Andre.Ward.vs.Alexander.Brand. 06.08.2016.

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00:00:00The following is a presentation of HBO Sports.

00:00:26One thing my pastor told me is that never develop an appetite for the cheers of men

00:00:30because they'll feed you today and starve you tomorrow.

00:00:33Large roar from the local crowd for the local hero.

00:00:38Over the course of his boxing career, Andre Ward has experienced his share of admiration.

00:00:42You see, he does draw 10,000 people when he fights in Oakland.

00:00:45He hasn't lost a fight since he's 13.

00:00:48He's something special.

00:00:50The 32-year-old Oakland native has long been considered one of the sport's pound-for-pound

00:00:54best.

00:00:55Recently, though, when injury and promoter difficulties led to only four fights in five

00:01:00years, the applause waned and the critics grew louder.

00:01:03Now, when you go through rough times, you want people to think the way you think and

00:01:07understand your life and what you're going through, but that's not a reality, man.

00:01:11This past March, in only his second bout at Light Heavyweight, Ward faced Sullivan Barrera.

00:01:16It was a performance that reaffirmed his reputation as an elite fighter and gave the star-studded

00:01:21audience reason to celebrate.

00:01:24Andre Ward delivers a knockdown in round three.

00:01:28And the potential rival was there to witness the dominant performance.

00:01:32Andre Ward on a path which everyone in boxing hopes will set up a Light Heavyweight showdown

00:01:38for the ages.

00:01:39What are your thoughts about fighting Sergey Kovalev?

00:01:42You know me, Max.

00:01:43I want to fight the best.

00:01:44I've always fought the best.

00:01:45It's not a matter of if.

00:01:46I just think it's when.

00:01:47To the delight of boxing fans, Kovalev and Ward agreed in principle to a November showdown

00:01:52if they could both remain undefeated.

00:01:55Last month, Kovalev lived up to his side of the deal by dispatching Isaac Chalemba,

00:02:00clearing the Russian's path to Ward.

00:02:03And tonight, it's Ward's turn to take care of business.

00:02:06Standing in the way of the 175-pound mega bout is Colombian opponent Alexander Brand.

00:02:12If I don't take care of my business tonight against Alexander Brand, there is no Kovalev fight.

00:02:17It's a must win for Andre Ward.

00:02:19Live from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, an intriguing evening of world championship boxing.

00:02:25Ward Brand is next.

00:02:49Welcome to another edition of World Championship Boxing,

00:03:05coming to you from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

00:03:08Tonight, hometown hero and pound-for-pound star Andre Ward.

00:03:12Now a full-fledged light heavyweight,

00:03:14Thanks on Colombia's Alexander Brand, a huge underdog who'll be looking to spoil the much-talked-about,

00:03:19highly-anticipated fall matchup between Ward and 175-pound kingpin Sergey Kovalev.

00:03:28Hello again, everybody. I'm Jim Lampley welcoming you to this single-fight edition of HBO's World Championship Boxing,

00:03:35a fight which is yet another stepping stone on the path to what is potentially

00:03:41the biggest and best boxing match of the year,

00:03:44the anticipated November showdown between the undefeated Andre Ward

00:03:49and the likewise undefeated Russian knockout artist Sergey Kovalev.

00:03:53Tonight's competition, if in fact competition emerges,

00:03:58is not, in keeping with the best traditions of boxing here on HBO Sports,

00:04:03but it is a necessary stepping stone toward the big fight.

00:04:08This was one of several subjects I covered with Ward in a wide-ranging interview a couple of days ago.

00:04:14Let's take a look.

00:04:23There are a lot of ways to quantify this.

00:04:25This will be your fifth fight since December of 2011.

00:04:29It'll be the first time since the Super Six that you've fought twice in the same calendar year.

00:04:35And all those are ways of saying that you have been through a period of inactivity,

00:04:42looking back now at the last five years.

00:04:45Do you have any regrets about the choices that you made?

00:04:48To bluntly answer the question, absolutely not.

00:04:51It's amazing to me that I have to continue to answer these questions.

00:04:54There's these red flags, oh, you weren't as consistent as you should have been.

00:04:58I've been boxing over 20 years.

00:05:00I think a lot of people are putting way too much into this.

00:05:02I think it's been a storyline way too long.

00:05:04I understand it, but it's not something I think about on a day-to-day basis.

00:05:09You wrote an open letter to Muhammad Ali,

00:05:11and a central focus of the letter that you wrote to him was what his identity meant outside the ring.

00:05:18Do you see an analogy between his three-and-a-half-year political exile?

00:05:23Do you see a kinship between yourself and Ali?

00:05:26It's kind of hard to compare myself in any respects to Ali,

00:05:29but you have to acknowledge what was done outside the ring.

00:05:33It allowed individuals like myself in rough times to look at that and say,

00:05:38man, he did that, and he got through it.

00:05:41Now all of a sudden, I've gone through and got past on the other side of my situation.

00:05:45I'm a lot sharper business-wise. I'm a lot stronger. I'm fortified.

00:05:49Some of the trials and tribulations we go through are not just for us.

00:05:55What prompted the move to 175 pounds?

00:05:58Probably a couple things. It was hard to get other 68-pounders in the ring.

00:06:01It was like trying to pull teeth.

00:06:03Some was politics. Some was just not being able to make the match-ups.

00:06:07The other piece was I want to be great, and it's that simple.

00:06:11All those that I've studied, continue to study to this day,

00:06:14Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, the list goes on and on.

00:06:18They moved up. It's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it.

00:06:22But we took on the challenge, and I'm excited about it.

00:06:24Was the target of going up to 175 pounds then specifically, let's get the Kovalev fight?

00:06:30Of course. You can't come to someone's neighborhood, and they're the big bad wolf in the neighborhood

00:06:36and not expect to knock on the door and want to play at some point.

00:06:40What's the point of going up?

00:06:42Sullivan Barrera, I thought you got hit with one right hand. Did you feel it at all?

00:06:47No, it was nothing special about it. All respect to him, but it was nothing that was out of the ordinary.

00:06:52What are you looking for in the brand fight?

00:06:54I've got to go out there and perform like I just said.

00:06:57There is no Kovalev if I don't perform August 6th.

00:06:59Here's a Wiley veteran who, you know, very awkward style.

00:07:03He's very unorthodox. I mean, he just has everything to gain and nothing to lose.

00:07:07If he loses, he's supposed to lose. If he wins, he shocks the world.

00:07:10Does he have the puncher's chance?

00:07:12Everybody has a puncher's chance. I mean, I think if any grown man hits you in the right spot with a 10-ounce glove,

00:07:17some weird things can happen.

00:07:19So Barrera and brand are good enough for you to view as the right preparation for fighting Kovalev?

00:07:26I mean, I look at it like this, Jim. I've been fighting over 20 years.

00:07:29If I'm not ready for Kovalev now, I'll never be.

00:07:31Did you watch him against Chalemba?

00:07:33I did not. He's not my next opponent.

00:07:35My focus will be exclusively on Kovalev come August 7th.

00:07:41You'll hear a little bit more from Andre Ward as this telecast goes on.

00:07:44Now we're back live at ringside with HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman.

00:07:48Max, we saw Sergey Kovalev's tune-up fight a little bit less than a month ago against Isaac Chalemba.

00:07:53Now here comes Ward against a 39-year-old opponent with only one loss but no real profile in the sport.

00:07:59Most boxing media have trashed this matchup as little more than glorified sparring.

00:08:04Why should our viewers be interested?

00:08:06Well, it's a straight tune-up, and that's why Andre Ward is literally a hundred-to-one favorite,

00:08:13which shouldn't ever exist.

00:08:15But I think there was an acknowledgment in the boxing world, certainly it appeared to me,

00:08:20that after Andre Ward's last fight, considering the obstacle that Sergey Kovalev represents,

00:08:26he really needed at least one more tune-up.

00:08:30The problem is the undefeated opponents that Andre Ward's team looked at and thought

00:08:35that would be a good tune-up for Kovalev wanted pay-per-view money,

00:08:39and they were being offered tune-up money.

00:08:42With the August 6th date rapidly approaching, about eight weeks out at this point,

00:08:47at the point that this was going on, and the knowledge that the November date is what everyone's angling for,

00:08:52Ward-Kovalev, they had to fight someone.

00:08:55This was the best available guy who wouldn't upset the apple cart,

00:08:59who would take the money to fight Andre Ward tonight.

00:09:02It's a straight tune-up.

00:09:04All right, so here we are.

00:09:05Now let's turn to HBO boxing expert Bernard Hopkins.

00:09:08And Bernard, he already had one relatively perfunctory matchup against Sullivan Barrera earlier this year.

00:09:14Now here is what Max calls a straight tune-up fight.

00:09:17What's the value of this kind of thing as you prepare to fight Sergey Kovalev?

00:09:22Well, there's ring rust, and there's mental rust.

00:09:24And this is an opportunity to get both of these things accomplished tonight.

00:09:27And, you know, Andre Ward is a guy that likes to fight off a rhythm,

00:09:31and this is part of that rhythm of getting to that mindset to fight the big fight,

00:09:35and that is with Sergey Kovalev.

00:09:37All right, let's take a look at the tail of the tape now for Andre Ward against Alexander Brand.

00:09:43Again, they're in the light heavyweight division.

00:09:45Ward, after having moved partially up against Barrera,

00:09:48has now weighed in for this fight at 175.

00:09:51Part of the criticism of the matchup is that Brand is not himself a light heavyweight.

00:09:55He's moving up from 168.

00:09:57You see the 7-year age advantage for Ward at the top of the graphic.

00:10:01You see the 1 1⁄2-inch height advantage for Ward.

00:10:04Arm length advantage of 1⁄2 inch measured from the armpit to the end of the fist

00:10:07for the 39-year-old Alexander Brand.

00:10:10He'll be 40 January 31.

00:10:12And in his first fight in this division,

00:10:14he weighed in a pound and three-quarters under the 175-pound limit.

00:10:19Now, there's a look at Alexander Brand, Bogota, Colombia.

00:10:2225 wins against 1 loss.

00:10:24The loss came in a close fight against current 168-pound titleist Badou Jack back in 2012.

00:10:30Brand, unlike many of the South American fighters we've seen over the years,

00:10:34has an extensive amateur background

00:10:36and, in fact, maintains close ties to amateur boxing even now.

00:10:41Let's take a closer look.

00:10:51I am from Bogota, Colombia.

00:10:53Well, I've been an amateur for about 20 years.

00:10:56I did three Olympic cycles.

00:10:58I've had 437 fights as an amateur.

00:11:02So it's been a long, extensive career as an amateur.

00:11:06I'm always involved in the world of boxing.

00:11:09I am the president of the boxing league in my city, Bogota.

00:11:12I also collaborate with the national team as much as I can.

00:11:16And to try and develop young fighters

00:11:19and take them out of the bad situations that they are involved in,

00:11:23bad habits as drug, delinquency, and so on and so forth,

00:11:26so that they can be better people and better human beings.

00:11:30They even have some groups that are getting together to watch the fight.

00:11:33What I want to show them is that all these years of sacrifice

00:11:36lead you to this moment in time.

00:11:38The world may be overlooking me, but that will be the surprise for them.

00:11:41They will see who Alexander Brand is on Saturday,

00:11:43and we will give the best fight possible.

00:11:48And now Brand prepares to enter Andre Ward's home court,

00:11:52the Oracle Arena, Max Kellerman.

00:11:55Andre Ward was originally scheduled to fight Alexander Brand

00:11:58on the undercard of Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez last November 21.

00:12:03He wound up backing out of that fight because of soreness

00:12:06in his once surgically repaired knee.

00:12:09Alexander Brand has been thinking about Andre Ward for nine months now.

00:12:13You can think about him for nine years.

00:12:15It wouldn't make a difference, or at least it shouldn't.

00:12:17And that's partly these odds in this fight.

00:12:20It's a reflection of Andre Ward's quality.

00:12:22People know this is a guy who hasn't lost a fight since he was 13 years old,

00:12:26who won an Olympic gold medal,

00:12:28who won a super six tournament in the pros' Olympic style

00:12:31where you couldn't duck anyone,

00:12:33who even since he's been inactive still wins every single round

00:12:37against pretty good undefeated fighters.

00:12:39It's not that Brand is just fighting anyone.

00:12:41He's fighting maybe the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

00:12:44In fact, because of Ward's precise boxing style and his excellent defense,

00:12:48he has sometimes been called, Bernard Hopkins, a younger version of you.

00:12:52Do you see the comparison?

00:12:54Yeah, I see some comparison, but Andre Ward,

00:12:56you know, he has to be able to have that mindset.

00:12:59This is the second half of his career where he wants to shine.

00:13:02He wants to really make a statement, shut up the critics,

00:13:05get ready for the big fight we're covered of,

00:13:07and this is an opportunity to do that.

00:13:09So he cannot actually go in here like it's a sparring session.

00:13:12He has to go in the gym like this is a real fight, and it is.

00:13:15Ward has expressed as a logical ambition

00:13:19the goal of being seen as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world,

00:13:23and he was the logical candidate to succeed Floyd Mayweather

00:13:27in that position when Mayweather retired.

00:13:29But inactivity has really robbed him of the chance to gain that mantle, Max.

00:13:34But I think it works out better this way,

00:13:36because do you want the top fighter in the world to back into that position

00:13:40because he was number two and the number one guy retired

00:13:43and he beat a fated Chad Dawson at 168 pounds,

00:13:46or do you want the guy to assume the mantle

00:13:49by beating the unbeatable killer machine at 175 pounds that is Kovalev?

00:13:57It is set up in a much more dramatic fashion for Andre Ward

00:14:01to assume the mantle as the number one pound-for-pound fighter against Kovalev,

00:14:04but he needs, obviously, to win tonight.

00:14:08And a lot of people now think,

00:14:10because of the way Kovalev looked against Chalemba Bernard,

00:14:13that Andre figures as the logical favorite against Sergey.

00:14:16Well, you know, you got people thinking that, but also, Jim,

00:14:19I mean, this is the last gold medal winner we had

00:14:21in the last 12 or 13 years in the male department.

00:14:23And you know what, Jim?

00:14:25This is a time for Andre Ward now to be great.

00:14:28Not good, but great. He has the opportunity.

00:14:31Good-sized home crowd here in the Oracle Arena

00:14:34to support their man, Andre Ward.

00:14:36Let's go to Michael Buffer for the official introductions.

00:14:40Well, tonight, Rock Nation Sports is proud to present

00:14:44the main event of the evening,

00:14:4812 rounds of boxing for the vacant

00:14:51WBO International Light Heavyweight Championship.

00:14:56And it's all sponsored by Corona Extra,

00:14:59La Cerveza Mas Fina,

00:15:01CTMS Travel Group,

00:15:03corporate travel made simple,

00:15:05pro subs, results, period.

00:15:08Ticketmaster, where you watch the fight matters.

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00:15:35This contest sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission.

00:15:39Chairman, John Carvelli.

00:15:41Executive Officer, Andy Foster.

00:15:44WBO President, Francisco Paco Barcarcel.

00:15:48Supervisor for the WBO, Richard DeCure.

00:15:51At ringside, the three judges scoring this bout.

00:15:55Steve Morrow, David Sutherland, and Michael Tate.

00:16:00And inside the ring, in charge of the action at the bell,

00:16:04your referee, Jack Reese.

00:16:07And now, the officials are in place,

00:16:10and they are ready.

00:16:12The fighters are in the ring,

00:16:14and they are ready.

00:16:17Boxing fans, are you ready?

00:16:23For the thousands in attendance

00:16:26and the millions watching around the world,

00:16:30ladies and gentlemen,

00:16:32let's get ready to rumble!

00:16:43Introducing first, fighting out of the red corner,

00:16:47wearing blue with white with his head trainer,

00:16:50Manuel Robles.

00:16:52His official weight, 173.25 pounds.

00:16:56And his professional record, an excellent one.

00:16:5925 victories, including 19 wins by knockout.

00:17:03Only one defeat.

00:17:05He is the WBF Super Middleweight World Champion,

00:17:10Tomas y Caballeros de Bogota, Colombia,

00:17:14Alexander...

00:17:19Ram!

00:17:26And his opponent, across the ring,

00:17:28fighting out of the black corner,

00:17:30with his trainer, Virgil Hill.

00:17:32He officially weighed in at 175 pounds.

00:17:36This Olympic gold medal champion

00:17:39has a perfect record as a professional.

00:17:4229 fights, 29 victories,

00:17:45including 15 wins by knockout.

00:17:48He is the former Super Middleweight

00:17:51Champion of the World,

00:17:53from Oakland, California, USA,

00:17:57the undefeated

00:17:59Andre S. O. T.

00:18:06Wall!

00:18:22These are good in here, Virgil.

00:18:24These are a little high.

00:18:25I'm going to let them work in here.

00:18:27These are a little bit high.

00:18:29Now, peace. Now, peace.

00:18:31I gave you both instructions.

00:18:32I just want to remind you,

00:18:33listen and obey my commands at all times.

00:18:35Protect yourself at all times.

00:18:37Escuchame.

00:18:38Pelé duro, pelé limpio.

00:18:39Fight hard, fight clean.

00:18:40Toca los manos.

00:18:43Is there anything that Andre Ward can do

00:18:46against, at least on paper,

00:18:48a hopelessly outclassed opponent

00:18:52that can make people believe

00:18:55that he can beat Kovalev in November?

00:18:59Yeah, if he don't be focused,

00:19:01if he don't do what he has to do,

00:19:03Max, he can, you know,

00:19:04he can make people think that he has no chance.

00:19:07So he has to look, listen,

00:19:09he has to look good in this type of fight,

00:19:11no matter what.

00:19:14Bernard Hopkins, of course,

00:19:15is the one man in the world

00:19:16who probably knows best

00:19:18what it would take to defeat Sergey Kovalev.

00:19:21Hopkins is the giant scalp

00:19:24of Kovalev's record

00:19:26off his unanimous decision victory over Bernard

00:19:29in November of 2015,

00:19:31or November of 2014, I should say,

00:19:33in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

00:19:36Ward takes a body shot from Brand,

00:19:38and then Brand falls off balance.

00:19:40Yeah, most see the November,

00:19:42potential November fight

00:19:43as a 50-50 type of fight.

00:19:45My question is, against a guy like this,

00:19:47can you glean anything?

00:19:49Can you take anything away from this fight

00:19:51that might change your opinion

00:19:53about that fight, if you favor Kovalev?

00:19:55I think Ward here, I think,

00:19:57looks very sharp early, Bernard,

00:19:59and, um, I think is testing himself

00:20:03as much he is, as much as he's trying

00:20:05to put on a showcase for the fans.

00:20:07Yeah, but what I also see is that,

00:20:09you know, Andre Ward's fighting a guy

00:20:11that's not as tall and lanky

00:20:13as Sergey Kovalev is,

00:20:15and by having that left hand down,

00:20:17that is Ward,

00:20:18I see a right hand that Kovalev

00:20:20might be trying to set up.

00:20:21But right now, you know, I'll know

00:20:23that Andre want to set up the jab

00:20:25and actually see what he can work with

00:20:27as time go on.

00:20:28Andre Ward is a natural left-hander.

00:20:31He fights in a conventional stance.

00:20:33We've seen a great deal of that,

00:20:35more and more of it, in recent years,

00:20:37in boxing, putting the strong hand in front.

00:20:42And even though we've made a good deal

00:20:44of point about the fact that Ward

00:20:47is moving up from 168 to 175,

00:20:50you have to remember that 12 years ago,

00:20:52when he won that Olympic gold medal in Athens,

00:20:54the weight class was 178.

00:20:56So he does have a deep background

00:20:59as an amateur fighting fighters

00:21:01who are this size.

00:21:02Yes, and also fighting guys that,

00:21:04you know, is tough and strong and 175 and up.

00:21:07But, you know, Andre has a really good

00:21:09combination hand speed.

00:21:11You know, he has...

00:21:12You know, and he put it on display

00:21:14so far early in this with that left hook

00:21:16downstairs, upstairs, in a way

00:21:18that we didn't see against Sullivan Barrera.

00:21:20And he also know how to work inside

00:21:22when he's tied up, at least with one hand,

00:21:24by the other opponent.

