With the rematch just days away, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev are taking decidedly different approaches to the fight and a potential victory. While Ward says he will rely on skill, Kovalev is fueling his performance on the backs of his “haters” and his desire to “disappoint Team Ward.”
During a final media calls before fight week, Ward alluded to a possible fight night strategy that long-time trainer Virgil Hunter imparted on him as a young man.
On the physical side, it was Virgil having the foresight early on when I was a young boy. He saw that I had a lot of ability and skills. He always told me that I don’t look at the things [I] do well, I look at where you can be beat. He said when I was 11, 12 (or) 13 years old, ‘The only style that can give you trouble right now is a buzz saw.’
“The jab is a lost art today. Skilled inside fighting is really a lost art and a lot of guys don’t want to be there. They want you at range. They want you in a certain place and if they can’t have you there then you see a totally different fighter.
In his final phone address to the assembled media, Kovalev reiterated how the addition of new strength and conditioning coach Aleksandr Mikhailovich added the final piece he lacked in the first meeting against Ward. With his physical needs met, he will now rely on “haters” and his disdain for Team Ward to propel him to victory.
“Yes, I feel much better, you know, I am not any nervous about my shape right now because the last – before last fight I couldn’t say before the fight like I came to fight and say I don’t want to fight him because I am not ready. I gone to the fight and walked stairs into the ring, you know, and fought Andre Ward with empty strength. My energy strength was empty one month before the fight.
“I just felt like the most what they give me motivation is haters. When I lost, I used to take a lot of punishment that I lost. In Russia is more than in America, you know. But in America, even in America, boxing fans of Ward text me by Facebook, by Instagram, by social media that I won the fight. And they right now are going to support me in next fight. And right now is my most motivation is haters, haters yes. And I want to disappoint them and team Ward, team of Ward because they right now speaking a lot of bullshit to my side. They say that I this, I this, I this. I don’t care. They will pay inside the ring for everything for what they said. Trust me.”
With no rematch clause in place, this is likely the last time we will see Ward and Kovalev in the ring together. No matter the outcome, if this fight is anything like the first, the debate will wage on long after the final bell sounds.
Ward vs. Kovalev 2 takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed
Live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT