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

[TheUptownKid]

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.thousands]

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?

Huh? Barrera landed 19% of his punches. Ward landed 44%. Ward was the light-skinned black guy not the dark-skin one speaking Spanish.

[Baltimore]

Huh? Barrera landed 19% of his punches. Ward landed 44%. Ward was the light-skinned black guy not the dark-skin one speaking Spanish.

[_Maxi]

Huh? Barrera landed 19% of his punches. Ward landed 44%. Ward was the light-skinned black guy not the dark-skin one speaking Spanish.

Is it too hard to understand? Kovalev is no Barrera. If Kovalev lands some of the power punches that Barrera landed, Ward could go down easily.

[Doctor_Tenma]

I'm not even worried about that, it goes to show that one has to be active in this sport and coming off of a sparring session didn't help either. He looked considerably slower on his feet, his upper body movement wasn't all there either, I have no doubt that Ward at his best would have looked far more dominant.

[therealpugilist]

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?

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

[Redd Foxx]

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.

[HarvardBlue]

Ward is in for a tough fight with Kovalev. He has to be near perfect to pull off the victory.

[BrometheusBob.]

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.

[Chollo Vista]

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?

I saw it too.

It's really simple. Unless Ward makes a vast improvement before the Kovalev fight, he's in trouble.