Kathy Duva: “Andre Ward Is Terrific But Canelo Is Superhuman, If They Got In The Ring, I Would Have To Pick Canelo”

By: Hans Themistode

The boxing world has all the time debated loudly over sure hypothetical matchups. From followers banging their heads in opposition to the wall that Floyd Mayweather would field circles round “Sugar” Ray Leonard to pundits across the globe claiming that Muhammad Ali would defeat Tyson Fury, regardless of the peak and weight disparity.

Over the previous few years, one theoretical showdown, specifically, has captured the creativeness of many.

With Canelo Alvarez making a beeline up and down quite a few weight lessons, the Mexican star solidified himself as boxing’s pound-for-pound finest within the thoughts of many, following his undisputed run at 168 kilos. Nonetheless, earlier than Alvarez took his place as the person to beat, Andre Ward proudly held that distinction.

Along with Ward turning into a unified world champion at 168 kilos, he would go on to grow to be a unified titlist at 175 kilos as effectively. With Ward, abruptly retiring in 2017, following an eighth-round knockout victory over Sergey Kovalev, Alvarez is now confidently marching by means of Ward’s previous stomping grounds.

Because of this, followers have regularly salivated over a hypothetical matchup between the pair. Finally, whereas Alvarez’s diehard’s have sided with the present pound-for-pound star, and zealots of Ward are standing firmly in his nook, Kathy Duva, CEO of Principal Occasions, having seen each males up shut and private, believes she is aware of who would have prevailed in the event that they stepped into the ring in opposition to each other.

“In the event that they acquired within the ring collectively, I must choose Canelo,” stated Duva throughout an interview with Battle Hub TV. “Andre Ward is terrific however Canelo is superhuman. I’ve been astonished by what he’s achieved. Nearly as good as Ward is, he’s not challenged himself the best way Canelo has. He spent years sitting out, voluntarily, he didn’t should.”

As Duva eludes to, from 2013 to 2014, Ward publicly feuded with former promoter, Dan Goossen. The genesis of their points stemmed from a contractual dispute. Initially, Ward believed that Goossen was by no means his sole promoter. As an alternative, Ward was below the idea that their partnership was cut up between Goossen and co-promoter Antonio Leonard. With Leonard shut out of the image monetarily, Ward took difficulty with Goossen. Though issues have been ultimately labored out, Ward spent a full yr and a half out of the ring, earlier than returning full-time in 2016.

No matter Ward’s promotional points, he picked up precisely the place he left off. To cap off his Corridor of Fame profession, Duva watched from her ringside seat as Ward handed beforehand undefeated pound-for-pound star, Sergey Kovalev, back-to-back defeats.

Nonetheless, as Duva juxtaposes Ward’s accomplishments to Alvarez, she believes it’s a no brainer.

“Nothing in opposition to him, he managed his profession nevertheless he wanted to. However once you examine what he’s achieved to what Canelo’s achieved, it’s evening and day. I do know he’s a terrific boxer and he’s nice with the top video games. He did a really efficient job on Sergey with that for certain. We knew it was coming, we did every little thing we may consider to cease it however he’s good at it. I don’t know if that works on Canelo. He’s been there and accomplished extra.”

In 2019, in an surprising transfer, Alvarez overtly made the leap from a full-fledged 160 pounder, to the sunshine heavyweight division. The Mexican native would go on to violently rip Kovalev’s WBO world title away. In doing so, Alvarez grew to become a four-division world titlist. Finally, Duva isn’t in a position to pinpoint who was the higher fighter between Alvarez and Ward. Nonetheless, unambiguously, Duva believes that if the 2 have been to satisfy within the ring at any time limit, Alvarez would emerge victoriously.

“Should you ask me to select who’d win in the event that they have been face to face, I don’t know who’s the higher fighter as a result of you may put two nice fighters collectively twice and get two totally different outcomes. However head-to-head, Canelo beats anyone he desires to struggle principally.”