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Normally, Ninth does these threads and waxes poetic about boxing for many a paragraph. Today you've got me.  There are a lot of things we don't get very often in boxing. Fans of boxing are prone to cynicism and it's easy to see why. It seems like promoters, managers and fighters are more often working against us than for us. It's the nature of the game, a brutal sport where every match is a seriously risky outing that's over just as quickly as it started. It lends itself to smoke and mirrors. Not everything is a malicious set up though, some things are just rare to find at all. We only get a few matchups between top fighters in a division each year. Of those, it's rarer that these fights are significant beyond their divisions, that the fighters are some of the best in the sport pound for pound. One more thing we don't get a lot is a truly even match up, a fight where everybody is split on who will win. That's what this is though: A fight between two of the best fighters in the world right now, and it's hard to imagine how they could be more evenly matched going in. More than just that, it's an exciting match up of two fighters who are equally effective, but have very different styles of getting the job done. Let's take a look at our two men going into the ring.  The Challenger: Andre "Son Of God" Ward Andre Ward has been a somewhat overlooked fighter in recent years. Looking at his history though, it's clear he's a really special talent, almost unparalled by any other boxer on the planet. History Ward has a depressingly common backstory as an American fighter. Growing up in a struggling household with both parents dealing with addictions, he turned to boxing as an escape at the age of 9. His trainer, Virgil Hunter, immediately recognized his special intellect and talent. When his household situation grew worse, Andre was adopted by Virgil and continued to dedicate more time to the sweet science. Ward excelled as a young amateur and began to win tournaments and the like. He lost four amateur fights before he turned 14 and after that, he'd only lose one more fight before turning pro. His success continued to the highest level of the amateur game and he became the last American man to win an olympic gold. After that he turned professional. He also became pretty deeply religious around this time, which lead to him getting the alias "Son Of God" or the less impressive sounding S.O.G. He spent the first few years doing what every young American prospect does, building a nice record against journeymen. There was a slight scare when the unheralded Darnell Boone knocked him down, but he pulled through and overtime established himself as a top prospect. In his personal life, he married his longtime highschool sweetheart and began giving back to his community and speaking to schools and going all that goody two shoes poo poo. Things really got going for Ward in The Super Six World Boxing Classic. The Super Six was sort of a strange event in boxing, nothing quite like it happened before and it hasn't been tried again since. The premise was to take six of the best super middleweight fighters and have them fight a round robin tournament. Ward sort of got into this as a wildcard. An untested prospect, he looked a little out of place in the field of fighters who held or formerly held titles at 160 or 168. In quick succession he beat Mikkel Kessler: the top super middleweight after the retirement of Joe Calzaghe Allan Green: A highly rated fighter switching in after another boxer withdrew Sakio Bika: A completely optional fight against a former title holder on the warpath for a career revival Arthur Abraham: A top middleweight fighter who stepped up in weight for the Super Six and would later become a top super middleweight fighter Carl Froch: the clear #2 man in the division who bullied his way to the finals with size and power. After the tournament, Andre Ward was the best fighter at 168lbs and held two titles to prove it. His activity slowed at this point, but his next two fights still deserve a lot of respect. In 2012, the Lineal light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson stepped down in weight to fight Ward and got picked apart. In 2013, He similarly decimated contender Edwin Rodriguez. This is where things get difficult for Ward's career. At this point, he'd cleared his division of legitimate threats and was now having difficulty getting fights for a myriad of reasons. He had some injuries in this time, which took him out of the ring for a bit, but an even bigger deal was a promotional problem, he filed lawsuits against his promoter in an attempt to get away. His promoter passed away after winning several of these lawsuits and this left Andre Ward unable to fight with another promoter while hsi current promoter was unable to promote on the account of no longer being alive. He sat the entirety of 2014 out and only fought one time in 2015. He spent some of this time using his incredible boxing IQ to work as a commentator. Most recently he's got all that stuff figured and has returned to fight at light heavyweight.  