00:21:25And so, when you get in that position,

00:21:28you got to be able to know how to fight

00:21:29your way out of it.

00:21:30And Andre has a good, good instinct

00:21:32on how to get out of there.

00:21:34But you talk about fighting inside.

00:21:36Inside, once he gets tied up,

00:21:37once he gets close,

00:21:38he's really a good fighter inside.

00:21:40Oh, I think he's the best in boxing

00:21:42at creating awkward punching angles inside

00:21:44and landing punches that the opponent

00:21:46doesn't see coming.

00:21:47I think he's also the best in boxing

00:21:49at tailoring his style

00:21:50to what the opponent can do.

00:21:52You'll notice Andre holding his left hand

00:21:54out straight in front of him

00:21:56like a range finder,

00:21:58keeping a man in his sights.

00:22:00A measuring stick to set up something else,

00:22:02which is a right hand or a left hook

00:22:03off the jab, like he just did just now.

00:22:11Solid first round for Andre Ward

00:22:14against Alexander Brand.

00:22:20Bitch, I'm going to be right here,

00:22:21so I'm going to be...

00:22:22Ward's trainer since he was a teenager,

00:22:24Virgil Lamont.

00:22:25Good job.

00:22:27So he's going to go back most of the time,

00:22:29so that's a good first round.

00:22:31Keep the jab on until you,

00:22:33you know, close the distance.

00:22:35Now, when he comes at you,

00:22:36start chucking, right?

00:22:37Because he's coming the same way

00:22:39he's panicking punching, okay?

00:22:41So he's tight.

00:22:42Keep him in the guard

00:22:43and try and pivot, okay?

00:22:45Pick up the pressure.

00:22:46Don't let him fight at his face.

00:22:48You can just pick it up.

00:22:49Double the jab, bump him down,

00:22:51but look to make him stay under your legs.

00:22:53Look to make him pay when he comes forward

00:22:55by chucking in and pivoting, okay?

00:22:57Good job.

00:23:00Here's Sergey Kovalev

00:23:01seated at ringside.

00:23:03Kovalev's second visit this year

00:23:05as a spectator in Oakland.

00:23:09And there's the Ward family

00:23:10at ringside.

00:23:11On the left, his wife, Tiffany.

00:23:14And on the right, his grandmother.

00:23:20You know, Alexander has to be careful right now

00:23:22because Andre's setting up traps for him.

00:23:24He's in a pocket.

00:23:25He came out with his hands high up,

00:23:27and he's just really anticipating

00:23:29Alexander throwing a punch so he can counter.

00:23:31But he's so sharp right now, Max,

00:23:33he's looking for an opportunity

00:23:34to throw punches in between Alexander's.

00:23:36Yeah, Brand has a, you know,

00:23:38you don't have as deep an amateur background

00:23:40and then get this far without a loss,

00:23:42even against limited opposition,

00:23:45without having some tricks up your sleeve.

00:23:47And Brand has a very awkward rhythm

00:23:49where he baits his opponent into leading

00:23:51when they don't want to lead,

00:23:52and then he counters with wild, looping power shots.

00:23:55One of the most unusual career patterns

00:23:57we've ever seen.

00:23:58Brand remained an amateur until age 32,

00:24:01wound up having 437 amateur fights,

00:24:04of which he says he won 420.

00:24:07But then finally turned professional at 32,

00:24:09so he's only had a 7-year professional career

00:24:12as he approaches his 40-year birthday in January.

00:24:17Sometimes these kind of wild, swinging, awkward angles

00:24:21that an unorthodox fighter takes

00:24:23against a very orthodox and skilled fighter like Andre

00:24:27are more difficult for the skilled fighter to block

00:24:31than punches that come from anticipated angles.

00:24:33Well, Alexander can make you look bad

00:24:35because his unorthodox style.

00:24:36And he also, you know, he throws punches from a wide angle

00:24:39like he just did with the one-two

00:24:41or the left hook and the right hook.

00:24:43But, you know, he's got my middle or my ogre.

00:24:46You know, he don't have a really good style

00:24:48just throwing punches from all over.

00:24:50He can catch you with either punch.

00:24:52Another left hook for Ward.

00:24:54Naturally conservative by nature,

00:24:56Ward is not a guy who walks in and seeks knockouts.

00:24:59His knockouts are of the opportunity variety.

00:25:04But if he goes 12 rounds against an opponent

00:25:06like Alexander Brand, that might occasion some whispers.

00:25:10Although, of course, Kovalev did not have a very good outing

00:25:14in his tune-up against Chalemba a few weeks ago.

00:25:16And Ward's jab looks so sharp here tonight,

00:25:19not just when he's landing it flush,

00:25:21but when he's not landing it,

00:25:23he's intentionally pawing with it.

00:25:25Every punch that he throws meant to land has landed.

00:25:28If Alexander put up a good challenge to last 12 rounds,

00:25:31I don't think it'd look as bad as it looks.

00:25:33But I think if it goes to a point

00:25:35where Ward doesn't look sharp throwing it,

00:25:37then it looks really bad.

00:25:39So Burton is on Ward now to make it look 100%.

00:25:44Because he prizes his dignity,

00:25:47Andre Ward has never spoken much in public

00:25:51about his very challenged childhood,

00:25:54about the crises that attended his life when he was a teenager,

00:25:58about all the obstacles he's had to overcome

00:26:00to make it to where he is.

00:26:02Most particularly, he's never discussed very openly

00:26:05his parents' struggles with addiction,

00:26:08which was hidden from him some of the time.

00:26:11And now all of that is in a good place,

00:26:13as he told a writer earlier this week.

00:26:16Let's take a look at what he said about it yesterday

00:26:18in our fighter meeting.

00:26:19What was the most difficult, painful thing to reveal for you?

00:26:23I'd probably say my parents.

00:26:25Your parents.

00:26:26Because you've never really spoken fully and openly

00:26:28about that before.

00:26:29No, I've never talked about it.

00:26:30You're struggling with it right this minute.

00:26:32Of course.

00:26:33Do you feel guilty about it?

00:26:34I'm sorry that I said those things about my parents

00:26:36because people might look at them negatively.

00:26:39I mean, I think a little bit about that, you know,

00:26:41but I'm thankful, man, that, you know,

00:26:44my mom, she made it through and she's still fighting.

00:26:46Fought through it.

00:26:47You know, and my dad, you know,

00:26:51I think he died way too early,

00:26:53and I think that had a lot to do with it.

00:26:55You know, heroin is a powerful, powerful drug, man.

00:26:57And, you know, when you get on and get off,

00:27:00that's a lot on your heart.

00:27:02And he died at 46.

00:27:0340.

00:27:05Yep, but no one's going to get...

00:27:07I'm trying not to do that, Jim.

00:27:09But...

00:27:12I think what you saw there is a window into

00:27:16why Ward has been the way he's been in public.

00:27:19He's a deeply sensitive human being,

00:27:21and he does not want to show those kinds of vulnerabilities

00:27:25which were so apparent yesterday

00:27:27when he discussed his parents.

00:27:28Yeah, and, you know, it was really hard for him,

00:27:31and he had to fight through that.

00:27:32And, you know, it still haunts him, you know,

00:27:34even to speak about it, you know, yesterday.

00:27:36But, you know, I think he's going to use all that

00:27:38for motivation now that he got past it.

00:27:40Jim, you can talk about it more.

00:27:41And now concentrate on his career.

00:27:43And his mother, who he says was out of his life for 20 years,

00:27:46is at ringside tonight

00:27:48and is a very active, loving grandmother

00:27:50to Ward's four children.

00:27:56Now midway through the third round,

00:27:58Ward continues to show his precise boxing style

00:28:03and his general command of the ring

00:28:05against Alexander Brown.

00:28:06You mentioned the Chalemba fight for Kovalev, Jim.

00:28:10And before that fight,

00:28:11I think that there was a sense in boxing

00:28:13that maybe Kovalev was too sharp for Andre

00:28:16because of the activity,

00:28:18and maybe he'd have been the slight favorite.

00:28:20In the Chalemba fight,

00:28:21a fight in which Kovalev was very likely

00:28:23distracted fighting in his hometown,

00:28:26maybe not in the best of condition, et cetera.

00:28:28But Chalemba used a jab and awkward timing

00:28:31to hold off Kovalev.

00:28:32And since then, Ward has seemed to be

00:28:35maybe the very slight favorite in boxing fans' minds.

00:28:40It's going to be interesting to see

00:28:42coming out of this fight if there's any change.

00:28:45So far, I think that Andre looks pretty sharp tonight.

00:28:49I think the reason they might think that,

00:28:51I don't agree,

00:28:52but I think they might look at Kovalev's last fight,

00:28:54and they might look at this fight, you know,

00:28:56how the end is, go the distance or be, you know, early.

00:29:00But see, moments like those,

00:29:03if Andre can minimize even small moments

00:29:06where Brand has some success

00:29:09and maximize the times where he's attacking,

00:29:12I think maybe Andre goes into a November fight

00:29:15with Kovalev as a slight favorite.

00:29:17Well, Kovalev against Chalemba

00:29:18was fighting in his home area

00:29:20near his hometown in Russia

00:29:22for the first time in several years,

00:29:24and many fighters don't function well

00:29:26in front of friends, relatives, and the home crowd.

00:29:29Ward does, but Kovalev may have been distracted

00:29:32by the occasion in Russia.

00:29:34Ward just landed a right hand to the body,

00:29:36and I don't know that Brand has gotten over it yet.

00:29:39I think it was more to the liver,

00:29:40but it was a good shot, and he grabbed.

00:29:42He held, and that's that veteran in Alexander.

00:29:45Absolutely. He just bought 20 seconds.

00:29:47He just bought 25,

00:29:48but he got those seconds,

00:29:49and he know that it's gonna benefit him.

00:29:53Couple of left hooks for Brand.

00:29:55But those punches have no power.

00:29:58Andre sees them coming,

00:29:59so now he has to now probably just throw short punches inside

00:30:03and try to catch them coming in

00:30:04to make it look like a good exchange.

00:30:08Another effective body shot for Ward

00:30:11with the left hand to close out the round.

00:30:13September 10th at 5.30 p.m.,

00:30:17Triple G, Gennady Golovkin,

00:30:18takes his big drama show to the O2 in London

00:30:20for a middleweight title defense

00:30:21against undefeated welterweight champ Gell Brook.

