SERGEY KOVALEV-ANDRE WARD FACTS AND FIGURES
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 19 Nov 2016
In a pound-for-pound superfight, WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev will stake his titles against former super middleweight title holder Andre Ward in a clash of undefeated fighters Saturday in the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kovalev (30-0-1) is ranked second and Ward (30-0) is fourth in The Ring pound-for-pound rankings. Kovalev is No. 1 and Ward is No. 4 behind Adonis Stevenson and Eleider Alvarez in The Ring light heavyweight rankings.
Kovalev, 33, will make the ninth defense of his WBO light heavyweight title, which he won in August 2013, and the fifth defense of his WBA and IBF titles, which he won from Bernard Hopkins in November 2014. Kovalev?s eight title defenses are the third in the most number of defenses among incumbent world champions.
This is the seventh fight in boxing history in which two undefeated fighters with 30 or more wins will fight for a world title. It will be the third such fight this year.
Battles of undefeated champions are very rare in boxing and the notable clashes were:
2016 - Gennady Golovkin (35-0) defeated Kell Brook (36-0), TKO5 for the WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight titles.
2016 - Roman Gonzalez (45-0) dominated Carlos Cuadras (35-0-1), UD12 for the WBC superflyweight title.
2013 - Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0) edged Canelo Alvarez (42-0-1), MD12 for the WBA Super and WBC superwelterweight titles.
2007 - Joe Calzaghe (43-0) prevailed over Mikkel Kessler (39-0), UD12 for the WBC, WBA Super and WBO supermiddleweight titles.
1999 - Felix Trinidad (35-0) won over Oscar de la Hoya (31-0), MD12 for the WBC and IBF welterweight titles.
1987 - Mike Tyson (30-0) crushed Tony Tucker (34-0), UD12 for the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles.
Kovalev was born in Kopeysk, Russia and is now living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 2011 he fought Grover Young to a technical draw at 1:31 in round 2 of 8.
In nine world title fights, Kovalev is 9-0, with seven knockouts. He has knocked out 12 of his last 14 opponents and 26 of his career 31 opponents.
He was known for his knockout ability with 84% KO rate. In 12-round fights, only two of Kovalev?s 11 opponents have survived all 12 rounds. They were Hopkins and Isaac Chilemba. Kovalev won both fights by unanimous decision. Kovalev?s 31 fights have lasted an average of 3.7 rounds.
Born in San Francisco, California, Ward, 32, was the last U.S. male boxer to win the gold at the Olympics. He joined the Super Six World Boxing Classic in 2009 and won the WBA (Super) super middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler in the opening group stage, Ward later unified his title with that of the WBC in 2011, defeating Carl Froch in the tournament final. In 2013 he vacated the titles to move up to light heavyweight.
This will be Ward?s third fight at light heavyweight and he. will attempt to become the seventh boxer to win titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight, joining boxers such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roy Jones Jr., Iran Barkley, Bruno Girard and Graciano Rocchigiani.
Ward had fewer fights in nearly five years because of injuries and contract disputes. He fought three times from 2012 to 2015 before moving up to the light heavyweight division. But this will be Ward?s third fight this year and all of them are at the light heavyweight division.
Fifteen of Ward?s 30 victories were won by knockout, a 50% KO rate. He is 7-0 with 1 KO in world championship fights.
Ward won the gold medal in the light heavyweight category in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was named the 2011 Fighter of the Year by The Ring, ESPN, and Boxing Writers Association of America.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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