Sergey Kovalev Vows to Punish Andre Ward in Search for Revenge
By: Francisco Martinez
6 months removed from his first fight with Andre Ward, Sergey Kovalev prepares to step into the ring with Ward once again and revenge has been the only thing on his mind since. After what he and some fans along with critics believe was a robbery Kovalev and his team quickly went on record letting everyone know they would exercise their rematch clause immediately with no hesitation. 3 weeks away from June 17th Kovalev gets his opportunity to do what he says “punish” Andre Ward.
“I want to prove that he didn’t deserve these belts. I want to get my belts back it’s my goal. I want to punish Andre Ward too because he doesn’t deserve this money, these belts, this status and to be champion. He’s not a champion for me, in my eyes he’s not a champion” strong words of disdain from Sergey Kovalev towards the man who not only took his belts but his undefeated record.
It’s rare that nowadays rematches take place but rivalries such as this one definitely deserves one. Somewhat comparable to Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera do to the mutual dislike from both individuals and their camps. A new chapter has been open in this Ward and Kovalev beef as Kovalev’s head trainer revealed team Ward approached him about possibly jumping ship in a very quiet and calculated move “They made me an offer, Ward’s team, about training Andre but listen I stayed loyal to my guy and it will probably make the bond stronger” says head trainer John David Jackson.
“Virgil (Hunter) is still gonna be there but here’s the thing, who knows Sergey better than I know him? I know his worse points, I know what he doesn’t do right” also admits that if the offer had made sense the probability of him joining Andre Ward’s camp would have been highly possible but pretty expensive “if they had gave me Fort Knox I’d have been there” jokes John David Jackson. Adding a sense of humor to the situation.
Sergey Kovalev has stated that his conditioning failed him in the previous fight do to overtraining something that he feels has been corrected in this camp heading into the rematch. Running over 10 miles and at times training 2 hours Sergey Kovalev feels that his previous conditioning coach didn’t have the ability to control him or tell him when to stop or what to do being that he somewhat feared being fired because he would be directing Kovalev on how to do things. If anything it was on the contrary. For this training camp Kovalev has hired a new strength and conditioning coach and already feels the results of more rest time, sleeping and overall more of a precise training regimen.
Sergey Kovalev still trust in the judges heading into this rematch even after the first controversial decision however Kovalev’s manager Egis Klimas doesn’t expect the judges to have to do much come fight time “they’re gonna see a real crusher in the ring. We’re not gonna go the distance so we’re not worry about the judges” confident Kovalev will not only duplicate the knockdown in the second round of the first fight but that he will finish the job there and then.
Sergey Kovalev insists that the only problems he experienced during the first fight with Andre Ward came from him do to the errors made in the training camp that he truly believes reflected in the fights itself and his overall performance “I didn’t feel any problems from Andre Ward because I felt the most problems are inside of me that I didn’t have energy. It was hard to try and do something with no energy, it was hard”
As Kovalev expresses his point of view on the first fight claiming Andre Ward presented no problems he also goes as far as to say Ward’s power was like a 25 year old woman slapping him. Didn’t feel Ward’s power and punches at all. Come June 17th Sergey Kovalev gets the opportunity to make all his wrongs, right and Andre Ward gets the opportunity to prove his first victory wasn’t a product of miss judgement.
Tune in this June 17th live on HBO pay per view at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada as the number #1 and #2 175lbs fighters in the world face off once more for the IBF, WBA and WBO light heavyweight championships of the world. Don’t miss it. Follow the conversation leading up to fight night by using #WardKovalev