Ward/Kovalev 2...who wins?

[powerpuncher]

Ward showed that he can adjust well. It's tough for me to see ward not starting out where he left off. He is a great fighter. I regard Kovalev very highly also, but I just don't see Kovalev being able to adjust as well as ward can.

I think ward wins in the eyes of the fans but the judges will score it for Kovalev to force a trilogy

[Hulk]

As others have already said, Ward is the smarter boxer and will likely make the adjustments to avoid the early ass kicking he took in the first fight. It will resemble Barrera vs Juarez 2 or Mayweather vs. Castillo 2. The smart boxer usually plays it safe in the rematch. That said, Kovalev is a hellacious puncher and no dummy himself. I'll be rooting for Kovalev to right the wrong decision in their first match.

[Spicoli]

All in on Kovalev stopping him.

[powerpuncher]

I honestly used to be a huge ward fan, and I am still kind of a fan but he is such a diva. He had potential to be an ATG easily. I think that he could have been known as the best SMW ever.

Now, being a Kovalev fan, I want Kovalev to knock him out to maybe make ward less of a diva.

[Dark Lord Al]

If Kovalev uses his jab a lot to set up his power shots he will win.
He threw to many single shots from range last time , you don't beat Ward winging single power shots.

[Fenster]

What's all this Kovalev racist stuff about? I remember the monkey t-shirt Stevenson thing, but assumed it was most likely a cultural misunderstanding, Russia doesn't do PC. Many fans/media/reporters talk about him like he's a Klan member or something, is there evidence of him openly hating black bods?

[Master]

What's all this Kovalev racist stuff about? I remember the monkey t-shirt Stevenson thing, but assumed it was most likely a cultural misunderstanding, Russia doesn't do PC. Many fans/media/reporters talk about him like he's a Klan member or something, is there evidence of him openly hating black bods?

They used John David Jackson as proof he was not racist.

[TitoFan]

What's all this Kovalev racist stuff about? I remember the monkey t-shirt Stevenson thing, but assumed it was most likely a cultural misunderstanding, Russia doesn't do PC. Many fans/media/reporters talk about him like he's a Klan member or something, is there evidence of him openly hating black bods?

They used John David Jackson as proof he was not racist.

If only racism were that easily defined. I'll bet a lot of subtly racist people deflect their own racism by pointing to someone like Kov.

[Kirkland Laing]

What's all this Kovalev racist stuff about? I remember the monkey t-shirt Stevenson thing, but assumed it was most likely a cultural misunderstanding, Russia doesn't do PC. Many fans/media/reporters talk about him like he's a Klan member or something, is there evidence of him openly hating black bods?

http://www.boxingscene.com/roc-natio...emarks--116923

I knew I'd read something recently. I'm sure he actually said something similar about another black boxer too.

[Kirkland Laing]

All in on Kovalev stopping him.

If you were putting money on it you'd be betting on Ward though. I think Kovalev had his chance in the first fight when he floored him but he couldn't finish it. I don't think Ward gives him another chance and will bore his way to a decision.

I was going to give it a miss as I'm going away for a few days but now it looks like I can't go till Sunday so I'll now spend twelve rounds hoping Kovalev manages to land something and almost certainly being disappointed.

[Freedom]

Why Andre Ward is unpopular:

1. He is a very privileged boxer. He was given home advantage for all his Super Six fight, and was even awarded points when he skipped a round in the tourney. Everyone else had to travel.

2. He sued his dying promoter, Goossen was a Christian who did everything he could for Andre.

3. Ward is a dirty fighter, and has home refs who permit him to use illegal tactics while admonishing his opponents for the slightest reason (sometimes for no reason). He hit Mikkel Kessler with obviously deliberate head butts, and Kessler's eye was damaged.

4. Hypocrisy. He pretends to be a Christian, while lying a lot and being an extremely selfish, hateful person. Calls himself the "Son of God" with a smug arrogance and an egotistical smirk. Would a real Christian deliberately injure another boxer with illegal head butts?

