Aug 4, 2016 In what's expected to be nothing more than the final tuneup for Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KO) ahead of a late 2016 showdown with light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, the former 168-pound kingpin will face Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KO) on Saturday. Ward is still shaking off the rust from a near two-year absence from the ring that began November 2013 and ended in June 2015. In his two fights since coming back to the sport, he hasn't looked as dominant as he once did. He stopped Paul Smith in June 2015 and won an easy unanimous decision over Sullivan Barrera in March, but most would agree he'll need to be better to beat Kovalev. For Ward, that's what the fight against Brand is about: improvement. However, the fight likely means something much different to Brand. He's looking to make a name for himself in the sport, and who better to do that against than Ward? The question heading into this fight isn't "can Ward win?" Rather, it is "can Ward win impressively enough for us and him to believe he's ready for Kovalev?" Ward will defeat Brand easily, and he'll look as good as he has since his comeback. Brand looks smallish across the shoulders for the light heavyweight division and doesn't possess noteworthy speed. In fact, he looks off balance much of the time, and his movements areherky-jerky. It may take a round or so for Ward to time him, but when he does, he should have no trouble finding the range. Is that good enough to beat Kovalev? Well, we'll have to wait a little longer to get an answer to that question. When: Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET Where: Oracle Arena in Oakland, California TV: HBO Live Stream: Box Nation (region-restricted) Spoiler: Undercard The undercard lineup is set for the HBO-televised Andre Ward vs Alexander Brand clash on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. In non-televised bouts, unbeaten super lightweight Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (20-0-2, 15 KOs) takes on Tyrone Barnett (23-4-1, 15 KOs), undefeated junior lightweight Daniel “Twitch” Franco (13-0-3, 8 KOs) faces Marcelo Gallardo (7-3-2, 3 KOs), unbeaten super middleweight Rudy “The Revelation” Puga Jr. (8-0, 7 KOs) meets TBA, unbeaten light heavyweight Junior Younan (9-0, 7 KOs) battles Jaime “Zarco” Solorio (5-2-2, 4 KOs), highly regarded heavyweight prospect Darmani Rock (3-0, 3 KOs) looks to build up his record against Mike Kyle (1-2-1, 1 KO) and local junior welterweight Bilal “Rebellious” Mahasin (8-3-1, 1 KO) goes against journeyman Luis Alfredo Lugo (14-25-1, 5 KOs). @Charlie @Flacko @Mike Tyson
Aug 4, 2016 Doubt he'll stop him. Ward isn't the guy to risk anything for a finish in general, let alone leading up to the biggest fight of his career. He'll probably comfortably win every single round. Also, Ward-Kovalev has a hard date of 11/19.
Aug 4, 2016 Can't come soon enough. Undefeated had a great piece on Ward today. https://theundefeated.com/features/andre-ward-fights-to-avoid-a-boxers-bad-ending/
Aug 8, 2016 Ward was a 10,000-1 favorite lol. Gotta be the 1st big fight to not get at least 1 post the night of. Oh well, only a few more months til we get to see the biggest fight in boxing.
Aug 8, 2016 I totally forgot about it. I'd rather get a 60FPS copy a couple hours after than watch a potato stream anyway. Doing the same with Olympic boxing. If you haven't caught it, they took away headgear and made it a 10 point must system. Way more comparable to pro boxing now.
Aug 8, 2016 I noticed, briefly caught a few rounds at the gym yesterday. Couldn't catch the name but a Brit got a few knockdowns.
