Ward aiming for titles, legacy
Oakland boxer can take 3 crowns vs. Kovalev on Saturday
Andre Ward has fought in his hometown of Oakland. He won an Olympic gold medal in Athens. His pro career has taken him from the Cayman Islands to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
On Saturday night, Ward steps into the ring in Las Vegas for the first time with three world lightheavyweight titles and his legacy on the line.
An HBO pay-per-view audience will watch from home as Ward, 32, takes on heavy-hitting Russian Sergey Kovalev, 33, at the new T-Mobile Arena in a battle of unbeatens that might determine the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
Ward, who fought most of his pro career as a super middleweight, understands this opportunity.
“I’m very big on rising to the moment,” Ward said. “This is the biggest moment, all things considered.”
Ward (30-0-0, 15 KOs) will try to pry WBA, IBF and WBO belts away from their current owner, “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs).
The fight is more than Ward’s biggest payday — a guaranteed $5 million plus a share of the pay-perview receipts, according to totalSportek.com. It’s the chance for a fighter who hasn’t lost since he was a 14-year-old amateur to answer any remaining skeptics and cement his place in boxing history.
Ward readily acknowledges he wants to finish his career undefeated, but he accepts that not everyone is sold on his credentials. He’s a superb defensive fighter, adapts well in the ring and hits harder than it appears. But he’s hardly a knockout artist and, as a result, leaves some boxing fans cold.
“That’s the beautiful thing about this sport: there is a night of reckoning, a night where you can show and tell,” Ward said. “I love those moments.”
No one picked him to win Olympic gold or the Super Six super-middleweight tournament. He won them both. Ward jokes he might not have picked himself to win the latter, but the atmosphere in Vegas won’t overwhelm him.
“I understand the magnitude of this fight,” he said. “At the same time, I’ve been in these positions before. This is the biggest one, but I’ve been here before.”
There were times when even Ward wondered if a fight of this prominence would come to him. Sidelined by injury and a drawn-out legal battle with his former promoter, Ward fought only twice in a span of 41 months through June 2015.
He actually wrote a retirement speech a couple of years ago, then put it aside.
“God knows what my timetable and my seasons are supposed to be,” Ward said. “Everything that I’ve been through in the ring and outside the ring, they prepare you for moments like this.”
Moments such as going toe-to-toe with Kovalev, as intimidating an opponent as Ward has met.
“Seek and destroy,” said Ward, describing Kovalev’s approach. “I think he’s the real deal. Everything they’re writing about him is true.”
And more, insists Virgil Hunter, Ward’s longtime trainer. “Kovalev has more attributes than just punching. He’s a good boxer, too.”
Ward agrees, but everyone recognizes how this fight is painted by most fans.
“It seems like this fight is built around Kovalev’s punching power,” Hunter said. “A lot of people talk like nothing’s going to happen to him at all.”
Ward’s strategy Saturday night won’t be pre-determined. As always, he will measure his opponent and determine his response.
“Whatever Kovalev comes with, you have to have the ability to adapt and offset. That’s always been one of ’Dre’s strengths,” Hunter said. “If he brings that to the table, it should serve him well.”