Big Fight Report: Ward Vs. Brand: Ward Wins But Fails To Shine

 

AP Photo-Eric Risberg

By Peter Silkov

Andre Ward (30-0, 15koes) last night, August 6th, ticked off what should be his final ‘warm up’ match, in his build up to an eagerly awaited showdown with Sergey Kovalev on November 19, for Kovalev’s World light heavyweight titles. As warm ups go, Ward’s have been lengthy and ultimately uninspiring. Indeed, it could be said that Ward’s whole career, since his brilliant performances in the “Super 6” Tournament, now 5 years passed, has been in essence, a warm up for his promised November encounter with Kovalev.  Harsh perhaps, but Ward’s 5 opponents since he beat Carl Froch in the Super 6 final in December 2011, have all failed to raise the temperature against the ’SOG.’

Last night was no different. In front of his home town fans at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California, Ward jousted with Alexander Brand (25-2, 19koes) for 12 rounds, and posted a shut out, winning every round, but as in his recent fights, his dominance wasn’t coloured by brilliance. The fight was dull and Ward failed to shine. Ward’s technical gifts are beyond dispute, but when a fighter is considered one of the top p4p boxers on the planet, something extra is expected of him against fighters of Brand’s calibre. It is not so much Ward’s failure to stop Brand that is troubling, rather his failure to show much, beyond the ordinary, for most of the fight. We only saw flashes of the kind of ability that Ward showed over 5 years ago now in the Super 6 Tournament.

AP Photo-Eric Risberg

Brand himself was game and came to fight, in what was his chance of a lifetime shot against Ward.  Yet the 39-year-old, who has spent his career fighting at super-middleweight against opponents several levels below that of the ‘SOG,’ was out-matched in every department. In many ways, the match looked like a fight between a full light heavyweight and a super-middleweight, with the difference in size and strength, compounding Ward’s advantages in speed, and skill.  Yet despite being out-classed, Brand never seemed in danger of being stopped, and with his gutsy efforts, he at times threatened to drag Ward into the kind of physical fight that would have suited him. It does beg the question as to how the fight might have been different had Brand been a full- fledged light heavyweight, rather than a pumped up super-middleweight.
After 12 rounds of uneventful boxing, where each round tended to gel into each other, Ward won an unanimous point’s decision via three scores of 120-108.

Photo: realcombatmedia.com

In his post interview, Ward was joined in the ring by Sergey Kovalev to confirm and talk up their November 19 showdown. Refreshingly, both fighters are respectful of each other, giving a nice throwback feel to their the November 19 match.  This is a genuine match between two very talented fighters for a genuine world championship, with not a catch weight clause in sight. While Ward will deserve credit for taking on Kovalev, whether he wins or loses, one must question the opposition that he has chosen for his warm up fights. There is a nagging feeling having watched Ward’s most recent fight that he would have benefited from being matched against a genuine world class light heavyweight contender, rather than the inexperienced, and overmatched opponents of his last 3 fights. Also, are 5 competitive fights in five years enough preparation before taking on someone like Sergey Kovalev.

It is true that ‘The Krusher’ himself was not overly impressive in his recent title defence against the slippery and defence-minded Issac Chilemba. The difference between Chilemba and Brand is that Chilemba is a full-fledged world class lightheavyweight, who is capable of making the very best fighters look ordinary, while Brand is simply a gutsy, but limited fringe contender, who usually operates at super middleweight.

Ward stated recently that he didn’t even watch Kovalev’s recent title defence against Issac Chilemba. If that is to be believed, then one must wonder whether Ward is taking ‘The Krusher’ too lightly. The truth, however, is that Ward has probably been poring over every minute, every round of Kovalev’s most recent performance.

It is hard to see how Ward’s most recent opposition will prepare him for what he will face against Sergey Kovalev. It will take brilliance from Ward for him to beat ‘The Krusher’ on November 19 later this year. It is a brilliance that Ward has not had to show for almost 5 years. One thing that is for certain is that against Kovalev, Ward will face his first real live challenge since he met Car Froch , an the ‘SOG’ still shine?

The highlight of the Ward vs. Brand undercard was lanky light welterweight, Maurice ‘Mighty Mo’ Hooker’s (21-0-2, 16koes) 1st round demolition of Ty Barnett (23-6-1, 15koes.)  After dropping Barnett with a vicious left-hook, bombarded Barnett with bombs when he beat the count, until the referee had finally seen enough after 2:17 of the round. With this win, Hooker retained his NABO Light welterweight title and showed that he is one to watch.

Also on the undercard:

Light heavyweight Junior ‘The Young God’ Younan (10-0, 8koes) koed Jinner Guerrero (8-7, 6koes) in the 1st round.  A spectacular left hand flattened Guerrero.

At Heavyweight, Darmani ‘Rock Solid’ Rock (4-0, 3koes) was taken the distance for the first time over 4 rounds, by Mike Kyle (1-3-1, 1ko.) Rock had Kyle down in the 4th round but couldn’t keep him there. Scores for Rock were 40-35, 39-36, and 39-36.

Junior lightweight Daniel ‘Twitch’ Franco (14-0-3, 9koes) koed Marcelo Gallardo (7-4-2, 3koes) in the 5th round, after having him down in the 1st.

Ward Vs. Brand:

Copyright © 2016 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved.

