Comments Thread For: Stevenson: Ward needs 2-3 more to have 50-50 chance vs. Kovalev

[elfag]

Maybe just one more, but that guy needs to have the ability to test Ward. If the HBO feud with Haymon is over, then there are plenty of fighters to choose from! If the feud is active, then I don't know. Maybe Vyacheslav Shabranskyy? Who is his promoter?

this, ward fighting these cans while hes only getting older isnt doing anything for him skill wise. He should be fighting better quality guys. I think he beats Kolev but a lot of that is based on chit ward did years ago, with the assumption that hes retained a lot of that.

[elfag]

I don't think you can fully credit kovalev for the Hopkins victory. A lot of credit should be given to jdj. Jdj fought Hopkins plus he worked a few camps and fights aside brother ****m for Hopkins. I give kovalev much props for being able to do everything he was instructed to do and staying mentally focused in the Hopkins fight. But if jdj was not his trainer I think the fight would have been different. I'm by no means saying kovalev would have lost but I think the margin of victory would not have been as wide.
In all fairness I predicted Hopkins to win. Kovalev gained a truck load of respect from me after that fight. But ward is not Hopkins and I don't think jdj can give kovalev as good of a game plan for ward like he did Hopkins. Nor do I think anyone outside of ward and Virgil Hunter has any clue as to how ward is going to fight kovalev.
If the fight goes the distance and kovalev does ward how he did Hopkins then there is no denying or questioning his boxing IQ or abilities. Full credit should be given to him and very little to jdj because ward is going to make kovalev make adjustments mid round if he's going to beat ward via decision.

hopkins was 50. 50


how much credit do you think he should be given for beating a 50 year old former career middleweight? taylor did that 10+ years ago

[Decepticus]

My take is that ward will never fight Kovalev. He will take another well deserved tune up and he will hang them up... or return to 168 in order to fight the guy he first ducked -- Bute... when Bute will be 38 or 39...

According to Kathy Duva, the contract signed by Ward with HBO before the Barrerea fight forces him to fight Kovalev within 3 fights. After his 2nd fight is done, only retirement or injury can stop the Kovalev fight from happening. He can't fight anyone else.

An interesting move was when Ward basically faked an injury (swollen knee) to cancel the Murdock/Brand fight and sign up for Barrera. It seems like he knew he needed serious tuneups to prepare for Kovalev so I'm hopeful Ward will fight Kovalev soon.

[aboutfkntime]

I don't think you can fully credit kovalev for the Hopkins victory. A lot of credit should be given to jdj. Jdj fought Hopkins plus he worked a few camps and fights aside brother ****m for Hopkins. I give kovalev much props for being able to do everything he was instructed to do and staying mentally focused in the Hopkins fight. But if jdj was not his trainer I think the fight would have been different. I'm by no means saying kovalev would have lost but I think the margin of victory would not have been as wide.
In all fairness I predicted Hopkins to win. Kovalev gained a truck load of respect from me after that fight. But ward is not Hopkins and I don't think jdj can give kovalev as good of a game plan for ward like he did Hopkins. Nor do I think anyone outside of ward and Virgil Hunter has any clue as to how ward is going to fight kovalev.
If the fight goes the distance and kovalev does ward how he did Hopkins then there is no denying or questioning his boxing IQ or abilities. Full credit should be given to him and very little to jdj because ward is going to make kovalev make adjustments mid round if he's going to beat ward via decision.

Also, guess who will be in Ward's ear during the buildup to that fight ?

Hopkins has Ward on speed-dial, they are good friends.

I don't think Team Ward will have too many surprises come fight-night, and like you said, Kovalev will have to adjust (probably continually) during that fight.

[-Kev-]

Fight one more time in the summer, then Kovalev in the fall. Ward has been there and done that. Froch, Kessler, Abraham were all good punchers and good fighters in their prime when Ward beat them.

[HAY-B]

hopkins was 50. 50


how much credit do you think he should be given for beating a 50 year old former career middleweight? taylor did that 10+ years ago

He should be given some credit because there's a slew of top lhw's that have zero chance of beating hopkins even at 50.