Tried to scout Ward on You-Tube but I fell asleep. The guy is boring. He wins but who the hell cares? I don't think he has ever done much to win new fans to the sport.
I did notice in the comments a lot of black-white back and forth. Gosh can you imagine?
I see this as a battle of footwork with both fighters trying to establish their effective distance with punches few and far between at first, which will suit Ward just fine because he's the one in danger. In one scenario Ward is content to just get the edge peck out his usual unexciting decision.
Now if Ward falls behind look for him to resort to his head butting and elbows. In that case I recommend The Crusher knee him hard in the cup on the first offense then on the second toss Ward's ass over the ropes into the third row. But that's only if Kovalev ahead. Otherwise it will look like sour grapes. Kovalev takes a DQ but Ward learns a lesson and they can sort things out with a rematch.
Just a couple scenarios.
As far as a prediction I'll go with Westside. He's been on the money lately.