Kov vs Ward would be a true 50-50 fight. Ward is the only guy who I think could beat Kov, but it would be a very dangerous fight for both. Not what Al Hyman wants.
What I like about this fight is that both guys are roughly the same size. Kovalev is 6' 0" with a 72" reach. Ward is 6' 0" with a 71" reach. Ward is more muscular than Kovalev is, but Kovalev seems pretty strong. Hopefully we can see this fight at some point. I'm not sure who would win, although I would lean towards Kovalev.
Well Scar, despite your quote marks (which, FYI, are used to indicate a direct quote), I did not say...Fighters move up when they can't make a certain weight anymore and grow out of it. What I did say was " Ali fought at HW because he grew into HW after the Olympics in 1960." My post was in reaction to your surly, butt-hurt reply yo the OP, who posted: And you came back with: Where did the OP state that Ward was "deceiving and conning the public ?" He was making a (legitimate) point that Ward could move up and fight Kovalev as he had fought at the weight before. When he was nineteen, eleven years ago, Ward weighed 178 lbs nine hours prior to his amateur bout with John Dovi. He's almost thirty-one now and has talked of moving up, and even mentioned heavyweight. If he is ever going to move up, now might be the time. To finish the affair, you called the poster an idiot. To be clear, the poster, and all of the others who posted before you entered the thread, all expressed admiration for Ward but frustration at his inactivity. This, and the rather lame comparison to Ali's situation, is what made your post (not necessarily you !) asinine. He did move down, Scar, and he's stayed down for the past ten years ! As I mentioned already, he has talked of moving up, even to heavyweight, so what's so outlandish about suggesting that since he's in his thirties, he move up to where he was when he was a teenager ? Again, nobody says he's starved. Was Roy Jones starved when he fought at MW ? And SMW ? And LHW ? He moved up to HW. When a fighter moves up, it doesn't necessarily mean he was starved at his previous weight. The point is, it's NOT only for money, but also about legacy and getting the most from his potential. He hasn't fought for a year and fought twice in three years and even his fans are calling on him to fight. He has cleaned out his division and it's hardly idiotic to call on him to move up and face new challenges as he passes the likely mid-point of his career.
I like Ward but am very frustrated.. There are some big fights he should be pursuing. There are fighters available he could cement his legacy against.
Ward shouldn't be talking about fighting anyone right now, he should needs a fight. If he gets back in the ring again he should fight someone not too risky but no pushover, boxers like Tommy Karpency, Nadjib Mohammedi, Gabriel Campillo, or Beibut Shumenov. Fighting Kovalev or Stevenson would be too risky, at least get two fights again solid competition than he should compete for a world title and that's if he wants to compete in the LHW divsion. The SMW division is kind of dead unless he wants to fight the likes of Groves, Degale or the Dirrell brothers.
This is where I am at. He says some really dumb stuff. He says his promotional beef is not stopping him from fighting, yet he isn't fighting. He expects to be paid Floyd type of money, but has done nothing to build that. Floyd is bankable largely because of the "money" persona that made a lot of people hate him and now that he has the attention, more people see his skills. I would also like to point out that This content is protected ... but he did it. Ward "isn't ready" to go to 175 but said a couple years ago that it was impossible for him to make 160 to fight Sergio. Does Ward have some special genetic disorder that he can only fight at 168? He talks legacy but wants either Chavez (who is a cruiserweight living off dads rep) or Froch (who he beat convincingly). What he really wants is a PPV fight, but fails to admit he is a terrible B-side. He won't be a PPV guy if he doesn't fight. All that talent but a moron outside of the ring.