This weekend’s big rematch ended dramatically as Andre Ward decisively beat Sergey Kovalev to retain the light-heavyweight belts he had previously won.
The fight was close and competitive for the first 5-6 rounds, which was no surprise. Ward used good movement and forced Kovalev around inside with clinching although he did get caught with good jabs from Sergey and the occasional right hand.
In the previous fight
Sergey seemed to gas out after the 6th round, and the same thing almost appeared to happen last night. At a certain point Ward began to become more confident with his power shots that were starting to increase in volume and accuracy.
Kovalev was hurt to the body first, with many claiming that he was hit with illegal low blows many times, but nevertheless the referee didn’t call any fouls and ended up stopping the fight after Kovalev bucked over and sank backwards into the ropes after receiving numerous body shots from Ward.
What’s next for Ward?
In the post fight interview, Ward said he might consider moving up to crusierweight or even heavyweight and get another. When asked my HBO’s Max Kellermen, he wouldn’t even rule out a fight with Anthony Joshua. “I dream big… Anything is possible.” To put that in perspective, Joshua is six inches taller and at least sixty pounds heavier. It would be an insanely ballsy move for Ward to take on a heavyweight that big and strong, who has so much power.
I’d personally like to see a unification bout with fellow title holder Adonis Stevenson, but it feels like that one will never happen. If you’ve seen Ward in interviews, he is quick to mention that a boxer’s prime years only last so long and when the clock stops, you don’t get it back. Ward has seen many of the great Hall of Famers who are now punch-drunk and living a sad existence, so he purposefully doesn’t want to end up that way.
For this, I give him a lot of credit as way too many fighters refuse to hang up the gloves even when they are long past their prime. Roy Jones is currently an example of this. On the other side of that is the example of Carl Froch who retired while arguably being in the absolute prime of his career. I think that is actually a very smart move for him and more fighters should follow his lead.
Look for Andre Ward to have no more than two or three fights left in his career, and expect them to all be fairly big names. He wants to seal up his legacy and hopefully retired undefeated and with plenty of money in the bank to retire on.
Pics:
instagram.com/andresogward/