Andre Ward To Fight Sakio Bika for His WBA Title According to Boxrec.com
According to boxrec.com, Andre Ward will defend his title against Sakio Bika. This is the first I have heard of it and it is far from confirmed, considering this wouldn’t be the first time boxrec was premature.
If this is the next fight for Ward, then it is an upper and a downer for me and for most people. Bika is a solid fighter and one of the best ones outside of the other Super Six fighters.
On the other hand, he has lost to the best fighters he has faced, including losses to Lucian Bute and Joe Calzaghe. He is also coming off a disqualification loss in his last fight.
He does have quality wins over Jaidon Codrington and Peter Manfredo Jr. (knocking out both). He seems to be one of those fighters who is talked about often as a top fighter but really doesn’t have much to back it up.
If Ward does take this fight, it is probably the best fight out there for him and will probably be a fight in the Super Six thus prolonging the tournament for at least one more round.
As far as how this fight would play out, I don’t see a scenario where Bika would win the fight. Ward is the better fighter hands down and has a better skill set.
Bika’s best attribute may be his awkward style. He has a style that is hard to replicate in sparring and usually takes his opponents by surprise.
Bika has decent power and average hand speed but he won't overwhelm Ward in either department and probably will be much slower then Ward is.
Ward is one of the smartest fighters in the game today and will make adjustments mid-fight and should handle him with relative ease if he is as good as we think he is.
Ward as I said before will probably be the faster fighter by a lot and his power is on par if not a tinge better then what Bika has to offer. If you look at the three legitimate losses Bika has, they all have something in common.
They are to boxer-punchers type and that is what Ward is. Bute and Calzaghe boxed circles around him and won the fights easily.
Ward has similar reaches to both of those fighters and is also similar in style to both minus the recent power surge of Bute.
This, as most people would expect, is a fight that should be met with sighs and cheers. It isn’t going to make history and be the greatest fight ever but there isn’t really anything better out there for ward.
It will probably be a fairly boring fight that sees Ward box Bika’s ears off and take home a wide unanimous decision. If Bika connects with a solid punch, he can make this a brawl.
Ward can be dragged into a brawl and that is the best case scenario for this fight, although that probably won't happen.
I also give credit to Ward for taking a good fight when he could have asked for a softer touch and made an easy defense of his title.
This was originally written for and published on www.kissingthecanvas.com.
