I still think Ward fights Kovalev at the end of 2016.

We can only hope.

 

I think something else will come up. It either happens in 2017 or quite possibly never.

 

Ward's future is really really hard to predict. He might just never fight again or he might end up fighting Kovalev next summer.

 

Any ranked LHW would be fine, but he should fight a real LHW.

 

It's difficult to believe that the Kovalev fight will happen in 2016. Ward hasn't even fought twice in one year since 2011, let alone three times. Assuming he's still fighting two tune ups I'd guess we'll now be waiting until 2017.

 

My question is: What, in Ward's history, leads people to believe Ward will duck Kovalev?

 

Typical GGG-Ward hatred train. Nothing else.

 

Well considering his "circumstances" have been sorted and he's obviously making moves now, I think it's fair to say he'll be more active. He's got a new promoter and just signed a 3-fight HBO deal. What more can he do at this point? What more do you expect right now?

 

That would be the ideal situation to ensure the Kovalev fight still happens in 2016. But if we have learned anything over the last few years with Ward is that he will find some way to screw it up.

I hope he and he's team have learned you can't just decide to fight 8 weeks out from a proposed date and expect top fighters to just suddenly fall over themselves to fight him without a full training camp, that's never going to happen.

I've reached the stage now that with Ward it's better to expect the worst. I just hope he doesn't try and make his next fight another tune up just because of this injury.

 

Nah, I think something will get in the way of the fight, I've grown a bit pessimistic with the mountains of disappointments that came from such promises recently, with all the issues surrounding Ward especially, I'm really not expecting it to happen at all.

And I'm not saying Ward will necessary duck him or whatever, but I think something will prevent it from happening one way or another.

 

I don't think HBO can afford 3 Ward bouts in a year with their respective budget and Ward's guaranteed purses.

Best case scenario is 2 fights in 2016 and Kovalev in 2017.