5. He has a feeling of entitlement. He seems to believe he's God's gift to the sport of boxing.

6. He demands all the advantages including home advantage for every fight. He's a poor sport, will use anything he can to win, because he doesn't really have world-class power, speed, and technical skills.

7. Whines and bitches about racism and all the disadvantages he's had, while being the luckiest and most privileged boxer in the world. Will not be honest about how his "arm-clamp, wrestle and clinch" style turns people off.

8. Corrupt judges gave him an undeserved decision win in Ward-Kovalev I.

[imp]

Freedom,

Ignoring all the Christian bollocks and all the crap outside the ring..Ward is still undefeated inside the ring..judge his boxing skills and his excellent WWE hugging style.

His style is not for everyone but let's not start talking about moral high ground when all these so called Christian and Muslim boxers are in the most brutal sport on earth.

They're all a bunch hypocrites.

Get over it.

[powerpuncher]

What's all this Kovalev racist stuff about? I remember the monkey t-shirt Stevenson thing, but assumed it was most likely a cultural misunderstanding, Russia doesn't do PC. Many fans/media/reporters talk about him like he's a Klan member or something, is there evidence of him openly hating black bods?

http://www.boxingscene.com/roc-natio...emarks--116923

I knew I'd read something recently. I'm sure he actually said something similar about another black boxer too.

I'm sure that Kovalev is a bit racist but a language barrier is always a problem. Coming from somebody who learned a second language, a lot of vulgarities don't have the same meaning to me and seem a lot less harmful. I'm guessing that in russian he wouldn't be as harsh. That's just my opinion though

[Ron Swanson]

I think if people traveled to Russia they would understand that none of Kovalev's racism is by accident. And there is far far more going on than is being talked about.

[J_Undisputed]

Ward put on muscle for this fight. Presumably to try to up his punch resistance (neck and shoulder exercises) and bull Kovalev around the ring once he clamps on to him. He's hoping that looking like the stronger fighter during the hugs makes him look like the aggressor and not like hes hiding from kovalev in the clinches and somehow swing the rounds more in his favor without actually doing any more work than he did before. Look for Ward to start the hug and slug early and play a carefully orchestrated but seeming aggressive all out ambush early (he'll throw big shots on the inside and from safe angles). Presumably at the last 20 seconds of the 1st (only if he feels hes confident in believing he has an accurate sample of kovalev) or 2nd round to try and make the statement to kovalev that hes not afraid and set a tone. Only in the last 20-25 seconds (so if he gets clipped, he'll hopefully make it to his feet and then be walked back to his corner to collect himself.) So he ties up Kovalev early, leans on him and pushes him back and tries to work him over in the clinches and try to wear him out early (and conserve his own energy). Kovalev gets most of his offense smothered this way (as his strongest punches tend to be his long straight punches) and unless he learns to get nasty in the clinches, won't deter ward from coming in and spend most of the rounds trying to break free from the Kraken.. The worst will be seeing ward hulk up just to go back to the same tactics.

Kovalevs plan for this fight is to probably grind ward to a halt the way he feels he should have in the first fight. Not a bad plan if Ward was a stand up fighter, but he's not and often times works off of a jab out of a crouch. Kovalev should have spent his time concentrating on fighting while backing up. That is... using his feet to pivot or sidestep to offset wards feint to the body then jab up top and throw to wards body and ribs behind the jab instead of trying to come over the top and head hunting. Stepping back and switching his stance (he does it enough going forward to throw a straight left and then straight right in succession) and throwing the uppercut would also improve his chances.

Still with all of this.. somethings don't change. One of those things is Ward doesn't like to get hit. Seems terrified of it at times, actually. And that alone will still make the rounds close for Kovalev as long as he keeps throwing. The other thing is that Kovalev feels like fighting harder is better than fighting smarter and will try to force it rather than listen to his trainer. I'm not sure i'm interested in watching the next chapter of this clusterf*ck but if Krusher pulls off the improbable and lays out Ward and takes the air out of his fluff, i'll probably watch it on repeat for a solid week.