If Kovalev wins/If Ward wins

I'd agree that Kovalev is, to his credit,is willing to travel for big fights. It's one of the reasons he's rated so highly.

I'd also agree that Dirrell, Stevenson, and DeGale would be interesting opitons for Ward and maybe they happen yet but even if they don't Ward has always been willing to face top opposition and almost nobody gets around to fighting every worthy opponent. It would be nice to see him travel for a major fight though.

I'd disagree about Kessler. He was 30 years old, rated number one at 168, and the favorite to win that fight. He had 2 fights in the prior 13 months which was fairly standard for him and beat Froch(probably his biggest career win) after the Ward fight. Was Kessler at his peak for this fight? Maybe not but he wasn't far removed from it if so.

Ward had home advantage but he also had all of 20 pro fights going into it and then went on to win quite convincingly as well. Excellent win for Ward no matter how one looks at it.

I'd also disagree about Froch. He was coming in off 2 nice wins and considered one of the top 2-3 guys at his weight. After the Ward loss he would go 5-0(4kos) with wins over Bute, Groves, and Kessler. Again, I don't know if Froch was at his absolute peak against Ward but if not he wasn't far removed and his record would agree with that. Another excellent win for Ward.

As far as who they face after this fight I would think a rematch is a top option if their fight makes a profit. If not a rematch both guys will probably keep on facing the other top 175 guys politics permitting.

 

Froch clearly beat Kessler in their first fight in my eyes .

Kessler won the hometown decision.

Dirrell clearly outclassed the hell out of Froch in their fight.

Froch won the hometown decision.

 

Dirrell was a good match for Ward. But they both fight dirty sometimes, so the 'friends.' excuse is more of a valid one. Speaking of which, is there anyone here who thinks Lemieux was officially down when he got clocked onto ***** street by Gennady?

 

im nervous about nothing....nothing these guys do makes me "nervous" because i dont live vicariously through any of them the way some posters here do

all im saying is...did u see froch/dirrell? that was a terrible robbery in nottingham.....ward doesnt have to travel...he gets fights made......is he supposed to travel because people want him to or think he should? if ward didnt travel and was having a hard time getting fights made then id suggest he travel or demand that he do something......but ward gets fights made...he got the froch and kovalev fights made just fine...very easily

 

The Ward that won the super six was brilliant. I am disappointed in him since , a dude with so much natural talent and skill has wasted it , be it his own fault or his managers or whatever. I think Kov takes this fight , Ward can't move as well as he used to , his last three fights have clearly shown that. His greatest asset was his ability to use his jab with his footwork then he would follow it in and go to work inside. He can't do that no where near as well as he used to. Kov is big and strong and probably the hardest hitter outside of heavyweight in the world. However Ward is cagey with a better ring IQ and if he adopts a purely negating strategy then he might pull of the win.

 

Because his best win next to Brook started to have KO success in a similar moment to Abraham-Dirrell?

 

Whoever wins hopefully fights the winner of Stevenson-Alvarez followed up with a fight against Beterbiev.

Then theres other fighters on the horizon like Shabransky, Joe jr, Gvozdyk, and who knows maybe Marcus Browne that could make for interesting fights in time if they all manage to keep winning.

I think its a true pick em type fight and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully whoever wins actively continues to fight against the best in the division. I am looking at you Andre!