Ward V Kovalev II (Vol. 4): Blast Fa Me

You can doubt me
But I doubt that’s wise
You can’t win without me
But you can lose and not know why ~

(Las Vegas) And there he was walking around with a lot of purpose. Talking and acting as if defeated through victory. Famously he told us, “I won, but I didn’t beat him!”, and we believed him. He trained harder than he did the first time and took him more seriously than he did before.

Apollo Creed, like light heavyweight champion Andre Ward, had never been defeated nor felt the need for a rematch. Like Ward, he’d never had one. Sergey Kovalev isn’t exactly Rocky Balboa, but went into his November 16, 2016 showdown with Ward as if a deer in headlights blinded by visions of a Virgil Hunter.

He would imagine himself into a fatigued reality, culminating in the loss of himself, while wasting away energy needed to defeat a man he overestimated.

These two have been entwined now for over a year and we’ve gone beyond the point of “After the love is gone” by Earth, Wind and Fire. That was gone from the inception, as dislike has moved into the realm of serious disdain, with a question of sovereignty exceeding the IBF/WBA & WBO titles at stake.

I don’t know if Kovalev uses the N-word while wearing a T-shirt with a monkey eating a banana when he sits down for breakfast with John David Jackson; his trainer, a black man; who may or may not have made overtures to join Team Ward while opting to stay with the ‘dark side’. Know this: black people call themselves the N-word and act more racist with each other than Kovalev does.

This is truth.

“He calls himself the ‘Son of God’ and he’s a LIAR,” said Jackson this week, with as much conviction as a calm Ward desecrating Jackson. But now comes the moment of truth. A chance for a figurative atheist to dispel a myth and expose a fraud, or…

A chance for a ring legend of biblical proportions to issue last rites to a man possessed by demons, crucifying him in front of the world for glory and redemption.

*** *** *** ***

PREDICTION

I went on “TalkBOX w/Michael Woods” earlier this week and issued an 11th round TKO forecast in favor of “SOG”. At the risk of blasphemy, I am altering this assessment after processing a lot of psychological and physical data over Fight Week.

This is a painful pick.

Kovalev now firmly seems to me, a version of Rocky with the “Eye of the Tiger” he had for Clubber Lang in the rematch, while having the focused rage Roberto Duran had for Sugar Ray Leonard.

Ward has been masterful in subtle manipulation in the weeks leading up to tonight– painting Kovalev as ‘a racist bully’ from the pulpit, all the while preparing himself to be just that in the ring. He’s looking to be an ugly octopus in there with his denser upper body, but in boxing, a fighter’s legs never lie.

Andre Ward, upon close inspection, is a lot closer to a 1989 version of Sugar Ray Leonard that rematched Thomas Hearns. I expect “Krusher” to be more akin to that “Hitman” tonight, and leave no doubt about who deserves the decision in a better fight than the first.

In other words Rocky Balboa is going to ultimately beat up Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler.