You guys are going to "skills bill the bills" yourselves into a ditch, which opponent of Ward's comes close to being as skilled as Kovalev? Please enlighten me, and don't say a drained Dawson.
Ward has not fought anyone as skilled as Kovalev, but Froch and Kessler are at a much higher level than anyone Kovalev has fought. To me Kovalev's best performance is Pascal 1, I said this way befoer Bhop and Kovalev even fought, that Bhop was 50 and he was getting hit far too much against Murat and Shumenov. Froch and Kessler are far close to Kovalev than Bhop or Pascal are to Ward in terms of level. Now Kovalev has a nasty jab, if Ward can't neutralized it I can see Kovalev pulling it off, but really I just can't see Ward losing. His adaption skills, ring iq, etc is just too high. We'll see though, it's 70/30 for Ward for me.
I really can't see Ward neutralizing that nasty jab, Kovalev is a beast, Ward has never fought anyone with power like his with the skills to back it up, it will make a difference, it always does, and no Pascal is just as skilled as Froch, their match was damn close to a draw on spite of the official scores, and Hopkins still at this age is more well rounded than both Carl and Mikkel, and I say that as a huge fan of both on them. Kovalev's ring IQ and ability to adjust is brilliant and underrated, and Ward will suffer immensely as a result.
Lol cmon man, Froch and Kessler are far better than a 50 year old Hopkins of a 2015 pascal. Hopkins was schooled by Dawson twice(quit the first time), then had some mediocre performances against Shumebum and Murat before fighting Kovalev. Froch is a way better fighter than Pascal, his skill level might not be the highest, but if we're talking levels, Froch is at a higher level, you cant even debate this. Kovalev gains more in beating Ward, than Ward gains in beating Kovalev. Ward's resume is already recognize, even though Kovalev's resume is extremely solid, it's not even close to the Ward level. You can easily argue that even though Ward might not be the same guy from the super six that Kovalev beating Ward is better than any single Pacquiao or Mayweather win. While if Ward beats Kovalev, people will just say his best wins are a 50 year old hopkins, pascal, and other solid LHW. I agree Kovalev can adjust and has a good ring iq, but I just think Ward is at a higher level. To be fair to Kovalev he hasn't had a chnace to prove it.
Froch may be a level above, that being said he's tailor made for Ward, and Pascal stylistically would have been a far harder opponent for Ward to deal with. As far as Hopkins goes, do you really think he's somehow deteriorated tenfold between his performance against Pascal to the match against Kovalev? He beat Cloud almost as impressively as Stevenson did only months before, and if he had the power, he would have finished Cloud as well. And yeah if Kovalev beats Ward it will be the single best win in the sport. And vice versa.
Punch Stats for Ward-Froch Total/Jabs/Power Ward 243 / 573 42% 107 / 252 42% 136 / 321 42% Froch 156 / 683 23% 47 / 250 19% 109 / 433 255 Kovalev landed more shots on the still very elusive Hopkins than anybody ever has in his career. I think we can all agree Kovalev is more skilled than Froch, now what happens if Kovalev lands 156 or more shots on Ward.:think
not very hard for a skilled, young, guy like kovalev to land on an old man with no workrate...easy to land and keep up work on a guy that doesnt really throw back anything of note i can see how this is gonna play out...ward is going to decision kova...and because kova wasnt hurt or has no "damage" he and his fans will feel like they won the fight.....or that they didnt lose the fight.....
Not sure about KTFO but probably a stoppage, Kovalev's far better than any opponent Ward has faced, on top of that he's bigger than them.
and ward isnt better than anyone kova has faced? works both ways....combination of youth and skill is far better than anyone kova has ever faced kova isnt that much bigger than froch or kessler
The difference is that Kovalev is proven at 175, Ward's done his work at 168. This is a whole new ballpark.