Comments Thread For: Paul Smith: Andre Ward Beats Kovalev By Wide Margin

[Mr. Philadel]

Nope sorry. Kovalev blasts ward out of the park.
especially now in his career. How can anyone favour ward? Inactive thinking about retirement. Beating Paul Smith wow.

Kovalev is a man on a mission
deal with it

[Weebler I]

Ward is the second best P4P fighter in boxing....favoring him over anybody under cruiserweight is very logical....ask Max Kellerman

I don't think he has been that for a while, certainly his performance against Smith wasn't indicative of it.

[Ryn0]

I completely agree, there isn't anyone from 160-175 I'd pick over Ward though.

[d-kazi7]

Agree 100%! I think we have seen much more impressive work from Kov than ward to date. Ward had a good super6 then a short while later dissolved into the ether only to be seen on occasion facing 3rd tier opposition. Kovalevs reputation and market value has grown and grown and he's beaten a better fighter in BHop than the likes of Chad dawson and the other super6ers.....and he beat Hopkins with relative ease.....this is a fighter harder to hit and more cunning and experienced than Andre....oh well it will all be evident come fight night........I just hope sergeys fan friendly ko style beats Andres hit,headbutt,hold.

Chad Dawson beat Hopkins with ease too.. So? Kov is good but the only thing people talk about is his punch. That's how you know a fighter only has one tool in the tool box. Ward might not be a puncher, but he's the better fighter. He beat the very best at 168lbs, now you say he's fighting 'stiffs'?! Who was Kovs last opponent? Just curious.. Rodriguez, the fight before Smith, was the next best SMW.. Smith was a tune up after a layoff.

[mathed]

If they ever step in the ring, Smith predicts Ward will win a twelve round decision - and a very wide one.

"I actually thought Nathan Cleverly would beat Kovalev because he has such a good chin. But Kovalev just took him out, which surprised me, and he’s improved a lot since."
- Paul Smith

Smith, ask yourself why he didn't just fight him at 175 instead of fighting you at 172 when he came back? Why is he so reluctant to move to 175? He ends up like Cleverly if he fights Kovalev, that's why.

[Slowhand]

Chad Dawson beat Hopkins with ease too.. So? Kov is good but the only thing people talk about is his punch. That's how you know a fighter only has one tool in the tool box. Ward might not be a puncher, but he's the better fighter. He beat the very best at 168lbs, now you say he's fighting 'stiffs'?! Who was Kovs last opponent? Just curious.. Rodriguez, the fight before Smith, was the next best SMW.. Smith was a tune up after a layoff.

Nope. That´s how you know most (at least casual) boxing fans DKSAB.

[MDPopescu]

Paul Smith: "Andre Ward Beats Kovalev By Wide Margin"...

Yes, sure: Ward beats Kovalev by wide margin until the precise moment when he gets knocked out cold.

[mathed]

Nope. That´s how you know most (at least casual) boxing fans DKSAB.

The way I look at it, if the guy only has power, is a one-trick pony so to speak, then it seems like his opponents might need to work on their defensive capabilities a bit more because they all get KTFO.

When BHOP has the kind of respect for a guy that he has for Kovalev, you know the guy is much better than BHOP thought he was before they fought.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Ward fans like to think he shuts out everybody, but he really doesn't. Abraham had success in the first half of the fight and was even out landing him. The Abraham jab was giving him trouble, the Kovalev jab is even better than that. Froch was the opposite of Abraham. I know Ward fans like to think he completely shut-out Froch, but Froch was coming on strong in the second half. Sakio Bika had success as well in an extremely dirty fight and landed like 200 punches on Ward.
Edwin Rodriguez was holding his own, until the referee threaten to DQ him.

Ward getting rocked by a nonpuncher at around 6:40 mark.


Ward is not going to try to box like his fans think. There is no way Ward fights from the outside, he's going to want to hold and smother Kovalev. Kovalev is going to have to man-handle him when ever Ward gets close. Also, make sure it's not the same referee from the Edwin fight, because he'll threaten to DQ Kovalev while allowing Ward to continue with his dirty crap.

[turnedup]

Not 100% sure about this regardless of Ward's ranking/standing. We are going based off what Ward showed years ago, how has the layoff affected his punch resistance? How is he going to handle the power of a legit 175lb fighter, one who we know is not threatened by Ward's punching power. There are a lot of intangibles here and we have yet to see Ward fight in the division and see how handles not being the more powerful fighter. We need to see more of him there in order to speak on that with any level of accuracy. Can Andre box? Yeah but he's going to be getting punched back and therein lays the trouble. Kovalev can also set up his shots and he's really sneaky in setting up his body punches. How is Ward going to handle getting his body drilled constantly for 12 rounds and what happens if those punches take out enough from him to make him more stationary? Time will tell.