00:30:24Later that night, we'll replay Golovkin vs. Brook

00:30:28alongside live boxing headline

00:30:30by Chocolatito Gonzalez,

00:30:31who will attempt to win a title in his fourth weight class

00:30:35as he takes on Carlos Cuadras.

00:30:40We need more than one punch.

00:30:42We need two, three at a time.

00:30:46When he tells you to break, just let him go.

00:30:48Okay, understood?

00:30:49Okay, you need to listen.

00:30:51I like what you're doing. Breathe.

00:30:54It's the fourth. It's the fourth.

00:30:56You're good? Very nice.

00:30:58Don't stop moving.

00:31:04Total punches through round four.

00:31:05Ward has landed 29 out of 94.

00:31:08Brand, 11 of 55.

00:31:11That's extremely light output from Brand.

00:31:14Threw three rounds,

00:31:15only throwing about 18 punches per round.

00:31:17Ward only throwing 31 punches per round,

00:31:20but dominant so far.

00:31:21Harold, how do you have it through three?

00:31:23Okay, Jim, I have three to nothing,

00:31:2530 to 27, Andre Ward.

00:31:27You know, Jim, when a guy wants to go to distance,

00:31:29when a guy's trying to survive, he backs up.

00:31:32Look at this.

00:31:33Alexander Brand backs up, he backs up,

00:31:35and he backs up some more.

00:31:37And when Andre Ward gets inside, he grabs and holds.

00:31:40I mean, he's doing nothing but trying to go to distance.

00:31:43Look at that backing up.

00:31:44I mean, he's been doing this since the fight started.

00:31:47On the other hand, Andre's not exactly jumping in his face

00:31:50like he normally does, but, you know,

00:31:52look, in truth, he's getting some work.

00:31:54Maybe he needs this because, you know,

00:31:56you don't know what the heck Oberlin's going to do.

00:31:58So, you know, he's getting in some good work

00:32:00chasing Alexander Brand.

00:32:02But be as it may, three to nothing, Andre Ward.

00:32:05He's landed all the punches, Jim.

00:32:09Before the fourth round came,

00:32:12he asked his coach, what round is it?

00:32:15Fourth round.

00:32:16When you normally hear that,

00:32:17it's like he's paying attention to the rounds

00:32:19and how many rounds he won already.

00:32:21So what Harold Letterman said sounds more credible

00:32:24because you want to know how many rounds.

00:32:26You're talking about Brand?

00:32:27Brand, yep.

00:32:30And reaching for a right hand there.

00:32:32You know, Andre may want rounds tonight, right?

00:32:35Because that's the point in shaking the rust.

00:32:38But the question is, you know,

00:32:41when he was throwing that right hand to the body,

00:32:43Brand, that left hand came down

00:32:44and was really protecting the right side of his body.

00:32:47If Andre's fighting properly and aggressively at this point,

00:32:51I don't know how many more rounds this goes.

00:32:56Well, there's nothing on these punches Alexander's throwing.

00:32:58It's just a matter of time now, Andre, you know,

00:33:01close the show and just end the show.

00:33:03There's the body shot again.

00:33:04Yes, the body shot to the ribs.

00:33:07Hard right hand shot to the body.

00:33:10Ward appeared bothered.

00:33:11Excuse me, Brand appeared bothered by the punch.

00:33:15Sometimes hard to tell whether Brand is bothered by a punch

00:33:18because his movements are so awkward

00:33:20and stiff and non-rhythmic.

00:33:22There's a left hook for Ward

00:33:23that gets the attention of the crowd.

00:33:25No, because he's thinking about that right hand to the body.

00:33:27Ward catches him with a hook upstairs.

00:33:30Well, he reacts.

00:33:31Alexander reacts to every shot that he gets hit with,

00:33:35and that's to tell Tosan that he don't like them punches.

00:33:38Straight right hand for Ward.

00:33:39Crowd likes that as well.

00:33:47You know, Max Ward said he would use

00:33:49that straight left hand to the body often,

00:33:51and he's using it.

00:33:52Yep.

00:33:53Often.

00:33:54Seems to be focusing on the straight left hand to the body,

00:33:57not throwing the jab upstairs very much at all.

00:34:03Yet again, jab to the body.

00:34:07I'd like to see him jab to the body

00:34:09and throw a right hook upstairs.

00:34:11He'll catch the guy real good.

00:34:14On September 10,

00:34:15catch the premier of the road, Canelo Smith,

00:34:18as we take you behind the scenes

00:34:19with Canelo Alvarez and Liam Smith

00:34:21as they prepare for their upcoming showdown.

00:34:23Smith, a 154-pound title belt holder from Great Britain.

00:34:26One week later,

00:34:27HBO Pay-Per-View brings you the live fight

00:34:30with Canelo challenging for Smith's 154-pound title belt.

00:34:36Don't stop faking when you're against the corner.

00:34:38Make him think. Make him think.

00:34:40Make him think before you go in.

00:34:42Don't let him come in openly, all right?

00:34:44I want you to fake.

00:34:46And attention with this.

00:34:48When he's looking...

00:34:56We got the round.

00:34:58Look at me.

00:34:59Don't worry about it. Just get it.

00:35:01Bernard, were you shocked

00:35:03when you heard that welterweight champion Kell Brook

00:35:06had decided to step up and take the fight

00:35:08against Gennady Golovkin,

00:35:09going up two divisions in weight

00:35:11to face maybe the hardest puncher in boxing?

00:35:13Well, I wasn't shocked,

00:35:14but I was kind of applauding him

00:35:16because it's been done before,

00:35:18and he just showed me that he's a real champion,

00:35:21real man that wants to make history,

00:35:23and he knows he's got to take risks,

00:35:24and he's done what old school have done.

00:35:26He's done what Roy Jones, myself, and others.

00:35:28And I commend him for doing it.

00:35:31Cojones, big time.

00:35:33Kell Brook is an excellent fighter.

00:35:35He's a very big welterweight,

00:35:37really more like a junior middleweight.

00:35:39And in fact, when you look at it,

00:35:41probably the best professional opponent

00:35:43Triple G will have faced.

00:35:45I think that's a really nice fight.

00:35:47Definitely more skilled boxer than David Lemieux.

00:35:50Absolutely.

00:35:51And considering how hard it is

00:35:53to get other real middleweights in the ring with Triple G,

00:35:56they went and found a noteworthy opponent,

00:35:59undefeated and quite good.

00:36:02That's gonna come to win.

00:36:04That's showing up to try to win the fight

00:36:06and is anyway not really a welterweight.

00:36:09I mean, he could make the welterweight limit,

00:36:11but that's a very big welterweight.

00:36:12Well, one thing that's lived up to the billing here,

00:36:15we told you Alexander Brand was awkward.

00:36:17That's an understatement.

00:36:18No.

00:36:19This is one of the more awkward styles I've ever seen.

00:36:21And I think that's one of the reasons

00:36:23he hung around these many rounds.

00:36:25But I think that now that the 4 or 5 rounds is in there,

00:36:29he must now start putting some really big pressure on him.

00:36:32Yeah, I think...

00:36:33Ward must put pressure on Alexander.

00:36:35I think Andre's going right back to the body

00:36:37with the right hand.

00:36:38Well, he almost caught him with a left hook

00:36:40that might have put Brand in real trouble

00:36:43but wound up missing just a little bit

00:36:46off the point of the chin.

00:36:48And why Hunter told Andre that he got rounds in,

00:36:51go do your business,

00:36:53you know, you can get cut,

00:36:54something can happen in there.

00:36:56You don't want those accidents.

00:36:57Max, you want to go, Jim, and do your business

00:37:00and now end the show and end it on a high note.

00:37:03Good body shot by Brand.

00:37:06In Ward's most dominant power performance,

00:37:09when he knocked out Chad Dawson,

00:37:12who was at that time the reigning lightweight champion,

00:37:18came down in weight to fight Ward,

00:37:20and Ward knocked him out,

00:37:22and he knocked him down three times here in Oakland.

00:37:24That night, the left hook was the money punch,

00:37:27and Ward looked really powerful with it.

00:37:29If you look at what Andre's doing here,

00:37:31there are little subtle things, like, for example,

00:37:33Brand goes back into the corner,

00:37:36leans away from shots, anticipating head shots,

00:37:39because Andre just raked him with a hook,

00:37:41and instead, Andre throws two hard shots to the chest.

00:37:45You know, there are...

00:37:47What you're watching in Andre Ward

00:37:49is really a complete fighter.

00:37:51And he knows something now,

00:37:53because he turned to southpaw, as Jim said,

00:37:55and he's going to now try to throw that straight left hand,

00:37:58because he sees by Alexander being awkward as he is,

00:38:01the left hand in a southpaw position

00:38:03is probably the better way to fight him.

00:38:05And remember, Ward is a natural left-hander,

00:38:08so this is the stance in which he probably

00:38:10began his boxing work when he was 8 or 9 years old.

00:38:22Listen. Give me the water now.

00:38:24Listen, Brand, listen well.

00:38:26In this round, you're a little slow.

00:38:29Lay back too much. I need more activity.

00:38:32If you're not working, we're moving, okay?

00:38:35But I just don't want you still. You heard?

00:38:38Look at that target.

00:38:40Hit that target and start punishing that man, okay?

00:38:42You're getting those shots through now.

00:38:44He's killing him.

00:38:45Putting that straight left in the chest.

00:38:47Bring that uppercut in.

00:38:49Bring that uppercut in, okay? Short and calm.

00:38:52Alexander's on a rope.

00:38:53This is the perfect time where the right hand

00:38:55goes through the ribs and then the left hand up top.

00:38:58Following up with the left hand was the key.

00:39:00The second punch is always the best after the first one.

00:39:04And there's the crusher, Sergey Kovalev,

00:39:08with the crafty grin on his face at ringside

00:39:12as he watches his opponent

00:39:15with a supposed November showdown pay-per-view.

00:39:19Supremacy at light heavyweight between Ward and Kovalev

00:39:22if, in fact, we make it to that date.

00:39:27Ward still in a southpaw stance here.

00:39:29I would like to see Andre end the night early.

