Another big boxing bout on the way for punters to get stuck into. This will happen in the early hours of Sunday morning and there is a bit of spice between these two after their previous coming together. There was some mutual respect between the two and Ward was decked for the first time in his career after “Krusher” Kovalev had come out swinging
But Ward stuck in there and recovered and worked his way back into the bout, taking the fight by one point from all three judges. It has to be said though that Ward himself looked a little surprised by the decision and Kovalev, who thought that he had done more than enough immediately threw out the ‘rematch’ word after calling the result a “home decision”.
The fight may be a little different this time around because Kovalev, who usually destroys opponents in the opening five rounds, will probably want to conserve for later in the fight as he knows all about Ward’s resilience now. Talk from the Russian’s camp is that he is even better and better prepared than he was for the first fight. You have a quote of 5/2 at Coral for the fight to not go the distance.
Kovalev has 26 KO’s in his career and 22 of those have come before round five and never has he managed to stop anyone past round eight. So if you are looking at the challenger coming out and landing a win, it would be better to put your eggs in the basket of an early victory for him. You are looking at a price 6/1 at Sky Bet on Kovalev Round 1-6 which fits nicely into his usual trend of early victories.
Andre Ward v Sergey Kovalev
Andre Ward 4/6, Sergey Kovalev 6/5
However, Ward will know that if he can avoid any early onslaught he has the technical ability to win this and now he knows what is coming from the “Krusher” he is going to be better prepared and this could be an easier rematch for him. He remains unbeaten in his career but should he have lost that bout against Kovalev? Probably. If it go the distance then Andre Ward by Decision or Technical Decision at 5/6 has to be the value punt.
There’s no love lost between these two and we will find out if the Russian can make good on his assumption that he would kick Ward’s behind (or words to that effect) in a rematch. This should be good.
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