Who will win the rematch? Ward or Kovalev

[Buddy Revell]

I'm with the media majority who thought Kovalev won the first fight, but I think Ward will win the second. How often do aggressive punchers have the advantage in a rematch? It's a lot easier to survive and outpoint a guy who you've already spent 12 rds learning.

First of all, aggressive puncher doesn't do Kovalev justice. He's an intelligent boxer puncher.

But to answer your question, off the top of my head, Carl Froch vs. George Groves 2, Danny Garcia vs. Erik Morales 2, Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams 2.

All cases of a closely contested first fight where a heavy handed boxer/puncher obviously went back to the fight tape, found an oppening on his opponent, and exploited it in the rematch to brutal effect.

Kovalev (and John David Jackson) are extremely smart and i would absolutely NOT rule out Kovalev viciously knocking Ward out in a rematch.
(I'll add that i think Kova and his team are more skilled, and smarter than the above listed KO artists.)

 

[Julius_Caesar]

I think Ward wins the rematch. He will adapt and learn from the first fight a lot better.

 

[quincy k]

First of all, aggressive puncher doesn't do Kovalev justice. He's an intelligent boxer puncher.

But to answer your question, off the top of my head, Carl Froch vs. George Groves 2, Danny Garcia vs. Erik Morales 2, Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams 2.

All cases of a closely contested first fight where a heavy handed boxer/puncher obviously went back to the fight tape, found an oppening on his opponent, and exploited it in the rematch to brutal effect.

Kovalev (and John David Jackson) are extremely smart and i would absolutely NOT rule out Kovalev viciously knocking Ward out in a rematch.
(I'll add that i think Kova and his team are more skilled, and smarter than the above listed KO artists.)

in the first meetings froch(kd), garcia(broken nose) and sergio(kd) all had to respect their opponents power in the rematch.

i dont think kovalev has any respect for andres power

 

[Buddy Revell]

in the first meetings froch(kd), garcia(broken nose) and sergio(kd) all had to respect their opponents power in the rematch.

i dont think kovalev has any respect for andres power

Definitely not his punching power. But i bet he respects his strength in the clinch.
I would expect Kova would invest in attacking Ward to the body early and often in the rematch, instead of head hunting like the first fight, knowing he can pretty much hurt Ward upstairs whenever he wants.

Take away his legs and his stamina... then put him away in the second half of the fight.

 

[quincy k]

Definitely not his punching power. But i bet he respects his strength in the clinch.
I would expect Kova would invest in attacking Ward to the body early and often in the rematch, instead of head hunting like the first fight, knowing he can pretty much hurt Ward upstairs whenever he wants.

Take away his legs and his stamina... then put him away in the second half of the fight.

kov has to use his jab more to negate the clinch. he hurt ward early with the jab and seemed to abandon it after the kd

 

[moosaev]

kov has to use his jab more to negate the clinch. he hurt ward early with the jab and seemed to abandon it after the kd

I don't get why Ward is getting all the blame for the clinching. Kov clinched an awful lot in that fight.

 

[Sunfish]

I don't get why Ward is getting all the blame for the clinching. Kov clinched an awful lot in that fight.

Kov clinches his man bag as well.

 

[quincy k]

I don't get why Ward is getting all the blame for the clinching. Kov clinched an awful lot in that fight.

nothing wrong with clinching, its part of boxing. hof holyfield was excellent at clinching and argubably beat tyson in the first fight because of tysons inability to negate it.

 

[aries]

Both fighters need to be able to adapt to their opponent to win. Kov couldn't adapt whilst Andre made the necessary adjustments to win the second half of the fight. Based on that I have to go with Ward in the rematch. I just don't see Kov being the type of fighter who can fight markedly different to how he usually fights. Maybe he'll surprise me but I doubt it.

 

[wilddeuces]

Going into the first, I felt Ward was the better boxer. When the fight ended I had a new appreciation for Kovalev's boxing skills. Boxing on the outside I felt the fight was Kovalev's. He needed to be more disciplined with his feints, more consistent with the jab, and more willing to alternate those 1's and 2's. Though I suspe t Ward's movement kept Kovalev from employing it as much, I notcmiced that Kovalev was starting to figure him out a bit on the outside. Ward's infighting was the key factor contributing to his victory. I think Kovalev had understood Ward by the end and if he can work to deny Ward on the inside, he has a better chance. Ward probably puts in a similar camp, regarding strategy, Kovalev knows what changes to make so his camp will have to make some noteworthy changes.

Who wins? Dunno, but I think that if Kovalev makes the necessary adjustments in camp it can get very interesting. Not unlike LSC vs Frampton, Cruz made the right adjustments and came away with the win in their second close fight. Wouldn't be surprised if there is an upset here. I don't think Ward gets knocked down or stopped, but Kovalev might just be able to win even though he is the rightful underdog going into the rematch.

If the rematch happens.... :-(

 

[MC Paul Barman]

Kovalev will win.... again.

 

[Shoemaker]

Both fighters need to be able to adapt to their opponent to win. Kov couldn't adapt whilst Andre made the necessary adjustments to win the second half of the fight. Based on that I have to go with Ward in the rematch. I just don't see Kov being the type of fighter who can fight markedly different to how he usually fights. Maybe he'll surprise me but I doubt it.

I wouldn't call Kov one dimensional because he does a lot of things really well, but I think Ward has a few more things he can do. Hunter - as bad a corner man as he is - has proved to be able to come up with good plans for Andre, and Ward sticks to them. But he also knows how to make the small adjustments when something isn't working.

 

[Shoemaker]

Kovalev will win.... again.

Yeah but only because he rehydrates nearly 15lbs! He's huge in there! Why doesn't he go pick on guys his own size? Weight conspiracy! Size and things!

And so on and so on.

 

[Sunfish]

Yeah but only because he rehydrates nearly 15lbs! He's huge in there! Why doesn't he go pick on guys his own size? Weight conspiracy! Size and things!

And so on and so on.

My shoes are size 13, wanna go?

 

[Shoemaker]

My shoes are size 13, wanna go?

You lucky asshole. Mine is 13 1/2. Only way to find that size is to make it yourself.

 

[Necrocide]

Ward, by way of doing what he did in the second half of the first fight. If Kovalev can't find a way to force Ward to engage in firefights (and I don't think he can) it'll be a boring UD.

 

[Seano]

I don't get why Ward is getting all the blame for the clinching. Kov clinched an awful lot in that fight.

People shit on Floyd for clinching in the Maidana fights but they were doing it pretty much 50/50. Fans just look for an excuse when their guy loses.

 

[Seano]

My shoes are size 13, wanna go?

Big feet, little meat.

 

[aries]

I wouldn't call Kov one dimensional because he does a lot of things really well, but I think Ward has a few more things he can do. Hunter - as bad a corner man as he is - has proved to be able to come up with good plans for Andre, and Ward sticks to them. But he also knows how to make the small adjustments when something isn't working.

I wouldn't call him one dimensional but compared to Ward he is much more limited as a fighter. As others have noted his strength is fighting from the outside mostly with straight 1-2's and he's a come forward type of fighter. Ward on the other hand can box at any range. It just so happened that against Kov it was the close range that was working best for him, something that Kov didn't have an answer to.

 

[Large Hound 77]

As already said, Ward wins by a clearer margin this time. It won't be pretty, but it will be effective. Will be like watching Hopkins vs anyone