus Kovalev is bigger and stronger

I changed my stance after Ward/Barrera. I think Ward beats Kovalev by UD. It might be an ugly, boring fight at times but Ward's the real deal.

When Ward was set to fight Barrera, I said that he'd have ring rust. Some posters decried that prediction. He claimed on the HBO spots advertising the fight, that he and Virgil have been staying busy in the gym during his time away. After the Barrera fight, Andre admitted that time away affected him. One more fight won't be enough to prepare him for Kovalev. I expect a delay until next year.

I think Ward should fight Fonfara first but that's just me. I wouldn't like to see him go after Kovalev first.

It all depends on Ward to be honest. We know what Kovalev brings to the table. Ward on the other hand, didn't look as good as some people on here try to convince you. He needs to be on his absolute a game in this fight, anything less and he'll hit the canvas sooner rather than later.

Huh? Barrera landed 19% of his punches. Ward landed 44%. Ward was the light-skinned black guy not the dark-skin one speaking Spanish. I don't know what fight you were watching but he didn't hit him clean n hard even ten times 15% And actually watching it live n several times his defense was crisp His timing on counters was a lil off...could tell he was trying certain punches, pivots etc See what I mean, exaggerated made up percentages which just aren't true.

Just rewatched his most recent fight vs Barrera and he consistently threw wide counters to keep Barrera off of him. He was hit cleanly increasingly well throughout the fight and this could bring bad news vs Kovalev who may not be the greatest boxer, but can make fighters pay for mistakes. If Ward overcompensated for size differential vs Barrera (and didn't truly phase him with power) is this a sign that he won't hold up in deeper waters? About damn time people opened their eyes and realized Mr.Ward was being hit quite often by Barrera this seems to be the fanboy idea If they like someone they try to deny whatever good work his opposition did and play it down as "It was all on the gloves, body shots don't count" You know what I'm saying is true as well, Ward fans to me are easily the most brainwashed, deluded and biased fans around look at Wards face after the fight there is no way that Barrera only landed 19% of his punches he likely landed way above that and as per usual the fanboys buy into the compubias because this time it fits their agenda. I noticed another thing in the highlights and actual fight, Ward held as much as he could but it was pretty effective with Barrera doing some good work on the inside but no word from the biased commentary on that who are trying to hype a fight between him and Kovalev.

There's an odd skew with Ward fights. If he gets hit AT ALL, people think he's looking terrible. Kovalev not only gets hit more, by lower level competition, but his connect rate is not as high as Andre's. This isn't some end boss in a video game where he touches you and you're dead. Let's get some perspective here. Not an easy fight for either guy but Ward taking less than 20% from Kovalev's mandatory isn't anything worrying. Kovalev took more shots (%) from a broken down Pasqual. Maybe in the first fight, but not the rematch. Kovalev destroyed Pascal the second time around without taking much punishment at all in return.

I've been among the best posters since I joined lolololol When someone states what a great forum member he is, you know he's a real winner. I'm embarrassed that I post here so I guess that makes me one of the worst posters since I started here. I'm ok with that.

too bad you're in the minority of people who feel that way you arent a good poster bruh You have a friends list of a grand total of 2, which is pretty indictive of what people think about you as a poster. Don't look at mine, you might cry.

Kovalev is the one being written off,he did what he had to do against hopkins,win on work rate behind the jab controlling the older man without taking risks but doing enough to win the rounds ward wont be happy just to survive like hopkins did he will open up and that will be his undoing, froch landed bombs on pascal flush and pascal didnt even blink...kovalev is most likely the hardest hitting p4p fighter on the planet.youll soon see I doubt even froch"cast iron chin super middle" could make it past 5 with kovalev bwcause froch would go to war I stopped reading there.....All you have to do is read the posts on this site and it reveals otherwise. No one is short changing Kov....we know he is a beast but since Ward isnt a ko artist people dont see him as a threat to Kov After...that statement I read the rest and ...... Froch could box, bang and war when he needed too and didnt war all the time. No name Agnew made it past 6 rounds...so have other no names made it to 5 or later He is one of the hardest hitters in the sport but he is more an accumulative type. Matthysse, Klitschko, GGG and arguably stevenson have more real ko, one punch kos anyway. Kov doesnt just blitz you he breaks you down and takes your soul