Sergey Kovalev vs. Blake Caparello: Kovalev Aiming to Krush Caparello

 

By Peter Silkov

 WBO world light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0-1, 22koes) returns to the ring this Saturday, to defend his title against Australian challenger Blake Caparello (19-0-1, 6koes) at the Revel Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  

This will be Kovalev’s third defence of the title, which he ripped from the head of Nathan Cleverly, in four rounds last July. Sergey Kovalev had entered that match a bit of a mystery man to the general boxing public, but already rumoured to be a puncher of serious note. What transpired that night served to show why Kovalev has been given the nickname of ‘The Krusher.’ The Russian’s performances since winning the title have marked him out as one of the most destructive punchers in the world, pound-for-pound, alongside fellow Eastern European wrecking machine Gennady Golovkin. 

‘The Krusher’ shares a number of parallels with the WBA world middleweight champion Golovkin.  As with Golovkin, although he is primarily known for his powerful punching, Kovalev is also well schooled in the finer points of boxing.  Kovalev sets his opponents up with a good jab and is an excellent body puncher. His punches, like Golovkin’s, are also short and swiftly delivered, with pinpoint accuracy.  ‘The Krusher’ makes every punch count, and despite the brevity of the majority of his fights, performs his destructive work with impressive patience. 

This strong foundation of technique makes Kovalev a much more formidable all- round fighter.  He is not the stereotypical knockout artist who can simply be out-boxed by a fighter with a bit of speed and ring technique.

While Gennady Golovkin is seen as one of the most explosive punchers pound-for- pound in the world, Kovalev’s own punching prowess seems to be, if anything, even more explosive, to a point where it may well be in a class of its own. In his 24 victories, Kovalev has only had to go past the 3rd round five times.

Another thing which Kovalev shares with Golovkin since winning his world title, is a difficulty enticing the other big names of his division, especially the division’s other ’world champions’ to enter the ring with him.  At one point, a showdown with Adonis Stevenson (who holds the WBC and lineal titles) in what would have been a big unification fight, seemed to have been agreed by all parties, only for Stevenson to then turn around and move to rival network Showtime.  As well as generating a lawsuit, which is still in its early stages, this move by Stevenson has denied Kovalev of what would have been a defining fight. The other big name at 175 pounds is the remarkable Bernard Hopkins, who at the tender age of 49 years old, holds the WBA and IBF titles. Unfortunately for ’The Krusher,’ Hopkins has recently seemed far more interested in facing Stevenson in the ring, although some recent comments from ’The Alien’ may be cause for hope. Hopkin’s has said that he may be open to tackling Kovalev before he facing Stevenson. Then again, this statement could be an example of Hopkins’ mind games and a method of coaxing Stevenson to come to a decision in their negotiations.   

With the other ‘world champions’ avoiding him, Kovalev has had to take the challenges from the fighters that are willing to face him. Consequently, Kovalev has had the quality of his opposition questioned (another dilemma of Gennady Golovkin.) While Kovalev’s challengers so far may not include the names of elite level fighters, it’s worth noting that out of his past five opponents, three of them, (including Caparello) have been undefeated, and that the five fighters combined records come to (113-2-1, 78koes.)

The Australian challenger comes into Saturday’s contest unbeaten in 20 fights, with the only ’blot’ on his record being a 10 round draw in his 6th fight.   The challenger is a cagey southpaw, who stands six feet one and a half inches, and is a rangy boxer, who fights mostly off the back foot, and likes to counterpunch his opponents. Caparello’s most notable wins have come in his last two fights, with point’s decisions over Elvir Muriqi and Allan Green.  While long time solid contenders at 175, both fighters are notably past their peaks, at this point in their careers. 

One of Caparello’s biggest problems in facing ’The Krusher’, is that it is a huge leap up in competition for the Australian, and he is unlikely to appreciate just how high a leap it is until he actually feels the first punch land from Kovalev.

Another problem that the challenger has is that he is only a moderate puncher himself, with just 6 stoppage wins in his career so far.

Without a discernable punch to trouble Kovalev, the 27 -year old challenger’s only chance of victory in this fight is to employ his boxing skills, make himself an elusive target, and attempt to outbox the champion. Although Caparello is a good all-round boxer, he is not exceptional in any area.  He looks slower and less mobile than Ismayl Sillah, whom Kovalev made his first defence against last November, and dispatched in 2 rounds, and he does not have the solid defence of the champion’s last challenger Cedric Agnew, who managed to take Kovalev into the 7th round in April.

The biggest thing that Caparello has in his favour is that no one is giving him a chance, and that can sometimes prove dangerous for a defending champion.

However, ‘The Krusher’ has shown himself, up until now, to be an extremely focused and single-minded individual. He would seem unlikely to lose that hunger and intensity now, at the point of his career where he is poised to break into the elite level.

All-in-all, this looks like a straightforward ’keep busy’ defence for ’The Krusher’ with the main question being how long can the challenger survive. 

Kovalev will study his challenger early on, which will probably see him having to hunt down the Australian from behind his jab, and soften him up with his body attack.  The challenger’s apparent toughness and boxing style should see him through the early rounds, but by the 5th or 6th round Kovalev’s attacks would have taken their toll and Caparello will be slowed down enough for ’The Krusher’ to deliver the finisher.

With a possible high profile unification fight with Bernard Hopkins waiting in the near future for him, it is important for Kovalev to look impressive in this defence, and deliver what is becoming one his trademark spectacular knockouts.  The chances are that this is exactly what ’The Krusher’ will do, as he shows once more why he is fast becoming the most feared puncher, pound-for-pound, in boxing today.      






Copyright © 2014 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com