00:39:35I think for himself, he has to use this fight

00:39:39as a kind of a measuring stick.

00:39:42How sharp is he? How ready is he

00:39:44for the ultimate challenge at light heavyweight?

00:39:47And while he's obviously won every round

00:39:49and this guy isn't in his league,

00:39:51I think it would make a statement, if only to himself,

00:39:54if he gets his guy out of there.

00:39:56And there's a solid left hand to the jaw of Brand,

00:40:00which made its point,

00:40:01although didn't really hurt Brand that badly.

00:40:04It was the force, the force of it,

00:40:06and the leverage and the balance of both fighters.

00:40:10Andre, of course, was in a better position,

00:40:13and that's why Alexander fell back

00:40:15and stumbled a little bit.

00:40:16Of course, one of the reasons Andre hasn't lost a fight

00:40:18since he was 13 years old

00:40:20is that he is not, you know,

00:40:22trying to please anyone but himself.

00:40:24He tries to get the win

00:40:25and is not the kind of fighter

00:40:26that's going to try to force a stoppage

00:40:28if he doesn't see it come naturally.

00:40:29But to get the attention of the critics

00:40:31and the attention of the fans,

00:40:32he must step out of that character just a little

00:40:35to let people understand that he's serious

00:40:37about being pound for pound number one.

00:40:39I think he's kind of doing that this round.

00:40:43In the last two rounds,

00:40:44Ward outlanded Brand 32-8.

00:40:47CompuBox keeps a statistic called plus-minus,

00:40:51which ranks all the top fighters in the sport

00:40:53according to the number of punches they land per round

00:40:56versus the number of punches their opponents land.

00:40:59The person with the largest margin

00:41:01coming into tonight is Andre Ward,

00:41:04landing an average of 15.2 or 15.3,

00:41:08I should say, punches per round

00:41:10more than his opponents have landed against him.

00:41:13He seized the top spot as the result of Leo Santa Cruz

00:41:17slipping out of it off the numbers

00:41:19in his loss to Karl Frampton.

00:41:22But off of tonight's numbers, by the way,

00:41:25if, in fact, it stays the way it is,

00:41:27by the end of the evening,

00:41:28Ward will no longer be number one

00:41:30in CompuBox plus-minus,

00:41:31and that ranking will belong to Gennady Golovkin,

00:41:34unless Ward steps up the pace

00:41:35and lands a lot more punches between here and the end.

00:41:40I thought he's been very accurate tonight.

00:41:43Just not active enough to be stretching that number out.

00:41:46Yeah, and then maybe that's also

00:41:48because he moved up a light heavyweight, Jim.

00:41:50I mean, you know, you want to conserve, you know,

00:41:52reserve some energy and take it,

00:41:54you know, the next seven, eight rounds.

00:41:56But I think he'll pick the pace up

00:41:58because you see Alexander now

00:41:59just really trying to survive, survive.

00:42:01He's trying to hold and trying to do everything he can

00:42:04not to get hit with a big shot, Alexander.

00:42:10Tempo! Tempo! Tempo!

00:42:21Good job. Feeling good?

00:42:23Uh-huh. Okay.

00:42:26Number seven.

00:42:30Now, keep that jab working during stopping.

00:42:32Step in and put it in on him, okay?

00:42:34But don't overshoot your range, okay?

00:42:36Then use your right jab for your defense

00:42:38coming out and come back again.

00:42:39Don't forget that left hook from the Southpaw side, okay?

00:42:42Over the top. All right?

00:42:44Now, he's grabbing you on the inside,

00:42:46so when you throw, you got to surprise him.

00:42:48And one way to surprise him is when you come forward,

00:42:51don't move away from him, but move him over.

00:42:55Andre switching to Southpaw, throwing a left hook

00:42:59that catches Alexander right there.

00:43:02But he didn't throw another punch,

00:43:04and that's why Alexander grabbed him.

00:43:06He fell into him, and you never should do that.

00:43:08Be out front to hit.

00:43:10Part of the reason

00:43:12that he hasn't scored more knockouts, Andre Ward,

00:43:15is he's just not a huge puncher.

00:43:17He's not a bad puncher. He's a sharp one.

00:43:19But when Kovalev hits a guy, they fall.

00:43:22Halfway through the fight, Harold Lederman,

00:43:24how do you have it through six?

00:43:25I got it six to nothing.

00:43:2760 to 54, Andre Ward.

00:43:29Hey, did you see those left hands

00:43:32that he landed in round six?

00:43:34I mean, he landed some huge left hands

00:43:37out of the Southpaw stance. Incredible.

00:43:39This kid, Alexander Brand, takes a heck of a punch.

00:43:42You know when a fight's taking good punches,

00:43:44but it certainly keeps you in the fight.

00:43:46I mean, Andre Ward hit him with some dynamite shots

00:43:50in round six out of that Southpaw stance.

00:43:53Mostly all left hands.

00:43:54He is, in May, 6 to nothing, 60 to 54, Andre Ward.

00:43:59You have to be truly venerable, as Harold Lederman is,

00:44:02to call a 39-year-old a kid.

00:44:05Brand will be 40 in January.

00:44:07That's some kid, Harold.

00:44:10Well, Alexander right now is cut on the right eye.

00:44:13Think it might have came from a jab.

00:44:15Max, it was a good, stiff jab,

00:44:17and now Alexander looks like he's cut on the right eye.

00:44:20And his eye's bloodshot, too,

00:44:22like that jab went straight into the eye.

00:44:24Yeah, it was a stiff jab.

00:44:27Ward seems to be trying to put a little more power

00:44:29on his shots now.

00:44:31I have a hunch he might be thinking that it looks best

00:44:34if he can finish Brand sometime within the distance.

00:44:37Eyebrows were raised because of Kovalev's 26 knockouts

00:44:41in 30 fights, or 30 wins,

00:44:44when he was unable to get rid of Chalemba.

00:44:46He did knock him down in the 7th round,

00:44:48got him in trouble in the 12th, but couldn't put him away.

00:44:50No fighter is perfect.

00:44:52Kovalev is pretty athletic for a puncher,

00:44:55but not as athletic as Andre Ward.

00:44:57And Andre Ward is a pretty sharp puncher for a boxer,

00:45:00but clearly not the puncher that Kovalev is.

00:45:02And that's why Brand is still here

00:45:05in spite of taking some big shots.

00:45:10Whenever Andre Ward put his punches together,

00:45:13that's when I think we're gonna see an exit from Alexander.

00:45:16He's not putting two or three punches together,

00:45:19as Hunter said many rounds ago.

00:45:21Start putting these punches together,

00:45:23then he has a better shot of wearing Alexander down.

00:45:26And is he not putting them together

00:45:28because Brand is awkward and is moving away

00:45:31and is trying as hard to avoid punches as he is to land them?

00:45:35Well, he has a good offense in the defense

00:45:37because he's awkward, and he's awkward,

00:45:39and that brings problems.

00:45:40Because, listen, Andre Ward don't want to get hit

00:45:43by any awkward shot that might cut him, might put him down.

00:45:46So he has to be kind of a little wary there, too,

00:45:48because he know he can run into something.

00:45:51So, yeah, that plays a good part on both sides.

00:45:54Against Sullivan Barrera,

00:45:55Ward was cut above the left eye

00:45:57by an accidental headbutt.

00:45:58One of the things he and I agreed upon

00:46:00coming into tonight was it'd be nice

00:46:02if there are no accidental headbutts,

00:46:04and Brand is exactly the kind of guy

00:46:06against whom that can happen.

00:46:19So now they got work to do in Alexander Brand's corner

00:46:21on that right eye,

00:46:23which, as Max and Bernard pointed out to you, is cut.

00:46:28It's just a little cut, but it's nothing, okay?

00:46:30It's nothing.

00:46:31You understood?

00:46:32All right.

00:46:33Close the eyes now.

00:46:36Close the eyes.

00:46:38How are you feeling?

00:46:39Good?

00:46:41Good.

00:46:42I want you to move.

00:46:43I need you to move.

00:46:45That dude has no more than three or four punches.

00:46:47That's it.

00:46:48So then what?

00:46:49So you have to work,

00:46:50but when you're not working, you move.

00:46:53The momentum of the fight,

00:46:56the momentum of the right hand,

00:46:58then the straight stiff jab,

00:47:00that was started to cut, I believe,

00:47:02when Andre pushed that jab into Alexander's face.

00:47:10Oh, it's him.

00:47:12Hold up, hold up, hold up.

00:47:13It's him.

00:47:14It's I from the punch.

00:47:16You know the definition of a good referee?

00:47:18Box.

00:47:19Haven't said Jack Reese's name all night.

00:47:22Jim, I think you nailed it last round.

00:47:24The reason, another reason Brand is still standing

00:47:27is on the one hand, he's awkward,

00:47:29and on the other hand, he's defensive.

00:47:32So he's not presenting enormous combination

00:47:36punching opportunities for Andre,

00:47:39and yet he's throwing enough awkward haymakers

00:47:41to keep Andre honest at times.

00:47:43Some fans were disappointed

00:47:45that Terrence Crawford didn't knock out

00:47:47the obviously overmatched Victor Pustol.

00:47:50But when you're winning every round

00:47:52and the opponent doesn't really have any weaponry

00:47:55with which to be competitive against you,

00:47:57nowhere is it written that you have to take the risk

00:48:00to go ahead and step forward and knock him out.

00:48:02It's okay to walk away with a shutout win.

00:48:05Especially with a guy that's a fair puncher

00:48:07that can, you know, and again,

00:48:09there's so much riding on after this fight,

00:48:11and Andre don't, you know,

00:48:13it's back in his mind, it's got to be,

00:48:14I don't want to get cut, I don't want to get headbutt,

00:48:16but, you know, we're fighters,

00:48:18so we're going to take those chances when it's necessary.

00:48:20But right now, he's sharp, he's touching him with the jab.

00:48:23I like to see him throw a lot more combinations

00:48:25than right hand over the top, but let his hands go,

00:48:28and I believe that he'll get Alexander out of here.

00:48:30And the other thing is, in the Floyd Mayweather era,

00:48:33there was a paradigm shift,

00:48:35and the fighters especially saw the example

00:48:38of a guy who had a very long and illustrious career,

00:48:42took very little punishment, and optimized his earnings.