technically the champion is stevenson regardless or who likes it or not. He beat the champion. I never down played Kovalev, I said this fight is no worse than 60/40 for either fighter. I pointed out both of their flaws. You may want to actually read my posts instead of assume just because you didnt see me say " Kovalev Krushes Ward" obviously i dont think much of kov, right? Wrong I like both fighters and this is the fight im waiting for. the difference is, people picking Ward are actually explaining why and giving an assessment. Majority of the people saying Kov do not and all they say is " he batters ward"..."he knocks him out" blah blah how and why. Whats the strengths and weaknesses of the fighters? they dont give any assessment Of course his resume at 175 is better than Ward's, he is a career light heavyweight Wards overall resume is better than Kovalevs. He unified titles like Kov but also became the lineal champion one division(168) and is competing in a 3rd division(he started at middleweight) Kovalev is the one being written off,he did what he had to do against hopkins,win on work rate behind the jab controlling the older man without taking risks but doing enough to win the rounds ward wont be happy just to survive like hopkins did he will open up and that will be his undoing, froch landed bombs on pascal flush and pascal didnt even blink...kovalev is most likely the hardest hitting p4p fighter on the planet.youll soon see I doubt even froch"cast iron chin super middle" could make it past 5 with kovalev bwcause froch would go to war

I've been among the best posters since I joined and have forgotten about more than you'll ever know. too bad you're in the minority of people who feel that way you arent a good poster bruh

Barrera is 34 years old and this was only his second 12 round fight. The big win on his record is a 5th round TKO of Murat (which was a questionable stoppage, IMO). Barrera didn't embarrass himself going the distance and he was a good opponent for Ward to test the waters at LHW. Ward fought well at times but he might benefit from a couple more fights with better opposition before Kovalev.

Hopkins struggled beating Karo Murat in '13, the same Murat that Ward wanted a tuneup against & got bashed on NSB for it lmao. You don't go from struggling with Karo Murat to beating Ward 2 years later, especially when you're already on the decline from being in your late 40's. Barrera is a much better W than either Hopkins or Pascal, he's better & more dangerous than anyone Kov. has fought & he was merely a tuneup for Ward. Hopkins struggled with Jermaine Taylor, and then years later, went on to beat Pavlik, Tarver, etc. Ward has beaten nobody but Froch. Nobody thought much of anyone in the Super Six until ward won it. Before that tourny, nobody ever made a peep about the guys at 168 unless it was to bash Joe Calzaghe for not fighting anyone at 168. They said the same thing about Joe at 168 that they say about GGG now. "There is nobody at 168, Joe should move up to prove hes great". Exit Joe, enter andre. Andre wins SS and suddenly, 168 is the deepest division in the history of boxing? lol. And lets be serious, Barrera is fvcking garbage. Nobody had even heard of him until ward signed to fight him, and now hes better than guys who have been at the championship level for years? Fvck outta here.

from idiot posters like you. You probably were one to put them there....idk....all that rep and symbols on this site doesnt indicate the quality of the poster or their posts so sit your simple azz down. You are one of the worst posters on this site and know very little about boxing. You come to troll and you roll out. Thats cool, go find some traffic to play in scrub I've been among the best posters since I joined and have forgotten about more than you'll ever know.

The Barrera fight wasn't the performance of his career but he put in a perfectly fine performance against a reasonable opponent who was a legit LHW. It's not proof he'll beat Kovalev but I think it's progress in the right direction. It's good that Ward is planning to get in another fight because I'd like to see more of him at this weight. As far as coming into a fight with relatively few fights over the last couple years goes, his performance is up there. He handled the power well, put Barrera on the canvas, and looked pretty good defensively. Reasonable opponent are you on crack Barrera was so dam green no one in their dam right mind would even call him a prospect,guy is club fighter at best and even that is an insult to club fighters because they come to fight hard