RingSide Report

World News, Social Issues, Politics, Entertainment and Sports

What Too Look For When Andre Ward Takes On Sergey Kovalev & Winner Prediction!

Do you agree with "Stacks" prediction for Kovalev Vs Ward?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

k-vs-wBy Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña

On Saturday, November 19th the world’s best pound for pound boxer will be crowned at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada as the WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, 30-0-1, 26 KO’s takes the former two time world champion on Andre “S.O.G.” Ward, 30-0, 15 KO’s, in a long awaited 12 round showdown labeled “Pound For Pound.” This mega fight will be only the third time in the history of The Ring Magazine that two pound for pound list undefeated Top 5 ranked fighters have squared off against each other. The first was when Julio Cesar Chavez defeated Meldrick Taylor at the old Las Vegas Hilton in 1990.

The second was Felix Trinidad’s victory over Oscar De La Hoya at Mandalay Bay in 1999. For fight fans, including myself, I’m hoping this fight will make up for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez not fighting “GGG” and for the utter disappointment of last years “Super Fight” between Floyd “Money” Mayweather, JR. and Manny Pacquaio. For Kovalev, like Ward, this will be the first time either fighter has been on the grand stage as they both will be making their PPV debut Saturday night. Could this be the start of a new era in boxing? Well, with the lack of PPV stars let’s hope so.

Now back to Kovalev Vs Ward… Kovalev is a fan friendly, come forward, hard hitting Russian, who has earned the nickname “Krusher” by walking through the likes of Issac Chilemba, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. Kovalev is trained by John David Jackson in Oxnard, California, is managed by Egis Klimas and is eager to prove that he has the power and discipline to defeat Ward. Kovalev, recently stated “Andre Ward’s a huge test for me for the next step in my career, after all this tough road, you get the status of champion and right now I’m champion and I want to kick his ass you know, because like he’s in my way right now to my dreams. My fists are already itching to kick somebody’s ass. Every training camp is tough and somebody should pay for this, you know, in the ring.”

Andre Ward on the other hand is ready to claim another world title, the former super middleweight will be moving up in weight for the fight with the “Krusher”. Ward is as equally distinguished as Kovalev as he has not lost a competitive boxing match since he was 12 years old and is the last US Men’s Boxing Olympic Gold Medalist. Ward is a very technical fighter who has great defense and superb ring generalship. In 2012, Ward was named by the BWAA as the fighter of the year and has big wins over, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham and Chad Dawson on his way to becoming one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world. For Ward, it will be skills Vs power when he battles the heavy handed Russian Kovalev. Ward recently stated at his media workout “I feel that this fight with Kovalev is 50-50. That’s how I approach all of my big fights. I don’t go into the fight thinking; I’ve got a clear cut advantage here or I’ve got to run through this guy.

Personally, for me, I can’t roll like that. I’ve got to keep myself honest, stay on my grind, keep my head down and force myself to keep working. I truly believe Kovalev is everything they say he is, and I’m everything that I’ve shown over the years. There are always different game plans, nuances, different things you’re working on but I respect every fight that I fight. I don’t get caught up in the whole puncher thing, anybody can get you out of there if you get hit right. I don’t think I’d be sitting here in this position right now if I hadn’t had these highs and lows. We’ve got to find a way to get it done, and we’re going to find a way to get it done. I don’t care what he’s got in his gloves, who he’s knocked out or what he’s done. My job is to get my hand raised, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

My prediction in this fight is Ward by decision. Now this wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve gone back and forth several times in my head, but I just think Ward will be the smarter fighter. I think Ward will come in and make this a dirty fight smothering Kovalev’s punches and not giving him a chance to extend his arms. Ward I believe will make adjustments if needed and walk away as a new champion. I also feel that this fight may not bring the fireworks most people are hoping for. I think it will be a technical chess match in that ring Saturday night. I hope I’m wrong. With that being said, I also had a chance to talk to Darnell Boone about the fight and get his insight. As most fight fans know Boone is one of the only fighters that has been in the ring with both Kovalev and Ward. Boone feels Kovalev will pull off the big win over Ward. He believes that Kovalev is the naturally bigger and stronger man and will be more comfortable in the ring come Saturday night. Boone also said Ward is a hell of a boxer and has great skill, but took the fight to soon. He felt that Barrera wasn’t much of a measuring stick for Ward and his team. Boone’s prediction Kovalev by late stoppage or decision.

