God Blessed Andre Ward!

On November 19th 2016 history was made in the Light heavyweight division under the bright illuminate lights of Las Vegas, as former super middleweight King Andre S.O.G Ward became a two division world champion after out hustling Russian punching terminator Sergey Kovalev over 12 tactical boxing rounds. It was the biggest boxing match up made in 2016 and boxing fans, analysts and pundits were all split on which fighter they thought would be victorious on fight night, and who would cement themselves as one of the best pound for pound fighters in today’s era. Coming into the fight Kovalev was the light heavyweight kingpin having all the major belts around his waist with the exception of the WBC (Adonis Stevenson), the persona of a unfazed bully who destroys at his own will, and the reputation as one of the most powerful boxers in the world today. When he first came face to face with ward as their fight was being organized, it was in wards home town of Oakland California after Andre had just won his second fight in the light heavy weight division. The fighters were respectful of one another and credited their rival for what they had already achieved in boxing. It could have been the hostile environment and being in enemy territory but Kovalev seemed nervous and uncomfortable in the ring with Ward during the post-fight interview with HBO and it seemed this nervousness came back to kovalev during fight night, maybe Kovalev is a little intimated by Andre Ward?

The first three rounds of the fight was all Kovalev as he displayed his natural weight advantage over ward by out muscling him during clinches, and demonstrated his punching power by rocking ward with several stiff jabs and eventually dropping him with a straight right which normally puts opponents down and out when detonated. Even after this tough early start to the fight ward managed to keep calm, cool, and composed which was mainly due to the angel on his shoulder that night in the form of his trainer, father figure, and mentor Virgil Hunter. Virgil was prolific in keeping ward relaxed and focused, which played a huge part in how the rest of the fight turned out. After round three ward began to maneuver around the ring much better and find the right range in timing his punches. He began to beat Sergey to the punch and have the last say in most of the exchanges; his inside game became effective as he was able to dictate the action on the inside and looked more comfortable fighting at close range.

As ward grew in confidence Kovalev seemed to diminish with his as he watched ward take his best shots and fire back with his own. Although the fight was competitive and very close the deciding difference seemed to be Wards confidence and Kovalev’s uncertainty. From round one ward was bleeding from the nose and looked roughed up, in the middle rounds Kovalev’s head was getting snapped back from wards stiff left jab and he began to bleed from the nose also, this fight was a battle of wills. Going into the 12th and final round many viewers, pundits, and analysts had the fight scored differently some had ward up some had Kovalev up it was just like the pre-fight predictions many different opinions and views on who was winning the fight. Going into the scorecards hearts were racing, palms were sweaty and promoters and fans of either fighter were praying their fighter got the decision. In the end it was the ‘Blessed Andre Ward’ who came back from adversity early on to show his mental toughness, physical condition, winning mentality, and God Blessed ability to edge out the victory.