00:48:46And so it's not quite the culture in boxing

00:48:49what it once was, nice right hand,

00:48:51where if you don't score the knockout,

00:48:54you know, you don't capture the imagination of the fans.

00:48:57The fans catch on, even if you don't score the knockout,

00:49:00that here's a magnificent fighter who's very difficult to beat.

00:49:03And I think right now, round eight,

00:49:05it's time for Andre Ward now to go into another gear.

00:49:08Listen, this is a second half of your career.

00:49:11Everything is in back of you that was in front of you years ago.

00:49:14Now is your time to be that golden boy,

00:49:16that golden boy of this era.

00:49:18And the November fight is pay-per-view.

00:49:21So you want to give fans a calling card,

00:49:24something to remember, something that stimulates them

00:49:27to want to buy the fight in November.

00:49:29You have to inspire people.

00:49:31It's sport, but it's also entertainment.

00:49:34And I think Andre here is pressing for the knockout.

00:49:37Yes, he is.

00:49:39This is a more aggressive Andre Ward than you normally see.

00:49:42He senses that he can get the knockout,

00:49:44and now it appears that he's actually trying for it.

00:49:48Andre Ward likes to say

00:49:50that there's a particular triple crown of boxing

00:49:53in which he's interested.

00:49:55Preserve your health, preserve your finances,

00:49:58and create a legacy.

00:50:00If you can do those three things,

00:50:02then you have achieved the most that can be achieved in boxing.

00:50:05And he does point to Floyd Mayweather

00:50:07as somebody who accomplished exactly that.

00:50:14Following tonight's live boxing,

00:50:16don't miss a special extended edition of Real Sports

00:50:19that provides a comprehensive portrait

00:50:21of the International Olympic Committee

00:50:23and an eye-opening account of what cities endure

00:50:26when hosting the games.

00:50:28This Tuesday, it's the premiere of Hard Knocks

00:50:30training camp for the Los Angeles Rams.

00:50:32We'll take you behind the scenes

00:50:34with head coach Jeff Fisher and the Rams

00:50:36as they return to Southern California

00:50:38following a 21-year absence.

00:50:41He's gonna play him off. He's trying to survive.

00:50:44When he's down, you're down.

00:50:46Put your attack in the chest area, in the front, okay?

00:50:49Now, he's defensive.

00:50:51You gotta just keep working him, okay?

00:50:53You hear me?

00:50:55Round number 9 is coming, son.

00:50:58Round number 9 is coming.

00:51:01He mentioned that Andre Ward is a boxer

00:51:03who does not like unwarranted risk.

00:51:06Virgil Hunter, his trainer,

00:51:08is maybe even more aggressive about that.

00:51:10He really doesn't like unwarranted risk.

00:51:12He wants to win, and that's really all he cares about.

00:51:15Exactly. He just told Andre to go to the body,

00:51:17hit him in the chest, hit him in the stomach,

00:51:19hit him everywhere, and he let him know that he mean it.

00:51:21Hit him there and stop him

00:51:23and get this guy broken,

00:51:25break his body down as you go.

00:51:28Now Ward corners Brand.

00:51:30It's in a left hook, and Brand grabs him

00:51:33to slow down the action.

00:51:38Ninth of a scheduled 12 in Oakland.

00:51:41I think this is where Andre wants him.

00:51:43If this guy could get aggressive

00:51:45and open up coming forward,

00:51:47I think he'd be able to do it.

00:51:49I think he'd be able to do it.

00:51:51I think he'd be able to do it.

00:51:53I think he'd be able to do it.

00:51:55And open up coming forward,

00:51:57that gives Andre opportunities to put some punches together.

00:51:59Well, he wanted Alexander to get comfortable, Max,

00:52:01to think that, you know, he's accomplishing something

00:52:03and then, you know, set those traps.

00:52:05And then Ward will counterpunch

00:52:07or at least make us, you know,

00:52:09make him pay for his misses.

00:52:11And so Alexander's trying to, you know,

00:52:13keep his same style, try to keep his same awkward style

00:52:15to try to open something up for himself.

00:52:17But I think he's gonna run into something real soon

00:52:20when he's stepping in with Andre too close.

00:52:23Bernard, would it be a downside of going the distance

00:52:26that Sergey Kovalev is sitting there

00:52:28getting what would amount under those circumstances

00:52:30to a 12-round look

00:52:32at what he's gonna be facing in Andre Ward?

00:52:34Yeah, I think it's a benefit to Sergey

00:52:37because he gets to see more in 12 rounds

00:52:40than he would see in 6 rounds or 5 rounds.

00:52:42Full scouting approach.

00:52:44So if I was Andre Ward, I want him to see

00:52:46the less as possible tonight.

00:52:48He was trying to knock Brand out right there.

00:52:54And I want to send that message to him.

00:52:56I want to send that message to not only Sergey,

00:52:59I want to send it to the boxing fans

00:53:01and the critics, the people that support me

00:53:03and the ones that don't,

00:53:05that I'm ready for this fight coming up with Sergey.

00:53:07Andre is a complete fighter,

00:53:09but he's just not a puncher.

00:53:11As I said, he hits sharp enough,

00:53:13he can score knockouts,

00:53:15but he's not a guy who's gonna blow guys away with power,

00:53:17and he never has been.

00:53:19But he will beat you up.

00:53:21He'll beat you up.

00:53:23And so some of these home-run shots,

00:53:25even when they're landing,

00:53:27they're hurting Brand,

00:53:29but they haven't gotten him out of here.

00:53:31This is just who Andre Ward is.

00:53:33He'll beat you up, and he'll take your heart

00:53:35because his skills are so supreme

00:53:37that you realize at some point

00:53:39that you don't really have a chance.

00:53:41And then he has tremendous heart.

00:53:47And again, who's to say that he's not working on things

00:53:50that he believes that Sergey's gonna be talking about?

00:53:52You know, rolling with the shoulders,

00:53:54counterpunching, seeing shots when you can see them.

00:53:56I mean, this is a really glorified sparring match,

00:53:58but it's on a high level where people can see,

00:54:00and he can get something out of it

00:54:02when it comes to the skill level

00:54:04and what he needs to work on.

00:54:13Well, that was...

00:54:15That was a slip, a drop...

00:54:18And possibly a kick.

00:54:20A fly into the air and fall?

00:54:22That was amazing.

00:54:27This would be a good moment for Ward to touch his chin,

00:54:30and he does, as the bell sounds.

00:54:37Put some water on him.

00:54:38If you're gonna put some water on him, do it now.

00:54:45That's it. Here's the towel now.

00:54:48All right, close up the eyes.

00:54:56Brad, he's desperate now.

00:54:58He's desperate now because he's trying...

00:55:01He's trying to stop you, no matter what, period.

00:55:03Don't give him that luxury now.

00:55:05Don't give him that luxury.

00:55:07No, that's what we want.

00:55:11This is pretty easy work for Andre Ward.

00:55:14Through nine rounds,

00:55:15he has landed 80 of 148 power shots.

00:55:18That's 54%, an extraordinarily high connect percentage

00:55:22with his power punches,

00:55:23while Brand is 28 of 150 for 19%.

00:55:27So the plus-minus thing is in play there.

00:55:31Harold, we've come to the 10th.

00:55:32How do you have it through nine?

00:55:33As expected, Jim.

00:55:349-0, 90-81, Andre Ward.

00:55:37You know, Jim, I'll tell you,

00:55:39I thought at rounds 8 and 9,

00:55:40Andre was definitely, definitely looking to knock him out.

00:55:43I mean, he's been throwing really, really hard shots.

00:55:46On the other hand, I think that Alexander Brand,

00:55:49just like he did there, takes a tremendous shot.

00:55:51I mean, the guy really takes a heck of a punch, you know?

00:55:55He looks like he's going the distance

00:55:57because no matter what Ward hits him with,

00:55:59no matter where Ward hits him,

00:56:01the guy just shakes it off.

00:56:02It's incredible.

00:56:03Alexander Brand is taking shots

00:56:05that would have knocked out anybody,

00:56:07but he's still in there, you know?

00:56:08I mean, he's hardly been staggered,

00:56:10you know, let alone dropped.

00:56:12He's really fighting a good fight

00:56:14as far as giving Andre Ward some work.

00:56:169-0, Andre Ward.

00:56:20Bernard, it's two different opponents,

00:56:22so it may be impossible for you to establish

00:56:25a concrete view here,

00:56:27but do you think that Ward has advanced in any way

00:56:29over what we saw against Sullivan Barrera in March?

00:56:32Absolutely not.

00:56:34I don't think he...

00:56:35I think it's the same thing.

00:56:36I don't, yeah, I don't think he gained any blueprint

00:56:39on how to be Sergey based on his style, Jim.

00:56:42But I do think that the benefit comes in.

00:56:44He got rounds in, you know?

00:56:46He got reps in.

00:56:47And he went through another training camp,

00:56:49and he went through the process of fighting under the lights.

00:56:53So the mental, the mental, the physical.

00:56:55Right, and the routine of it all.

00:56:57Exactly.

00:56:58And that's a lot of what shaking rust is.

00:57:01Down and going.

00:57:05I mean, this is a live stage than being in a gym,

00:57:08Jim and Max, where you're getting sparring,

00:57:10you're getting sparring, but you're out here,

00:57:12now where it really counts in front of people,

00:57:14the audience on HBO, and also here.

00:57:17So he needs that, all that, to come together as a recipe

00:57:20to get ready for a super fight with Sergey Kovalev.

00:57:25And Brand does have a proven chin

00:57:28against unknown opposition,

00:57:30but in the sense that he was knocked down

00:57:32in the first round of his last fight

00:57:34by a relatively little-known Russian opponent,

00:57:36that's the only knockdown of his career.

00:57:39Ward has not scored an official knockdown of Brand tonight.

00:57:42Harold pointed out that Brand

00:57:44can seem to take any one shot at a time.

00:57:47It's gonna take a combination to put him away.

00:57:53Well, Jim, a lot of people get knocked down

00:57:55by Russian fighters, so I'm not shocked

00:57:57that he got knocked down by that.

00:57:59He didn't get knocked down by just any Russian fighter.

00:58:02You got knocked down by Sergey Kovalev.

