Comments Thread For: "Fighting Words" - Breaking Down 2016's Fighter of the Year Race

[AneesMoha]

Ward had broken his hand in 2 places in training;
‘Early on, the adrenaline was working. But in the sixth round, when I hit him on top of the head, I hit a wall in terms of the pain. But we got through it.’

Pretty amazing thing to consider when you watch back. The ideal thing for Ward is being able to execute a specific gameplan, like he did with Dawson. He set some brilliant traps. People try to pawn that off on "drain" but the techniques that won the fight would have happened at any weight.

IMO, he will have a highly strategized plan for Kovalev. He and Virgil are amazing at that. If JDJ hasn't taught Sergey an effective way to deal with Ward's ability to stay inside or outside of range, Kovalev will get worked over. People think Kov is invincible because they haven't seen him get tired. If Ward gets him tired+frustrated, he owns the fight.

That said, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Kovalev is prepared to throw a wrench in Andre's footwork and hurt him.

Kovalev would have to get to him first. Like you said footwork here is going to be vital. I also think that Kovalev may have the stamina not to get "tired" but I don't know if he has the patience to not get frustrated and end up getting hit with a shot he doesn't see. Also I wonder if Ward has the power to end Kovalev.

I can tell you now that everyone supporting Kovalev is going to be watching thinking that he knocks Ward out.