Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward: 5 reasons to watch

Sergey Kovalev defending his trio of light heavyweight titles against former super middleweight champion Andre Ward with pound-for-pound standing at stake shouldn’t need selling. However, both Kovalev and Ward have failed to capture the public’s imagination — yet that shouldn’t overshadow the magnitude of this fight.

Finally, boxing got it right. With fights like Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez joining the scrap heap of failed negotiations and over-marinated match-ups, Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward is a deserved treat for the sport’s suffering fans. Now, all it has to do is live up to its immense hype.

The anticipation for Kovalev-Ward, though, is of an atypical sort — at least when one considers how boxing’s landscape has shifted. The days of the best fighting the best at the optimal moment have virtually vanished, replaced by promoters and fighters more interested in buildings brands than legacies. Thankfully, Kovalev-Ward is the antithesis of this skewed logic.

Although Kovalev-Ward will be broadcast on HBO pay-per-view, it isn’t the type of marquee fight that will break any revenue or viewership records — and that’s a shame. Frankly, it’s probably the most significant match-up since Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad put their undefeated records on the line in September of 1999.

In fact, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes, this will only be the third time since Ring Magazine started ranking fighters that two top-five, undefeated boxers have faced off. The other two bouts? The aforementioned De La Hoya-Trinidad match-up and Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor.

So, can Kovalev-Ward live up to such lofty company? Certainly. Is it a guarantee? Of course not. However, regardless of how the fight unfolds — and opinions on who will win are bitterly divided — it’s one of those rare contests that demands viewing, because history will be made, and legacies will be defined, in some capacity. With that, here are five reasons to watch Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward.