Ward Wins Kovalev Rematch Decisively With TKO In 8th Round-What’s Next For Ward Now?

in #sports7 years ago (edited)

This weekend’s big rematch ended dramatically as Andre Ward decisively beat Sergey Kovalev to retain the light-heavyweight belts he had previously won.

The fight was close and competitive for the first 5-6 rounds, which was no surprise. Ward used good movement and forced Kovalev around inside with clinching although he did get caught with good jabs from Sergey and the occasional right hand.

In the previous fight

Sergey seemed to gas out after the 6th round, and the same thing almost appeared to happen last night. At a certain point Ward began to become more confident with his power shots that were starting to increase in volume and accuracy.

Kovalev was hurt to the body first, with many claiming that he was hit with illegal low blows many times, but nevertheless the referee didn’t call any fouls and ended up stopping the fight after Kovalev bucked over and sank backwards into the ropes after receiving numerous body shots from Ward.

What’s next for Ward?

In the post fight interview, Ward said he might consider moving up to crusierweight or even heavyweight and get another. When asked my HBO’s Max Kellermen, he wouldn’t even rule out a fight with Anthony Joshua. “I dream big… Anything is possible.” To put that in perspective, Joshua is six inches taller and at least sixty pounds heavier. It would be an insanely ballsy move for Ward to take on a heavyweight that big and strong, who has so much power.

I’d personally like to see a unification bout with fellow title holder Adonis Stevenson, but it feels like that one will never happen. If you’ve seen Ward in interviews, he is quick to mention that a boxer’s prime years only last so long and when the clock stops, you don’t get it back. Ward has seen many of the great Hall of Famers who are now punch-drunk and living a sad existence, so he purposefully doesn’t want to end up that way.

For this, I give him a lot of credit as way too many fighters refuse to hang up the gloves even when they are long past their prime. Roy Jones is currently an example of this. On the other side of that is the example of Carl Froch who retired while arguably being in the absolute prime of his career. I think that is actually a very smart move for him and more fighters should follow his lead.

Look for Andre Ward to have no more than two or three fights left in his career, and expect them to all be fairly big names. He wants to seal up his legacy and hopefully retired undefeated and with plenty of money in the bank to retire on.


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Pics:
instagram.com/andresogward/

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Ward destroyed Kovalev mentally, I thought the fight was over when Kovalev started looking and complaining to the referee.
Pound for pound number one in my book right now!

Could not agree more. Kovalev was looking at the ref for a life line when the ref stopped it.

I would like to see him unify, if the promoters HBO and Showtime can come together like they did Mayweather/Pac and Joshua/Klitko. Then after that take a stab at Cruiser or back in the commentator's table. He does awesome at that.

He should thnk of his health and better retire as a champion and come here and make cool money without getting hurt or hurting someone.

shared

Fight was good and the correct man won although some of the punches were definitely low. I made a prediction steemit post where i would upvote and maybe send some steem to the guessing the correct outcome but no one thought it was popular enough.

I think Joshua is to much for Ward, but OK anything can happen in boxing :)
Mikkel Kessler recently announced his comeback. I think he would very much like a re-match against Ward. What's your take on that? :)

ugh loss a lil bit of money on this one... won some of it back because i bet on it going the under in rounds... Soon as Sergey started breathing all hard in the 6th I knew it was over.. Ward's body shots were so effective guy kept trying to pause the fight anyway he could.... Lesson to any fighter.. Attack the body and in the later rounds.. you can make anybody YOUR BITCH

I am from india so my faverate wrestling star the great khali

Can't wait for this boy's next fight :D

this year is going to great I can wait to see the fight


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Very useful information. Keep posting the latest information ... I'm very happy if you want to resteem some of my articles ....

Hope one day super fights will happen once again in Boxing Heavy Weight Class Division.

Got something coming about the guy that just died today after getting knocked out? Would like to hear if anyone is to blame for that.

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Again ended the rear with controversy, in several opportunities the champion gave several low blows without being sanctioned by the referee, taking that aside, it was a great fight.
Have a beautiful week dear friend @doitvoluntarily

That first photo was a big hit, are real bone rattler, Thanks for sharing.