With his win over Sergey Kovalev last November, Andre Ward improved to 31-0-0 as a professional and won the WBA, IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles. The champion will look to defend his titles and stay undefeated in a rematch against Kovalev this Saturday night.
Kovalev vs. Ward 2017 odds: Rematch has Andre Ward pegged as the betting favorite
Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will meet in their highly anticipated light heavyweight rematch on Saturday, with the champion set as the betting chalk for the night.
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Ward is a -160 betting favorite to win this title fight at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Kovalev would pay +130 on an upset.
The testament of a truly great fight is legitimate controversy over who the real winner was. Both boxing experts and fans alike were split in their opinions of who won the first bout between these two light heavyweights.
It was an instant classic that cried for a rematch, with most of the rounds being fought so close that they were tough for an impartial party to call. The three judges who had final say all scored the first fight Ward 114 – Kovalev 113, giving Ward a unanimous decision in the slimmest fashion.
Kovalev will get the chance to avenge the first loss of his career on Saturday. Kovalev fought well enough to win in the previous bout, but his fate was left to the judges when the fight went to the cards.
The Russian is 30-1-1 as a professional and has picked up 26 of his 30 wins via knockout. He knocked Ward down with a hard right in the second round of their last fight, just the second time Ward has ever been knocked down in his career.
The key to Ward’s victory in the first fight was punches landed. Per the CompuBox statistics, Kovalev threw 474 punches to Ward’s 337 but landed only 26.6% of those punches. Ward connected on 34.4% of his punches thrown.
If the first fight between these two light heavyweights was any indication, this Saturday’s fight should be must-see-TV.
Other fights on the undercard leading up to the Main Event include Dmitry Bivol (-3000 on the boxing odds) vs. Cedric Agnew (+1100) and Guillermo Rigondeaux (-650) vs. Moises Flores (+425). At 26 years old, Bivol is a strong up-and-comer in the light heavyweight class with a 10-0-0 career record.
Ward vs. Kovalev betting odds
Dmitry Bivol -3000 vs. Cedric Agnew +1100
Guillermo Rigondeaux -650 vs. Moises Flores +425
Andre Ward -160 vs. Sergey Kovalev +130
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