Style As I've aluded to, Ward is a very cerebral boxer. He outsmarts his opponents and then outboxes them. He's really good at it. He adapts his style to each opponent and gets really good results out of it. He's a real nice combination of talent and skill, and listening to him talk about boxing is a real treat. As for what he actually does in the ring, he's a boxer, using speed and movement to out work his opponents and take away their strengths. He's not traditionally a knockout fighter, but he can go for the KO when he feels like it. He's got some old school defensive tactics too, he's hard to hit cleanly and regularly frustrates his opponents with his defense. He's also a very effective infighter. He likes to get close, clinch, and roughhouse up close. And it should really be mentioned here, for all the good guy poo poo discussed above, Ward is a dirty fighter. It's a bit subtle, he doesn't hammer low blows constantly or anything, but he does what he needs to win. He regularly headbutts in the clinch, grabs and holds, stiff arms, elbows etc. He's sly about it too, if a ref calls him out for one thing, he'll find a way to do something they won't call him on. Is it fair? Not really, but it is a fight. So why have you never heard of this guy? He's boring. That's reductive, but as a smart fighter he doesn't really go beyond what he needs to win. This has led to some boring decision fights where Ward spends the whole fight on cruise control against an obviously outmatched opponent. Outside the ring, he refuses to really play anything up to the media to hype his fights, he stays fairly respectful and the few times I have seen him try to talk poo poo have been pretty uninteresting. He's also very comfortable not fighting and he's pulled out of matches without a lot of sympathy to fans. In this way, he has few fans while also being one of the best boxers in the world. This also made it difficult for him to get match ups against quality fighters. If you fought Ward, you'd probably lose and you wouldn't even get that much money out of it. Here's a quote from badlefthook.com from 2012: quote:At 28, it's hard to even figure what Ward's next step would be. He's emptied out the contenders at super middleweight. And now he just beat the best light heavyweight in the world. Who can he fight that makes for an interesting matchup?  The Champion: Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev WBA, WBO and IBF Light Heavyweight Champion It's hard to imagine a meaner, scarier fighter than Sergey Kovalev. He's the real world Ivan Drago, if you need that type of comparison. Kovalev is just a year older than Ward and grew up in a similarly tough situation in tulmouteous world of Russia during the fall of the USSR. His city was one of those classic industrial cities with tough streets, where as a young kid you might be jumped, beaten and robbed blind by your peers. Kovalev's story is quite a bit grittier than Ward's, and in this case he was one of robbers. Having a natural talent for beating the poo poo out of people, he started focusing on his boxing and became prominent within Russia's amateur scene. Boxing is really big in Russia, especially amateur boxing. For years they weren't able to be pros at all, so most amateurs in former soviet countries don't even really think about going professional. The government provides quite a bit of money for amateur fighters that do well in tournaments, so Kovalev spent most of his boxing career in obscurity. He wasn't a top notch amateur either. There's a couple of reasons for this, he had trouble with the boxing politics of his domestic scene but more importantly, he's just a fighter more suited for a professional career. At some point he was discovered and offered a professional career with frankly miserable terms. At around the same time Ward was taking names in the Super Six, Kovalev was brought to America, given just enough money for room and board and told that if he performed well he could build a career. He was offered a chance to sign with a good promoter if he could get past the unheralded Darnell Boone, and after a close scrap where he suffered the first and only knockdown of his career, he scraped out a win and began to build his brand. While Ward sat on the sidelines through promotional disputes and injuries, Kovalev began building a steady list of knockout victims. Slowly but surely, he collected 3 of the 4 major belts in his divison while the 4th was held hostage by perennial rival Adonis Stevenson. That's the last I'll mention of that guy though. He was also named the fighter of the year in 2014.  