00:58:04Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:58:06That's different.

00:58:10I don't think there's anything here

00:58:11that's gonna change anyone's mind

00:58:13about a Kovalev fight.

00:58:14Those who thought that Ward would win

00:58:16probably still think so, and vice versa.

00:58:19But I wonder if some ask here,

00:58:25does Andre Ward have the power to keep Kovalev on it?

00:58:38The Ward family having fun at ringside.

00:58:44You can't take no more, Dre.

00:58:45He gonna play the clown the rest of the way.

00:58:48You can't take no more.

00:58:51You can't take no more.

00:58:53Uh-huh.

00:58:5511 is coming, eh?

00:58:57All right, listen, be cautious.

00:59:00Be cautious. This is 11 coming up.

00:59:02You gotta be careful.

00:59:03All right, breathe, breathe.

00:59:05When you're on the inside with him,

00:59:07try and tie him up and take away his distance, all right?

00:59:13You call it the throwaway hook.

00:59:15Just to get it there so the right hand can land on the spot

00:59:18and hit.

00:59:19Alexander couldn't even see it coming, the throwaway hook.

00:59:36Watching those replays, Bernard,

00:59:38one of the reasons Brand is still standing

00:59:40is he has a pretty tricky way of tucking his chin,

00:59:44and he's taking those shots on the nose,

00:59:46on the cheekbone, on the head,

00:59:47but not really on the point of the chin ever.

00:59:49Well, he's not getting hit on the chin

00:59:50because, like you said, it's unorthodox.

00:59:52Right now he got hit with a good right hand,

00:59:54and he rolls with those punches,

00:59:56and he keeps his chin just enough tucked

00:59:59where he don't get hit full, and that's a skill.

01:00:02That's something that you're taught,

01:00:04and you're using it effectively.

01:00:05Matter of fact, that's why he's in his late rounds

01:00:07still not in the fight

01:00:09but still surviving to go 12 rounds.

01:00:12Well, and here's a statistic which is gonna prompt

01:00:15either the observation

01:00:16that Brand was woefully inadequate as an opponent

01:00:19or that Ward stepped up his game and got better.

01:00:22In his last 9 fights,

01:00:23Ward's opponents averaged landing 9 punches per round.

01:00:27Alexander Brand is landing 4 punches per round

01:00:30as we arrive here in the 11th,

01:00:32so Ward has been largely unhittable for Alexander Brand.

01:00:39Oh, yeah, look, Ward is a great defensive fighter,

01:00:42and he's a very good offensive one, too.

01:00:48Kovalev is a great offensive fighter...

01:00:50Yeah.

01:00:51...who may not really worry about defense

01:00:53in a lot of his fights

01:00:54because he so overpowers the opposition.

01:00:56And that's why the offensive fighter

01:00:58has to be out of character

01:00:59or at least get out of character

01:01:01to be able to survive that onslaught.

01:01:03Ooh, good right hand.

01:01:04Perfect right hand counter shot by Ward.

01:01:06In fact, Ward has a more diverse offense than Kovalev,

01:01:10just minus the thump.

01:01:13Yeah, that was a good counter right hand

01:01:15that Andre Ward threw,

01:01:16but it was one shot.

01:01:18You know, he has to think about another shot

01:01:21and not look at his work.

01:01:23Andre cannot continue to throw one punch

01:01:25and then look at his work when he gets there

01:01:27because he must follow up with other punches.

01:01:29I think we're going 12 rounds,

01:01:30which will be interpreted a variety of different ways

01:01:34by boxing media.

01:01:35Great, well-rounded fighters,

01:01:37and this goes in team sports, too.

01:01:38Great, well-rounded teams

01:01:40never look as good against mediocrity

01:01:42as great offensive fighters or teams look

01:01:45because mediocrity has nothing to stave off a great offense.

01:01:49But fighters like Bernard Hopkins, for example,

01:01:52needed a Felix Trinidad

01:01:54to show you all the things he could do,

01:01:57and I suspect as much as Andre Ward

01:02:00has won every round here,

01:02:02he needs a guy like Kovalev

01:02:04to show you everything he's capable of.

01:02:07That'll be in November.

01:02:10The ball goes well in the last round of this one.

01:02:19But if Andre wanted activity,

01:02:21he got it tonight when it comes to rounds.

01:02:30Sergei Kovalev fighting in his home area

01:02:33near Kelyabinsk, Russia,

01:02:35less than a month ago.

01:02:36Went the distance somewhat unexpectedly

01:02:39with Isaac Jalemba.

01:02:40And now as Kovalev puts his arm around his mother

01:02:44here at ringside in Oakland,

01:02:46he's watching Andre Ward most likely

01:02:49go the distance against Alexander Brand.

01:02:57Which may or may not mean

01:02:58we're in for 12 rounds of excitement in November.

01:03:03And don't let nothing else entertain

01:03:05and have its place, okay?

01:03:07And the reason why I'm saying that is necessary, okay?

01:03:10You have to quit worrying about

01:03:11what somebody's doing to you and you have to do to me.

01:03:14Okay, I'm talking to you, son.

01:03:17I'm talking to you, okay?

01:03:19I just want you to do it, okay?

01:03:25You hear a lot of trainers call a fighter son.

01:03:29It means a little more

01:03:30when Virgil Hunter says it to Andre Ward.

01:03:33Andre Ward openly and freely says,

01:03:36without Virgil Hunter, I don't know where I'd be.

01:03:45Hunter now trains Andre Berto, Amir Khan,

01:03:50other fighters as well.

01:03:55Stop, stop, stop, stop!

01:03:57Come here.

01:03:58There's a small mouse under Andre Ward's left eye,

01:04:01and now Jack Reese is observing his hairline

01:04:05to see if perhaps a butt may have opened a cut there.

01:04:08Alexander came in with a wild left hook

01:04:10with his head also.

01:04:12Accidentally, looks like, but they clash heads,

01:04:14and that's the danger in these fights.

01:04:16That's the danger.

01:04:17Especially if you're talking about a November fight.

01:04:20Exactly.

01:04:21The question is, do you get a delay?

01:04:29In boxing, when you can close the show,

01:04:31you close the show.

01:04:33And Andre, I believe, should have closed the show

01:04:35two, three rounds ago.

01:04:40Because of things that can happen.

01:04:48Well, some nights, I would say,

01:04:51that's just Andre Ward.

01:04:53But tonight, I don't think it's for long.

01:04:55Combinations like that show you that.

01:04:57I mean, you know, if you ask Joe Frazier

01:05:00to outbox his opponent behind the jab,

01:05:03he just, it's not what he does.

01:05:05And if you're asking a sharp but not devastating puncher,

01:05:09a boxer puncher, to stop an opponent

01:05:12who's trying to survive, it's just not what he does.

01:05:14But isn't it, Ward, isn't it sometime in a fight

01:05:17or in a situation where you've got to get nasty,

01:05:19you've got to get damn right in the face

01:05:22or in a situation where you've got to get nasty,

01:05:24you've got to get damn right, like,

01:05:26I'm going to, you know, I'm going to step,

01:05:28I'm going to get nasty, I'm going to win this fight,

01:05:30I'm going to knock this guy out.

01:05:32Andre Ward is a control freak, as a fighter especially.

01:05:35And I don't think he's capable of fighting out of control.

01:05:38Bernard, I'll be honest.

01:05:40I saw several fights in which I thought

01:05:42a knockout might be possible for you,

01:05:44but you walked away with a decision win

01:05:46because it was easy.

01:05:48I agree.

01:05:52And because you, like Andre Ward,

01:05:54were also a control freak in the ring.

01:05:56You like to control the action.

01:05:58The whole action.

01:06:00Yeah, and risk-taking involves probability.

01:06:03It's not as deterministic.

01:06:05You know, when you take a risk,

01:06:07when you open up, suddenly you're not as in control.

01:06:10But sitting on this side of boxing,

01:06:12I'm looking at a guy that I know

01:06:14that can be out of there if he's pressured enough,

01:06:17because Andre hadn't thrown many punches

01:06:20that he normally, I think, could throw in this situation.

01:06:24Meantime, even with that...

01:06:30So against a totally outclassed Alexander Brand,

01:06:34Andre Ward goes the distance.

01:06:36Wins every round.

01:06:38Probably wins every minute of every round.

01:06:41Might have won every 10 seconds of every round.

01:06:44But goes the distance to get the easy win

01:06:47against Alexander Brand, and again,

01:06:49open to interpretation in a variety of ways

01:06:52by boxing media.

01:06:54Now, is there blood? Is there a cut?

01:06:56Even with all of this, the question is,

01:06:59wait a minute, is Andre Ward's eye okay?

01:07:02Is a November date with Kovalev still in play?

01:07:05It doesn't look like it's opened up or anything like that.

01:07:08But even in a fight where he was very careful

01:07:11to be controlling when he was looking for the stoppage...

01:07:15And he could possibly try to do that with Sergey.

01:07:17But what I'm saying is, still, we had to get nervous

01:07:20in the 12th round about a cut. That's the nature of boxing.

01:07:23And there's the unofficial Harold Letterman score,

01:07:26which you could see was increasingly uneventful

01:07:30as the fight went on.

01:07:32Each round, a replica of its predecessor,

01:07:36except in some of the middle rounds

01:07:38when Ward seemed to be pushing the issue

01:07:41and trying to land the big shot.

01:07:46So Kovalev goes the distance against Shalemba.

01:07:49Ward goes the distance against Alexander Brand.

01:07:52And now we point forward toward November.

01:07:54Here's Michael Buffer with the official prediction.

01:07:57Ladies and gentlemen, here at the Oracle Arena,

01:08:00Oakland, California, USA, we go to the scorecards.

01:08:05And all three judges scored the same, 120-108.

01:08:09The winner by unanimous decision,

01:08:12still undefeated, the fighting god of Oakland, California,

01:08:17and now the WBO international champion,

01:08:21Andre S.O.G.

01:08:29Ward!

01:08:33Tiffany Ward celebrating at ringside.

01:08:38Virgil Hunter whispering into the ear of his fighter.

01:08:44And you saw the Harold Letterman score,

01:08:48which was 120-108.

01:08:49All three judges scored it, 120-108.

01:08:52And here's why.

