The Madrigal Of The Krusher: His Fistic Syncopated Polyphonic Symphony Of Destruction.

A boxing legend once told me: "To be great, first you must suck a big black Russian dong"

Andre Ward is trying to be great. I can't fault the man.

 

How do you know I won't give Kovalev credit? I've said he's an excellent boxer many times.

I'm picking Krusher because i can read the sport of boxing. I don't play favourites like you do.

 

His legs are half as fast as they were.

This will be critical as he dangles his left hand down too low. Krusher's right hand his too powerful and too long to be making errors like that.
This is probably the weakness John Jackson claimed he saw.

It will be a good win for Kovalev , but a far greater accomplishment for Ward should he win.

At the end of the day , he will have beaten lower tier guy coming off a long lay off. He holds all the advantages. Ward holds none.

 

It was a good performance from Kovalev, definitely. However, lets remember, 2 1/2 years prior Chad Dawson (who you don't rate very highly) easily "outboxed" Hopkins. IB scored it 10-2 for Dawson. It wasn't close. IB has a fair amount of experience scoring fights. Here's the link.

[url]http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=397246&page=28[/url]

In the Hopkins-Kovalev fight it wasn't all rosy, either. Kovalev landed 28% of his punches, which is middling for a light-heavy.

[url]http://www.***********.com/forums/view.php?pg=hopkins-kovalev-compubox[/url].

Not bad considering it was against Hopkins, who even at 50 was elusive -- but at times, if not, indeed, frequently, the old man had Kovalev swinging at air.

Still, Chad Dawson landed 35% of his punches on a younger Hopkins -- which was a better overall connect percentage although obviously not as powerful.

[url]http://www.philasun.com/sports/fight-or-retire-whats-next-for-bernard-hopkins-after-loss-to-chad-dawson/[/url]

Ward at 32, is much, much quicker, with better reflexes, and more fleet of foot than the quinquagenerian Bernard.

Sullivan Barrera landed 111/722 punches on Ward, a mere 15%. And this was a Ward "flat-footed" standing right in front of him. (Very unlikely Ward adopts this gameplan for Kovalev. Ward is nothing if not a cerebral and exceedingly well-prepared fighter who carefully prepares for the strengths and weaknesses of each of his opponents.)

One has to figure that Kovalev will land in 20% range, that he may experience frustration, whilst contending with Ward's superior reflexes, superb jab, counter-punching, movement, and overall very tricky game.

In the end, however, I still favor Kovalev slightly because I feel there are simply more ways he can win. For example, he could potentially blitz Andre in 3 rounds, whereas Andre has to walk a 12-round tightrope to win. Or he could stalk Ward and wear him down. Or he could box from distance and win with jabs and occasional flurries.

But I can also see a not unlikely scenario where Ward essentially neutralizes Kovalev's offense, frustrating him the way Bernard did at times, and grinding his way to a 7-5 win.

 

I give Kovalev 80% chance to beat Ward, but he does have a couple of flaws.

When he misses, he is often of ballance and exposed. Also, his punch selection could be improved. For example, he barely ever uses uppercuts.

That said, once again I expect him to stop Ward without an extraordinary effort.

 

Great ****ysis. However, I am still thinking that Ward is not going to fight Kovalev this coming November.

Not only Kovalev is a fighter-boxer with power in both hands, he's bigger and taller than Ward as well. Ward will get beat up brutally if the fight really happens. I believe.

 

is he taller? You're not really much for facts, are you? September, November -- what's the difference? Taller, shorter -- who cares?

You're literally spamming the board with bull****.

Andre Ward is 183cm.
Sergey Kovalev is 183cm.

[url]http://boxrec.com/boxer/281958[/url]
[url]http://boxrec.com/boxer/505927[/url]

 

I made a mistake again. Sorry. But anyone can make a mistake man. I will be careful next time. Thanks for the link.

BTW, I didn't mean to make you upset.:yep

 

they are actually very similar in dimensions, but kovalev has a 1 1/2" reach advantage. i think kovalev is the bigger guy, though. ward needs a higher muscle %age in order to be as big as a naturally lean, big boned kovalev. if you look at pics from their last fight, you can see how ward looks jacked compared to kovalev. kovalev has no extra muscle or water weight that would interfere with his power and his reflexes.

 

yes, he's bigger although not technically taller.

 

Good stuff, i enjoyed reading it

 

Despite Kovalev 's irregular rhythm, Ward should figure out Kovalev's timing well enough to evade or take the power off 'most' of Kovalev's punches, while finding his best range to return. So I don't see Kovalev being able to comfortably set the distance and mix up his attack as you've described. Ward hasn't fought anyone with Kovalev's variety of attack, but who has Kovalev fought with remotely close to Ward's defence, footwork, and timing on both the outside and inside? Kovalev has fought too many guys who lay back and box on the outside, and allow Kovalev to fight at the pace and rhythm he wants.

I see Kovalev missing a lot more on the outside than he's used to, and not being comfortable when Ward is able to get on the inside and use his short-range skill to give angles and find sneaky punching room. I have a hard time seeing Ward succeeding at confusing and punishing Kovalev inside throughout, so likely scenario could be Kovalev throwing on the outside and at mid-range while Ward stays cautious playing defence, and has trouble getting inside. Maybe Kovalev catches air and gloves, while Ward is able to get in and land clean, if only here and there. Basically: Ward is too good defensively and too good at defusing his opponents activity that I don't see Kovalev landing at a high rate and taking over. Ward won't walk into punches or fall for feints, even if that means he hardly moves his hands. How does Kovalev deal with a guy who's not as exposed as anyone he's fought?