Style If this doesn't sound quite as impressive as Ward's accomplishments, it's because you're not seeing it happen. Kovalev is scary and to this day, only two people have lasted more than 8 rounds against him. His style is simple, but deadly effective. He's a come forward fighter, shooting straight punches at distance and shifting stances to set up KO blows. And he's real drat good at it. He's something of a late bloomer as well, having really refined his style over his professional career into a more technical, methodical approach than his power would suggest. He's also just nasty. I really mean that. This isn't something we like to talk about too much as fans of the sport, but he's caused permanent damage to his opponents in the past, and he's never seemed concerned about doing it again. In fact, earlier in the year, he delivered a vicious beating to his bitter rival Jean Pascal. It was a pretty brutal fight that Kovalev seemed to intentionally extend to "cause him more pain"  The match up The two are both heading into this fight with 30 wins and 0 defeats. Kovalev is the naturally bigger man, with a significant reach advantage despite being the same official height as Ward. Ward is officially ranked as the #4 Pound For Pound fighter, although this ranking is a bit low due to his recent inactivity. Kovalev comes into this fight as the #2 Pound For Pound fighter in the world Style-wise, this is an interesting matchup. Kovalev is a pretty prototypical boxer-puncher. A big guy with a big punch who uses real technique to set those punches up. Ward is an extremely intelligent boxer who uses movement and rough infighting to frustrate and overpower his foes. It's a nice twist on the classic puncher vs boxer fight because usually the big puncher likes to stay close and the boxer likes to be on the outside, here it's the opposite. There's a real chance we'll see Kovalev land big, score knockdowns and win decisively, but there's also a very good chance we'll Ward evade and frustrate Kovalev while beating him up. Bookies have given Ward a 55% chance at winning this fight, and many analysts I've seen have Ward winning as well. He's the favourite, but most people regard this as a very close fight either way.  The Undercard There's actually a few other fights going on tomorrow, but the reason you're watching is for the main event. Curtis Stevens vs James de la Rosa Curtis Stevens is a decent middleweight fighter, one of the better active ones, mainly because the division itself is pretty weak. He's a pretty good infighter in his own right, but he's never really succeeded any time he's stepped up. James De La Rosa is a tough guy with a fluffy record. He's 2-3 in his last 5 fights, and the plan is for Stevens to KO him while building to his next big fight. It should be a nice action fight to open the card, even if there's not a lot of drama to it. Maurice Hooker vs Darleys Perez This fight is a bit more interesting, we're looking at an bit of an older, yet untested prospect in Hooker against a known quality in Perez. If Hooker wins here and makes a good show of it, he could become a player in the super lightweight division. Perez is coming up from lightweight with a good but not great record, if he wins this it gives him a position as a solid gatekeeper or spoiler. To be clear here, Perez is a decent fighter and a win for Hooker here would be his best achievement yet. Hooker is yet unproven though, and could run up against unexpected trouble. All in all, a fight with more importance than the previous one, and it has the potential to be a good action fight. Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs Isaac Chilemba This one is the most interesting fight before the main event. Gvozdyk is a very exciting prospect, and has fast tracked his career in his three years as a pro. An accomplished amateur and Olympian, he's put together an 11-0 record with 9 KOs quickly ascending the ranks with TKO victories over well ranked opponents. He's now considered a top 10 light heavyweight fighter, despite still being a prospect. Now he faces Isaac Chilemba in a career establishing test. Chilemba is also a top ten LHW and a crafty fighter who can make fights very difficult. Stylistically he's a nightmare, frustrating good fighters and making them work hard even when he's losing. He most recently went 12 rounds with Kovalev and top 5 LHW Eleider Alvarez and made both of them look quite uncomfortable in the process. He's become something of veteran fighter despite not being that old, and has had success upsetting prospects in the past. One more thing, he's never been knocked out There'll be fights before that on an untelevised undercard that might be shown online or something. If that's the case, I'd recommend checking out Claressa Shields make her pro debut after gold medals at back to back Olympic games. Women's boxing is undergoing something of a revolution right now, and if it takes off, Shields will be one of the faces of it. She's a really great fighter, and so far looks far and away better than the rest of her competition. She'll be up against solid amateur boxer who is also making her pro debut.  