By Ryan Burton

Former light heavyweight champion Montell Griffin was in Las Vegas this past weekend for the 4th annual Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame ceremonies.  The inductees included Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whittaker, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Riddick "Big Daddy" Bowe and several others.

Griffin's resume includes a win over Roy Jones Jr. and a pair of wins over James Toney and like the rest of us, is excited about the upcoming showdown between IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre Ward.

The Chicago native isn't sure who will the fight but believes that if Ward is on his game on fight night, he has the advantage.

"It is all up to Ward - if he can get rid of all of his cobwebs. In his last fight he won convincingly but he got beat up a little bit. He got touched up and coming from Kovalev, he can't take those type of shots. Hopkins has a great chin and he put him down a couple times. I think if he is right as far as skill wise he can win but if he is not right he might have problems and I will go with Kovalev.," Griffin said.

First up for Ward is a tune up against heavy underdog Alexander Brand on Saturday.  While the bout will help Ward who has suffered from inactivity the past few years, Griffin doesn't believe one more fight is enough to adequately rid him of ring rust.

Griffin also said that fans shouldn't put too much stock into Kovalev's July 11th victory over Isaac Chilemba.  The bout was Kovalev's first fight in his native Russia in several years and while he won 8, 9 and 10 rounds on the judges scorecards (while also scoring a knockdown), some insiders and fans feel that he was somewhat "exposed" and displayed tendencies that Ward can exploit.

Griffin said line of thinking is that is nonsense.

"(Ward) needs to go 7, 8 , 9, 10 rounds - he really ain't knocking nobody out - so if he goes 12 rounds, he needs that. You can spar all you want to but you don't get the ring rust off till you fight. It is a huge fight.

"Kovalev went over to his hometown and had a let down. It is what it is. For people who look at that fight who try to take something from it - do not. He will be ready for Andre Ward and Andre Ward will be ready for him. I just hoped Andre Ward took 2 or 3 more fights but he can't do it because the money is right and it would take too much time and Ward kind of lost a couple years of his career. It is a great fight," Griffin told BoxingScene.com.