Andre Ward will be shocked by Kovalev's deceptive speed

Kovalev is not that fast.

His timing, however, is excellent. That is what is going to undo Mr Ward.

 

This. His hand speed isn't that fast, but his timing is great. His footspeed when closing the distance is very fast though and since he likes to do a lot of work from the outside and keep a lot of space between him and his opponent that plays a large factor. I'm very curious to see how Ward will adapt to that.

 

Honestly, I disagree. I think Kov could have gotten Hopkins out of there if he pressed the action a lot more. After the first round Hopkins seemed to be content to just survive the fight while Kov was happy just to bank rounds. He wasn't even trying to force a ko as long as Hopkins wasn't trying his hardest to actually win the fight. Ward isn't going to fight like that at all so I don't even like that fight as a comparison. Ward is going to come to win this.

 

Kovalev is about as fast as AA and Froch. Less fast as Kessler.

 

Only chance that Ward has is to turn back the clock and turn it into a stinker of a fight which is what he often did,jab,clinch,head butt all those old tricks which he hasn't done in the past four fights,it's not something I wish to see but Boxing is funny like that in that you can win without looking great.
That said Hopkins was also a master of stinking up fights and yet against Kovalev he couldn't do it?

 

Hopkins was fifty and just smoke and mirrors at that point in his career. Ward is a younger, more athletic version of Hopkins. Don't use the Hopkins fight to judge how well Ward will do. I think Kovalev will be surprised by how strong Ward is.

 

He may be slightly faster in handspeed than Froch, and his footwork is better than Froch, but both handspeed and footwork are far less than Kessler.
Plus, I don't think Kovalev is a better boxer than Kessler.

 

You can. You cut off the ring, work to the body and take away his movement.