Any videos to get hyped for this fight? Here's a quick promo video to get the blood pumping Here's two videos from HBO that are documentary style examinations of the fighters and the matchup, mostly covering things I already wrote about here, but with a more personal approach Road To Kovalev/Ward A 14 minute video about the making of the fight, mostly focusing about the recent careers of the fighters and the significance of the fight itself My Fight: Kovalev/Ward A half an hour video about each fighter, focusing more on their personal lives and backstories. Here's an excellent breakdown by the one of the more entertaining boxing analysts in the game today, Connor Ruebrush How Andre Ward beats Sergey Kovalev - This focuses on how Andre Ward can win, but knowing Connor, he'll have a video tomorrow about Kovalev's best gameplan. Even if he doesn't this is still a great watch to give you sense of what's going on here. HBO recently put up some fights featuring Kovalev and Ward for free on youtube to promote this fight. Kovalev vs Bernard Hopkins, this one is a bit slow, since Hopkins is a defense first fighter. Still, Kovalev gets a pretty decisive handle on the living legend and grinds out a clear 12 round decision, the first time he'd ever gone the distance. This shows him dealing with a technical and defensive fighter and using his full stamina and patience to take it to a decision. He'll have to make use of these abilities if he wants to hang with Ward. Ward vs Dawson is a very classic case of a smaller man outclassing a larger man, and in the process beating him up and knocking him out. Ward doesn't get a lot of KOs, especially not one as decisive as this. This sort of adaptability and out thinking a larger fighter with better reach is what makes Ward such a good match up for Kovalev. Jump King fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Nov 19, 2016 |
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Nov 19, 2016 08:00
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I'm the orange and aqua paint someone spilled on them
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Nov 19, 2016 08:19
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I re-watched Ward clean up the super six and dismantle Chad Dawson in preparation for this fight and I legit feel like I just took a crash course on expert boxing
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Nov 19, 2016 10:10
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Wait. They both fought and were knocked down by Darnell Boone?
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Nov 19, 2016 11:12
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Kovalev needs to win for the good of boxing as a sport. He won't though...
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Nov 19, 2016 13:35
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Lee Wylie has a couple contributions to the pre-fight: High production quality video comparing punches/other tools used by both fighters Analysis of both fighters with a prefight prediction that seems to go against the consensus : When you think about it, Ward has less margin for error than Kovalev. He cannot afford to be less than flawless, whereas Kovalev could conceivably get outboxed, score a knockdown or two (when was the last time Kovalev failed to hurt or drop an opponent?) and still win by knockout or decision. A stoppage win for Ward is not impossible, though unlikely considering Ward has never been much of a puncher and is probably even less of one at the higher weight. The challenger is clearly more versatile, but I don’t believe he has as many avenues for victory as Kovalev does.
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Nov 19, 2016 13:40
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I'm still a tiny bit upset about that Ward-Kessler fight in the Super Six. I mean, I know that complaining about Ward fighting dirty is like complaining that water is wet but this was something else. This should be a really good fight though.
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Nov 19, 2016 15:03
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MacDougall posted:Wait. They both fought and were knocked down by Darnell Boone? Yeah I threw that in there because it's a weird bit of symmetry I find hilarious. Darnell Boone is an odd fighter. He's 23-23, but he's fought some of the best names in the sport and done pretty well against them. He's the journeyman king. For much of his career, he didn't have a manager and fought without a trainer in his corner. He still TKOed Adonis Stevenson under those conditions though. He's picking Kovalev to win MrBling posted:I'm still a tiny bit upset about that Ward-Kessler fight in the Super Six. Yeah I kind of glossed over that but the Kessler fight was his most brutal. Constant headbutts gave Kessler a lot of cuts and the fight was just altogether messy. Jump King fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Nov 19, 2016 |
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Nov 19, 2016 15:22
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whoever the promoter is of this fight has done a poo poo job imo
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Nov 19, 2016 19:07
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You still watch boxing? Dont you know its fake, right?
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Nov 19, 2016 19:25
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Kovalev's gonna win
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Nov 19, 2016 19:38
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Much respect to Ward for finally leaving the comfort zone of Oakland and going all the way to Las Vegas
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Nov 19, 2016 20:02
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super macho dude posted:You still watch boxing? Dont you know its fake, right? kovalev only takes parts in shoots. that's why he killed that guy. strong style.