01:08:53Ward lands 145 more punches

01:08:56and basically quadruples what Brand was able to do.

01:09:00Throws 205 more punches,

01:09:02lands an extraordinarily high percentage of 39%,

01:09:06well over 50%, I believe,

01:09:09in terms of power punches.

01:09:14And here's a look at jabs.

01:09:16Did that pretty well, too.

01:09:18Landing 69 out of 282.

01:09:2024% is actually a relatively high connect percentage

01:09:24with the jab.

01:09:25Brand landing 9%, which is more representative

01:09:28of what you normally see from fighters.

01:09:31And now let's go to Max Kellerman in the ring

01:09:34with the still unbeaten Andre Ward.

01:09:37Congratulations, Andre.

01:09:38You won every round.

01:09:40Were you trying to get him out of there?

01:09:42It looked from the middle rounds on

01:09:44like maybe you were trying to.

01:09:46Yeah, I mean, we knew this guy

01:09:47was gonna be really, really hard to knock out.

01:09:49I mean, he's a veteran,

01:09:50and people got to realize that when a guy,

01:09:52with his experience,

01:09:53doesn't want to get knocked out as hard,

01:09:55he's throwing punches from, you know, crazy angles.

01:09:57He's got nothing to lose, so I tried to press it.

01:09:59Didn't get it, but it's good to get the rounds.

01:10:01We thought in the 12th round that your eye looked red.

01:10:05Maybe it was bleeding.

01:10:06Maybe something had happened.

01:10:07Did anything happen to the left eye in the 12th round?

01:10:10I think it may have been a head,

01:10:11but I don't know if it's the top of my head.

01:10:13I got to watch the tape or the eye,

01:10:15but it happens, man.

01:10:16It's combat.

01:10:17All kind of stuff is going on, so I don't know.

01:10:19Okay.

01:10:20To my right is another undefeated...

01:10:24top five pound-for-pound type fighter,

01:10:28Sergey Kovalev, light heavyweight champ.

01:10:34Are all systems go for November 19th and Sergey Kovalev?

01:10:39That's what it looks like to me, baby.

01:10:41I'm excited, man.

01:10:42I'm looking forward to it.

01:10:43I want to be the light heavyweight champion of the world.

01:10:46I had to get past his step.

01:10:47He got past his step, so I'll see you in November.

01:10:51This was a tune-up fight.

01:10:53Do you feel sufficiently tuned up?

01:10:56Are you more ready for Kovalev tonight

01:10:58than you were after your last fight against Sullivan Barrera?

01:11:01I don't know.

01:11:02I feel like I've been doing this 22 years,

01:11:04and if I'm not ready to fight the best now,

01:11:06I'll never be ready.

01:11:07So I've been preparing for these moments since I've been a kid,

01:11:09so of course I'm ready.

01:11:11Sergey, you watched him tonight.

01:11:14Do you think he's ready?

01:11:16Yeah, I see he's ready, and I'm ready, too.

01:11:19I'm ready, too.

01:11:24After the Chalemba fight,

01:11:26I've heard from more boxing fans

01:11:29that they think that wasn't your best performance,

01:11:33and some of them lean toward Andre now.

01:11:36What do you have to say to your fans

01:11:39about your performance in the Chalemba fight

01:11:42and what that means for fighting Andre?

01:11:45The fight against Chalemba was similar

01:11:50to how it's going to be against Andre Ward.

01:11:54He's a very great champion,

01:11:56and he proved it today.

01:12:02I just want to say let's do it November 19th on HBO.

01:12:10Thank you, Sergey.

01:12:12Guys, the winner of this fight

01:12:15is going to be considered by many, if not most,

01:12:18the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

01:12:21Do you guys both believe that that is the case?

01:12:24I mean, yeah, of course.

01:12:25I mean, I think you can say that.

01:12:27You got to respect Sergey

01:12:29for the way he's gotten to where he's gotten.

01:12:31He hasn't had any soft touches.

01:12:32He wasn't protected,

01:12:33and he wasn't really pushed by the media.

01:12:35He's a guy that should get a lot more credit than he has,

01:12:37and the winner of that fight, I believe,

01:12:39could possibly be pound-for-pound number one.

01:12:41Do you believe this is a fight

01:12:42for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world title?

01:12:46I think so, yeah.

01:12:48Thank you, Sergey.

01:12:49Thank you, Andre.

01:12:50Congratulations, Jim.

01:12:53All right, another handshake there

01:12:55for Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward

01:12:58as they now look forward to getting together

01:13:01and making a lot of money in November on HBO Pay-Per-View.

01:13:06And Bernard Hopkins, there isn't a fan in America

01:13:09who could not formulate this next question.

01:13:11You are the ranking authority in boxing on Sergey Kovalev

01:13:15and what he can do in the ring.

01:13:17You've been watching Andre Ward ever since he was a kid amateur.

01:13:21Do you have a favorite in the fight?

01:13:22Well, I'll tell you what.

01:13:23This fight is, to me, is a close fight 50-50,

01:13:26but whoever makes the mistakes more than the other

01:13:30will pay a big price.

01:13:31Andre Ward has all the ingredients

01:13:33to make a Sergey Kovalev style

01:13:38become favorable to him, Andre Ward.

01:13:41And Sergey has to punch, Jim,

01:13:43to be able to end your dreams and everything.

01:13:46So I see this fight being a very close fight

01:13:49because of the activity that Sergey's been on,

01:13:52Sergey Kovalev's been on for the last two years or three.

01:13:56You have to give the activity favorite to him,

01:13:59but far as the fight itself,

01:14:01I'll say it's about a 50-50 fight.

01:14:03Depends on how the fight starts off

01:14:05and who takes the other guy in a place they've never been.

01:14:09Sergey never been in a place where he had to fight his way back,

01:14:13fight his way back into a situation where he's on top,

01:14:17he's leading, he's dominating.

01:14:19Andre Ward hasn't lost a fight in a pros ever.

01:14:23And a gold medal winner representing the United States

01:14:26and coming to this point, this is an even fight.

01:14:29This is a great fight for boxing.

01:14:31Andre Ward hasn't lost a fight since he was 12 years old,

01:14:33so one of his advantages against anyone

01:14:36is deep in his heart and his mind,

01:14:38he doesn't believe he can lose, right?

01:14:40And he talked about it, he fights about it,

01:14:43and you know, Jim, this is his second stretch in boxing,

01:14:45he mentioned.

01:14:46This is the legacy building right now.

01:14:48And to fight Sergey Kovalev

01:14:50for a light heavyweight undisputed crown

01:14:53is big for any fighter in any weight division,

01:14:56especially Andre Ward.

01:14:57You have a very long and legendary career,

01:14:59and you fought Felix Trinidad.

01:15:01Is Sergey Kovalev the hardest puncher

01:15:03with whom you've ever been in the ring?

01:15:04Absolutely.

01:15:05He's a crusher, he wears that name,

01:15:07he was given that name, and I can bear witness to it.

01:15:10All right, thank you very much, Bernard.

01:15:12Max Kellerman, we look ahead to November 19.

01:15:15Neither guy probably performed exactly the way he wanted to

01:15:19in the last tune-up leading up to the fight.

01:15:21What does that mean?

01:15:22In the end, it doesn't mean anything,

01:15:24because at first it was, well, against Sullivan Barrera,

01:15:27maybe you like Kovalev, he's more active, sharper.

01:15:29Then you see the Chalemba fight with Kovalev.

01:15:31Well, maybe Ward is too three-dimensional for Kovalev,

01:15:35and now he can't get Brand out of there.

01:15:38Andre Ward can't.

01:15:39Well, does he hit hard enough to keep Kovalev honest?

01:15:42Look, this is the best matchup in boxing, Ward and Kovalev,

01:15:46not only because it is likely

01:15:48for the number one pound-for-pound spot in boxing,

01:15:51but because it's the kind of fight,

01:15:53not just boxer versus puncher,

01:15:55but a 50-50 fight,

01:15:57meaning half the boxing world's gonna think

01:16:00that Andre's gonna win,

01:16:01the other half right down the middle's gonna think Kovalev,

01:16:04and even among each camp,

01:16:07it's not like people are gonna be so sure about it.

01:16:10Oh, yeah, Andre's just gonna beat him easy.

01:16:12The people who like Andre are gonna be like 51-49 Andre.

01:16:16I think Andre's gonna win, but ooh, that's a beast of a fight.

01:16:20And the same thing for Kovalev.

01:16:22It's not only a 50-50 fight.

01:16:24Adherents of both fighters are gonna be basically 50-50

01:16:28in terms of their pins.

01:16:29It's so evenly matched.

01:16:31It's the kind of fight that captures

01:16:33the boxing world's imagination, and I can't wait for November.

01:16:36And before we even get to that fight,

01:16:38we're going to be showing you Gennady Golovkin,

01:16:40we're gonna be showing you Canelo Alvarez.

01:16:42It's really a star-studded fall.

01:16:44Chocolatito Gonzalez also a star-studded fall

01:16:47coming up here on HBO Sports.

01:16:49One interpersonal note before we leave the air.

01:16:52We want to express our most heartfelt condolences

01:16:55to our very dear friend, top-ranked publicist

01:16:58Lee Samuels and his wife, Mary Margaret,

01:17:01on the death of their son, Eddie.

01:17:03Lee, Mary Margaret, our hearts are with you tonight.

01:17:15Lots of great sports programming coming your way.

01:17:17Immediately following this telecast,

01:17:19stick around for an encore presentation

01:17:21of an Olympic-themed Real Sports.

01:17:23Tuesday marks the return of hard knocks,

01:17:25and be on the lookout for Bill Simmons

01:17:27any given Wednesday on, you guessed it, Wednesday night.

01:17:30September sees the ring returns of many of the sport's top stars,

01:17:33with Gennady Golovkin, Chocolatito Gonzalez,

01:17:36and Canelo Alvarez all in action.

01:17:38And, of course, the just-announced November showdown

01:17:41between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward

01:17:44on HBO Pay-Per-View.

01:17:46For a full rundown of the upcoming sports calendar,

01:17:48and much more, log on to HBO.com.

01:17:51And now for our entire crew,

01:17:53thanks for being with us for this edition

01:17:55of World Championship Boxing.

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