Kovalev-Ward: Should winner be #1 pound-for-pound?

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: The winner of this Saturday’s fight between IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) and Andre “SOG” Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) will be vaulted to the top spot in the pound-for-pound in boxing. The top spot is currently occupied by WBC super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs), who has done nothing to lose the position.

Still, it’s thought that the winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight will take the No.1 position as the pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. Ward is ranked 4 with Ring Magazine, and has done little since making his comeback last year to put him in that position aside from looking older and slower in beating three weak opponents: Alexander Brand, Sullivan Barrera and Paul Smith.

“I don’t think about what will be after the fight,” Kovalev said via ESPN about the pound for pound ratings. “I have focused my whole attention on this fight and Ward and what I should do inside the ring. We’ll see about this after the fight.”

You can argue that the winner of the Kovalev vs. Ward fight still doesn’t rate to be the No.1 fighter in boxing, because Ward is clearly not the same fighter he once was, and Kovalev has never shown himself to be a super talent. He’s a KO artist in a weak division. The winner of the Ward vs. Kovalev fight will only prove who the better fighter is among themselves, as far as I’m concerned. they won’t have beaten WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who some boxing fans feel is the true best fighter in the division.

Ward said this via ESPN.com about the winner of his fight against Kovalev being the No.1 fighter in the sport:

“It’s hard to say definitively, but I think it would be really, really hard to argue against [the winner being No. 1],” Ward said. “I’m saying this based on both of our resumes and based on the fact that we are both willing to step up and face each other at this stage of our career. We’re both 30-0, and we both have a lot to gain and a lot to lose. I think that the winner of this fight should be pound-for-pound No. 1.”

It always bothers me when a fighter involved in the pound-for-pound rankings talks of himself being potentially in the top spot if he beats so and so. I think the fighters should leave it up to the fans as a whole. I don’t know if I agree with an organization making the decision about who the top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. I think it should be done with the use of polls worldwide rather than a small group of people sitting down and making the decision, which is obviously a subjective thing.

Here are Ring Magazine’s top 10 pound-for-pound fighters as of today:

1. Roman Gonzalez

2. Sergey Kovalev

3. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin

4. Andre Ward

5. Terence Crawford

6. Guillermo Rigondeaux

7. Vasyl Lomachenko

8. Saul Canelo Alvarez

9. Shinsuke Yamanaka

10. Carl Frampton

Those are good fighters, but I don’t agree with the ranking of them. I know someone has to be in the top 10 in the pound-for-pound rankings, but I do not agree with Ward and Kovalev being ranked so highly right now.

Here are my rankings for the pound-for-pound list for Boxing News 24:

1. Roman Gonzalez

2. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin

3. Guillermo Rigondeaux

4. Vasyl Lomachenko

5. Oleksandry Usyk

6. Anthony Joshua

7. Keith Thurman

8. Carlos Cuadras

9. Donnie Nietes

10. Francisco Vargas

I don’t have Kovalev or Ward as top 10 fighters in my list. The reason for that is they haven’t looked good recently. Ward hasn’t shined in five years. He’s been unbeaten, but he’s done it against weak opposition since making a comeback. Ward has been a part time fighter for many years. You can’t put him in the pound for pound list based on his part time interaction in the sport. Further, you definitely can’t put Ward in the pound for pound rankings based on his last three fights against the 39-year-old Alexander Brand, Sullivan Barrera and Paul Smith.

Those were all tune-up fights. It’s nice that Ward is fighting Kovalev this Saturday on HBO pay-per-view, but that’s still not going to prove that he’s even the best in the 175lb division. Ward would still need to beat Adonis Stevenson, and I don’t think he or Kovalev can beat him. So for the winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight to be crowned as the No.1 fighter in the pound for pound ratings, I think it’s unfair to the other fighters, because neither of them rate the top spot in my opinion.

If anyone is going to take the top spot from Roman Gonzalez, it should be Golovkin. He’s looked a lot better than Ward and Kovalev lately, and his fights have been more entertaining. Look at the records: Golovkin is 36-0 with 33 KOs compared to Kovalev’s 30-0-1, 26 KOs and Ward’s 30-0, 15 KOs. Golovkin’s record is better than theirs in terms of knockouts, and I feel that he is more entertaining than either of them.

Ward’s promoter Michael Yomark of Roc Nation Sports said this to ESPN.com about the pound-for-pound ratings:

“Let’s make something absolutely clear — on [Saturday] the stakes could not be higher. Make no mistake about it, they will be fighting for something they have spent their entire life pursuing: the title of world’s best boxer. I have no doubt that Andre will win a decisive victory over a worthy challenger in Sergey Kovalev, and the title of pound-for-pound king.”

If what Ward’s promoter helps sell the Kovalev-Ward fight to the hardcore boxing fans then so be it, but I don’t see this Saturday’s fight as deserving as the pound for pound top spot. You might as well have the co-feature bout decide the top spot between Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Isaac Chilemba, because I think that fight just as deserving; meaning it does not deserve.
Ward is a good fighter, but he’s just not done anything lately in the last five years to be rated as the top fighter if he beats Kovalev.

If Ward were to stay busy and beat the likes of Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev, Joe Smith Jr. and the winner of the Gvozdyk vs. Chilemba fight, then I could see him being rated at No.1, but definitely not off of a win over Kovalev. With Kovalev, he still has to do a lot more to deserve the top spot than just a win over Ward. Golovkin is looking a lot better than Kovalev AND Ward, and it makes no sense for the winner of their fight to be put as the top position.

Ring Magazine might go ahead and put the winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight as the top spot in the pound for pound ratings, but they won’t be in my top spot. They won’t be even in the top 10, as far as I’m concerned. Until they beat Adonis Stevenson, Joe Smith Jr., Beterbiev and the winner of the Gvozdyk-Chilemba, they’ll remain far below the No.1 spot.

Boxing needs to be fixed, because there are too many flawed fighters holding top spots in each division, especially with the way the divisions are watered down with multiple champions. But what the sport doesn’t need is the pound for pound ratings to have fighters that aren’t the best occupying the top spot. Right now, Roman Gonzalez deserves to the No.1 fighter. The guy that is close on Gonzalez’s heels is Golovkin.

If Gonzalez is to lose the No.1 spot, it should be to Golovkin, not the winner of the Kovalev-Ward fight. That just seems like the flavor of the week. What are they going to do crown the next big fight between other fighters as the top spot in the pound for pound ratings? There’s a unification fight on January 14 between IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale and WBC champion Badou Jack. Will the winner of this fight be installed as the new pound for pound champion? What we don’t need is fights to be sold based on the winner of the fight being positioned as the new champion in the top ratings, because it makes a joke out of the whole pound for pound ratings.

This Saturday’s Kovalev-Ward fight card on HBO pay-per-view has one good fight on the undercard. The rest of the fights are not that great. Here are the fights on the card from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada:

– Maurice Hooker vs. Darleys Perez in 140lb division. This is a mismatch. Hooker wins. Perez used to be a decent fighter, but he was exposed recently by Anthony Crolla.

– Isaac Chilemba (vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the 175lb division. This fight is a toss-up. It’s not good that Chilemba has lost his last two fights. Gvozdyk is being given the push to the top spot at 175. My guess is if the fight goes to the cards, Gvozdyk wins. Chilemba might need a knockout in order to get the win.

– Curtis Stevens (vs. James De La Rosa at middleweight. This is another mismatch. Stevens is MUCH better than De La Rosa, who has lost a bunch of fights recently. You can argue that Stevenson-De La Rosa fight shouldn’t be on the card, because it’s a terrible one. Stevens is world class. De La Rosa is just an opponent.