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Nov 19, 2016 20:11
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super macho dude posted:You still watch boxing? Dont you know its fake, right? *seven nation army plays* "By god, is that Triple G's theme music?"
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Nov 19, 2016 20:13
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Nice OP. Looking forward to Krusher beating down Andre tonight
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Nov 19, 2016 21:14
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ward 8-4 imo
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Nov 19, 2016 21:35
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I wouldn't really be surprised if this was a one sided fight in either direction tbh. I'll be routing for Ward, because I think he's genuinely better person
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Nov 19, 2016 21:54
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Kovalev is definitely a nasty fucker. If he was marrying my daughter I'd be concerned, but he isn't and everyone loves a puncher so I hope he isn't victim of a Kessler-esque Ward special.
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Nov 19, 2016 23:44
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Yeah, he's a fun fighter and it's certainly not anybody's moral duty to support the nicer fighter. But I'm a sucker for a good face, and I feel like Ward's a bit overlooked in that regard. The untelevised undercard will be livestreaming on youtube in just over an hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COenKeQhEa8 The most interesting fights there are the opening bout between two unbeaten middleweight prospects and Claressa Shields's debut, which will happen right in the hour I'll be out of the house :/
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Nov 19, 2016 23:54
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ward is dirty as gently caress. there's no way he's a face, disappointed at this undercard as well tbh. anyone know what time the main event will be starting uk time?
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Nov 20, 2016 00:52
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Ward winning is the better story (I guess) but Ive always preferred the Bad Guy (ayo). Do it for glorious Homeland, Kovalev!
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Nov 20, 2016 01:16
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thehappyprince posted:ward is dirty as gently caress. there's no way he's a face, Andre's dirty in the ring, but outside the ring he's the real deal imo. The cofeature is worth watching if nothing else. Main fight is expected at 11pm EST
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Nov 20, 2016 01:51
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thehappyprince posted:ward is dirty as gently caress. there's no way he's a face, Apparently 4am? And it's raining like hell so my Sky is all out of wack goddamnit 
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Nov 20, 2016 02:47
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They're somehow showing this at my local breastaurant. Gives me hope that this will be the best selling fight of the year as it should be.
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Nov 20, 2016 02:53
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Curtus Stevens has looked so good lately. Edit: ill contend that body work in boxing is the most beautiful thing to watch in professional sports The SituAsian fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Nov 20, 2016 |
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Nov 20, 2016 03:10
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there should be body shot only boxing
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Nov 20, 2016 03:26
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Pretty surprised De La Rosa is still in this after those first few rounds, but he looks pretty good.
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Nov 20, 2016 03:31
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haha he just blew him a kiss.
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Nov 20, 2016 03:36
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Just tuned in, is Stevens making this difficult
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Nov 20, 2016 03:42
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MMM Whatchya Say posted:Just tuned in, is Stevens making this difficult Came out like a house on fire but hurt his hand, seems to have gassed and got a point deducted 
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Nov 20, 2016 03:44
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De La Rosa talking all the poo poo after the fight is making me want to see him lose.
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Nov 20, 2016 03:48
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scorecards seem wide
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Nov 20, 2016 03:50
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98-90 wtf
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Nov 20, 2016 03:50
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Congratulations to Curtis Stevens who has assumed the coveted mantle of "house fighter"
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Nov 20, 2016 03:50
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Keith cheatham lives up to his name
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Nov 20, 2016 03:51
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Ok happy (and Lionel if you're here). London judges or Las Vegas judges? Vvv apparently that is now the co-feature
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Nov 20, 2016 03:53
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Did we skip Maurice Hooker? Or is this a different order than I thought
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Nov 20, 2016 03:54
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I'm only half paying attention but it looks like Chilemba is making things difficult
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Nov 20, 2016 04:05
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Lol at putting Isaac Chilemba on a ppv undercard against a supposedly unstoppable knockout king.
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Nov 20, 2016 04:07
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The SituAsian posted:Ok happy (and Lionel if you're here). London judges or Las Vegas judges? i don't think british judges are that bad* tbh. it's mostly the refs. *considering that they seem to be bad/biased everywhere
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Nov 20, 2016 04:09
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