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I know I will get hate for this but imo Golovkin's team was smart to turn down the Ward fight and ask for cw, because Ward would have completely embarrassed Golovkin at 168 and ended all his hype. Not a Golovkin hater or Ward fanboy here, just speaking as a boxing fan. Barrera gave Golovkin extremely competitive sparring according to insiders and Ward toyed with this guy in his first fight at 175 after a long lay off. Ward would have given Golovkin a million different looks/angles, confused him, manhandled him and countered him. Physically too big and strong as well. SOG is in a complete different galaxy physically and skill wise to anyone Triple G has faced.
Kovalev would be a much harder fight because Kovalev is bigger and more explosive than both Golovkin or Froch. Tonight Ward looked good but he was coming off a long lay-off and is fighting at a new weight, he wasn't as sharp or confident as he could have been. This is probably why Kovalev's team wants the Ward fight ASAP this year because they know that Ward needs time to adjust to the lay-off and new weight.
But IMO Ward at his absolute best does have the skills to squeeze out a narrow decision victory over Kovalev. Unlike Hopkins, physically Ward is a man in his prime and is nearly impossible to catch cleanly. Kovalev is more skilled than Prime Froch though and even more heavy-handed so Ward would have to fight the fight of his life and be absolutely perfect from start to finish. It would be fascinating to watch the styles clash. But looking at films I just feel that Ward at 100% just has too many tricks up his sleeve and would edge it out in a life-and-death type of fight.
If I was Ward though, I would definitely take one more fight before the Kovalev fight, ideally against Stevenson or Gonzalez. These are much easier fights for Ward that he should dominate and will finally prepare him for his mega showdown vs the Russian.
Ward vs Kovalev is the real Fight of the Century, USA vs Russia, SOG vs Krusher, and the winner will be the new P4P King.
Kovalev would be a much harder fight because Kovalev is bigger and more explosive than both Golovkin or Froch. Tonight Ward looked good but he was coming off a long lay-off and is fighting at a new weight, he wasn't as sharp or confident as he could have been. This is probably why Kovalev's team wants the Ward fight ASAP this year because they know that Ward needs time to adjust to the lay-off and new weight.
But IMO Ward at his absolute best does have the skills to squeeze out a narrow decision victory over Kovalev. Unlike Hopkins, physically Ward is a man in his prime and is nearly impossible to catch cleanly. Kovalev is more skilled than Prime Froch though and even more heavy-handed so Ward would have to fight the fight of his life and be absolutely perfect from start to finish. It would be fascinating to watch the styles clash. But looking at films I just feel that Ward at 100% just has too many tricks up his sleeve and would edge it out in a life-and-death type of fight.
If I was Ward though, I would definitely take one more fight before the Kovalev fight, ideally against Stevenson or Gonzalez. These are much easier fights for Ward that he should dominate and will finally prepare him for his mega showdown vs the Russian.
Ward vs Kovalev is the real Fight of the Century, USA vs Russia, SOG vs Krusher, and the winner will be the new P4P King.
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