With just a little over a week to go before fight night, Andre Ward is still the slight favorite to win over fellow unbeaten titlist Sergey Kovalev as they prepare to wind down their training for the biggest fight of their career.
Ward and Kovalev are set to face each other in the ring on Nov. 19 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Both fighters are unbeaten in their careers. Ward is the former unified WBA, WBC and Ring magazine middleweight champion and coming off a unanimous decision win against Alexander Brand of Colombia last Aug. 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Kovalev, who is putting his WBA (undisputed), IBF and WBO (Super) light heavyweight titles on the line is a tough opponent for Ward. While they are both unbeaten in their careers, Kovalev has a better knockout rate (84 percent) compared to Kovalev is coming off a unanimous decision win over Isaac Chilemba last July 11 at the DIVS, Yekaterinburg, Russia. The two elite fighters have contrasting qualities with Ward relying on his skill in the ring to score on points rather than by knockout while Kovalev is noted for his punching power. With Ward relying on his skill and Kovalev on his punching power, the fight could either end in a knockout in favor of Kovalev or it could go the distance with Ward winning on points. Ward has been inactive in the latter part of his career due to injuries and feud with his former promoter which are the reasons why he needed a tune up fight. In contrast Kovalev has been very active in his career, fighting at least twice a year since 2014. The Ward fight would be Kovalev’s third fight this year. The odds slightly favoring Ward is likely to change as the fight draws near.