In the Co-main event Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba, 24-4-2, 10 KO’s will return to the United States on Saturday to face dangerous light heavyweight prospect and NABF Light Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk, 11-0, 9 KO’s in a ten round bout. Chilemba, 29, is a native of Blantyre, Malawi fighting out of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is coming off a hard fought loss against WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. Isaac holds the impressive distinction as only the second fighter in Kovalev’s career to go the full 12 rounds. Gvozdyk is ranked in the top ten by WBC, WBO and IBF and since making his professional debut in 2014, Gvozdyk has defeated the first 11 opponents he has faced, stopping nine of them for an impressive 82% knockout ratio. In his last bout Gvozdyk secured his fifth straight stoppage and made his first successful defense of his NABF Light Heavyweight Title against Tommy Karpency in Las Vegas in July.

Also on the card is rising Dallas, Texas boxing star and NABO Junior Welterweight Champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker, 21-0-2, 16 KO’s as he defends his NABA junior welterweight title against Darleys Perez, 33-2-1, 21 KO’s in a ten-round bout. In his last appearance Hooker wasted no time outperforming Tyrone Barnett, landing a flurry of punches before scoring a technical knockout at the 2:17 mark of the opening round to retain his NABO junior welterweight title. For Perez, he’s coming off a May 20th knockout victory over fellow Colombian Ubadel Soto, in an impressive bounce back fight following a tough title defense loss to Anthony Crolla, in 2015. The veteran fighter, who resides and trains full-time in the U.S., will step up a weight class to meet Hooker.

And to open up the television portion of the night is Curtis “Cerebral Assassin” Stevens, 28-5, 21 KO’s when he takes on James “The King” De La Rosa, 23-4, 13 KO’s in a ten-round middleweight showdown. Stevens, 31, of Brooklyn returned to the ring on May 7th of this year and stopped previously undefeated Brazilian prospect Patrick Teixeira in the second round on the undercard of Canelo Vs Khan.

The victory over Teixeira catapulted Stevens back into the ranking of all four sanctioning bodies, including top ten ratings in both the IBF and WBC. He is hoping to continue that momentum and secure another shot at the middleweight title. De La Rosa, 28, is originally from Mexico but now resides in San Benito, Texas. His most recent win was a unanimous decision upset over former title contender Alfredo Angulo on the undercard of Mayweather Vs Maidana. De La Rosa has suffered two back to back losses since his win over Angulo but both have come at the hands of two previously undefeated prospects in Hugo Centeno,JR. and Jason Quigley.

Other Bouts include:

Botirsher Obidov, 6-0-1, 2 KO’s Vs Bakhram Murtazaliev, 6-0, 4 KO’s (Middleweight).

Vincent Jennings, 5-2-1, 4 KO’s Vs Tyler McCreary, 11-0, 6 KO’s (Featherweight).

Brice Ritani Coe, 4-4-1, 3 KO’s Vs Darmani Rock, 5-0, 4 KO’s (Heavyweight).

Sonny Fredrickson, 14-0, 9 KO’s Vs Gabriel Duluc, 11-1, 2 KO’s (Super Lightweight).

Henry Beckford, 4-5, 1 KO Vs Meirim Nursultanov (Debut) (Middleweight).

Claressa Shields (Debut) Vs Franchon Chews (Debut) (Middleweight).

[si-contact-form form=’2′]

Leave a Reply