Comments Thread For: Kovalev To Ward: You Should Call Yourself 'Son of Kovalev'

[HURTFEELINGS]

So you werent trying to do this last time? lol
He's trying to draw attention to this fight and get more views/attention to this fight. And what else can he do? Ward doesnt do anything noteworthy outside of the ring to draw attention to boxing. But he's gonna have 2 victories over Kov and 1 over GGG

[Boxing Logic]

Bout f#cking time for someone to try to build up this fight. Problem is this fight isn't even going to be on PPV apparently so you dummies should have done this last time.

What do you mean? All reports I've seen say it's PPV.

[Eff Pandas]

Yes it is; lol like the third sentence literally says "the HBO PPV fight entitled "No Excuses".."

Brother I read like 25%, at best, of the 100(?) articles a day NSB posts & less when they are random sh^t like this that I barely care about & probably shouldn't lol. Thanks for heads upping me on this being a PPV cuz I'd heard it was going to be on regular HBO awhile back & never noticec that changed til you just pointed it out.

But okay then good for Kovalev for trying to get them some more PPV buys this time around. Ward certainly isn't helping with his nah nah nah boo boo I'm making more money than you bs.

Kovalev needs to go full into a 2017 version of 80's WWF Nicolai Volkoff heel mode.
[IMG]https://media.*****.com/media/ZhuFOIQVcxetG/*****.gif[/IMG]


Kovalev is never going to become a fan favorite despite his more entertaining style as a foreigner in the US so he might as well go bad guy to try to lure in fans who wanna see him lose. Might even help Ward become liked despite Ward's less than appealing personality for boxing & get a rubber match (assuming Kovalev wins the rematch) that could do 300k+ buys.

[Graz]

Man if Kov goes in there this angry and yet focused in a boxing sense...well this might be Kov v Shillakh 2.0. I think that was the last time I saw KOv so pissed.

Hopefully it's not all words and we get some fireworks in this fight. Godk nows boxing needs a big fight that actually delivers.

Agree. I think last time Kovalev thought he was winning comfortably. This time he won't leave anything to chance.

[vitali1999]

Sounds better than son of the devil

[Kigali]

i cant lie this kinda feels like Roy-Tarver

Go tune your banjo Rufus.

[Boxing Logic]

I'm definitely getting the sense that people have forgotten about Kovalev's power. His fight with Chilemba didn't show it as much but I see him coming into this fight looking to KO Ward. I don't know if it's a good idea but I see why he's angry.

He literally was the best light-heavyweight in the world and then because of a controversial decision ( I don't believe it was 7-5 Ward) he loses them all and then got strung around for the rematch negotiations.

I haven't forgotten, but the fact is his last two fights, he's only had a couple rounds in him of fully energized Krusher. Each time it was a different excuse why he tired so easily, so we'll have to see if this time is different. He still beat Ward but it's hard to be sure about him anymore if he's tiring constantly.

See this is how boxing works now. The top punchers have to exist in this bubble against only B-level fighters until they're 32, because no one will fight them during their primes until they at least get paid millions to take the risk, which doesn't happen until the puncher has a big enough name at like 32, 33, 34 years old. And until then, the fights against B-level guys never have VADA testing or anything because they're not big fights.

Then the puncher finally gets a big name to fight him at age 32, 33, 34, and for the first time there is drug testing. The big name opponent invariably is allowed to hold and foul all night, and the puncher doesn't look as good as normal, doesn't throw as many punches as he normally does, and gasses out.

And we're all left to pick up the pieces as boxing fans. We're all left to wonder what happened. Did he just get old? Was the opponent just really good at neutralizing him? Except remember GGG's first performance wasn't against Jacobs, it was against Brook. So was Brook really that much of a problem for GGG? You could argue Jacobs had the tools to neutralize him somewhat, but Brook? A welterweight? That doesn't make sense.

Same with Kovalev. You could have argued Ward is just that good at neutralizing his opponent's offense, except Kovalev's first down performance didn't come against Ward, it came against Chilemba. So once again boxing fans are left to wonder. Is it age with Kovalev, or was Chilemba underrated, or what?

And then of course, the issue of drug testing. Kovalev has been tested for multiple fights I believe by VADA, but still. Neither he or Ward showed a lot of energy to throw many punches last fight. They were both extremely economical with their punch output, which of course is fine with Ward, that's what he wants anyway, but is not what fans who've watched Kovalev throw tons of punches for a light heavyweight before paid to watch, and is not good for boxing.

And then of course you have another factor: meldonium was legal to use when Kovalev was on a complete tear through the division, showing amazing stamina. And if meldonium does have an effect, it's on stamina. Now it is not legal. So one again, fans are left to wonder.

This is why I think boxing is beyond saving in terms of a real competitive, legitimate sport. There will still be big fights, but as we've seen lately, they will almost always end with question marks and asterisks. Boxing fans will never have legitimate outcomes anymore. We will always be left to wonder about the fighters age, because promoters refuse to make the best fights when guys are actually under 30 anymore. We will always be left to wonder about drug testing, and if athletes are using undetectable PEDs, etc etc.

So yeah man, as Kovalev showed when both he and Ward were fresh, Kovalev is way better. Even when Kovalev was tired, all Ward could do was jab, grab, and hit and hold inside. He still couldn't really take advantage from outside except when he surprised Kovalev with some nice upjabs. But that was it. The number of power punches Ward landed to Kovalev's head was probably less than 1 per round. It was an absolutely pathetic display, offensively, from Ward.

So absolutely, if you can guarantee me Kovalev will have a full gas tank, and have energy to throw punches for 12 rounds without having to avoid throwing any combinations all night, or conserving energy, and without his punches visibly slowing down by the 6th round, then absolutely this fight is no contest. Ward honestly never fought another top athlete and A-level boxer his entire career, and the best guys he did fight were smaller guys at 168 where Ward was a weight bully. Against an A-level fighter his size, Ward is far from invincible. No one is, really. Floyd would have had similar problems if he ever fought someone like that in their primes.

But since it's two fights in a row where Kovalev has NOT had a full gas tank, I can't be too confident picking Kovalev. He and his trainer also had a terrible strategy on the inside where Ward went to his body, but he didn't reciprocate. Meaning we know Ward is going to come with every trick in the book, and yeah, if Kovalev also comes with an ideal game plan, Kovalev's best gameplan will beat Ward's best gameplan every time. But are we sure Kovalev's team knows what they're doing? Again I don't know.

On the one hand, Ward got to fight an entire 12 rounds against Kovalev without having his body targeted, and he still lost more rounds than he won. So if Kovalev actually does target Ward's body early and throughout the fight, it could end disastrously for Ward. I mean he already did poorly without that even happening, and it was really his only advantage in the entire fight. What if Kovalev fixes that, what else will Ward have?

But on the other hand, if Kovalev couldn't get to Ward's body for whatever reason in the first fight, who's to say he can in the second? Kovalev is longer, but especially as he started to tire, it was clear that Ward is still faster. Can Kovalev deliver body shots on a faster man without catching a check hook on the way in?

But hey even if he can't, he should still be able to trade body shots with Ward on the inside, and his should do a lot more damage because of the power. That is one way he can definitely go to the body without a big risk.

But again, JDJ didn't show him how to do that for the first fight, so what guarantee do we have that he'll do it in the second?

I think all Kovalev has to do is jab all night from the outside, and even fight going backwards if need be to keep Ward at distance, and make Ward take chances coming forward if he wants to get on the inside. And then if Ward does get inside, just trade body shots with him and he probably won't want to come inside anymore, in which case he has nothing.

Just jab and throw straight punches from the outside. No hooks Ward can duck under and get inside. Nothing but jabs and straight rights down the pipe all night from the outside, and the few times Ward gets inside, dig to the body even if you give up your own a little bit, and let's see if Ward really wants to start trading body shots with the biggest puncher in the division.

If Kovalev just follows that simple gameplan, I think he beats Ward 95 out of 100 times. Ward just doesn't really have the tools to beat that gameplan. But again it's in Vegas, Ward might have the better trainer, the ref will be on his side, the judges on his side, and Kovalev might be overaggressive going for the knockout, he might gas AGAIN since he has been the last two fights, so we'll see. Kovalev is better, as we saw the first fight, but he may be getting old, and either way, he doesn't just have to beat Ward, he has to overcome the ref and the judges too. We'll see what happens.

[Kigali]

Kovalev is gonna' let you down again lil mexi

[Boxing Logic]

Kovalev has a real nasty type of attitude, he got robbed in the 1st one imo, I have no idea who wins this time though. Ward to me isn't as athletic, dynamic with his legs as before his layoff. I think if Ward can return to his Pre layoff form he could possibly beat Kovalev, I think Ward has to make more adjustments and fight a better fight in general.

The trash talking doesn't bother me, it could get uglier but will add to the hype, meaning more sales. I'm really looking forward to this fight.

I don't know. I think if that was Carl Froch in there with Ward again, throwing slow motion punches and cutting off the ring with slow motion footwork, Ward would have looked just as quick and athletic as always. The fact is all those performances of his came against slow guys who made him look that good. Plus, when you go up in weight, it's normal to be slightly slower. The more mass you have, the slower you move. Ward is stronger and bigger now, so even if he is slower, which I don't think he is, he's also in a slower division so it evens out. He's still the fastest light heavyweight in the world. And his performance against Barrera looked the same as his normal performances against that level of fighter at 168. I see no reason why Ward at 32 would be slowing down when he basically had years off to rest and avoid punishment as well. And his style ages extremely well unlike Kovalev's.

[Jim Tom]

Earlier this week, a deal was finally finalized for the highly anticipated rematch between IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight champion Andre "SOG" Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and former title holder Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs).
[Click Here To Read More]

Kovalev has already lost this fight. any chance of a draw he had has already evaporated.