Former Olympian Andre Ward picked up the biggest victory of his professional career this past November when he defeated Sergey Kovalev by unanimous decision to not only extend his record to a perfect 31-0, but to secure the WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight titles.
Andre Ward vs Adonis Stevenson – Who wins?
While an Andre Ward vs Adonis Stevenson match was mooted late in 2016, a rematch with Sergey Kovalev could certainly be also in the works for Andre Ward in 2017 (at least first up).
An intriguing possibility after this fight (should Ward emerge victorious over Kovalev in a potential rematch) would be a clash between “SOG” and WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson.
“Superman” is a Haitian Canadian southpaw possessing a 28-1 professional record with 23 of those victories coming by way of knockout.
While he’s no longer a young lion at age 39, Stevenson is widely considered to be one of the very best light- heavyweights in the world and for good reason, as he’s defended his titles seven straight times.
He most recently scored a fourth round knockout victory over Thomas Williams Jr. last July.
While Stevenson is certainly heavy handed, he has, at times, been criticized for not being as crisp and as sharp as other fighters, and he certainly isn’t as technical as Ward.
Despite having 15 knockout victories on his record, the American is more of a boxer than a slugger.
He typically uses fluid combinations, strong defense and well thought out strategies, which was seen in his fight against Kovalev.
After being dropped by the “Krusher” early on, Ward battled back and out boxed the Russian on his way to victory by the narrowest (and controversial) of margins on the scorecards.
With that being said, a bout between the two would be quite interesting from a stylistic standpoint, another puncher vs boxer scenario if you will, although Kovalev in many fans’ eyes would possess the superior boxing skills to Stevenson.
Also, the two men are fairly similar in size with Stevenson standing at 5’11” and Ward standing at 6’0”.
“Superman”, however, does possess a clear reach advantage with a 77” reach as opposed to Ward’s 71” reach.
“SOG” did overcome a reach disadvantage against Kovalev though, so it’d be interesting to see how he matches up against Stevenson.
While the bout would certainly be a massive one in a sport in dire need of attractive fights, one roadblock would have to be conquered given the fact that Stevenson is advised by Al Haymon and shown on TV network Showtime, while Ward is signed on with HBO.
If it did take place, however, who would you pick? Would you side with the hard hitting Stevenson or with the resilient and strategic boxer in Ward?
Andre Ward vs Adonis Stevenson – who wins and how?
