By Keith Idec

Sergey Kovalev obviously was strong enough to drop Andre Ward in the second round of their light heavyweight title fight November 19.

Ward recovered from the right hand that knocked him down, though, and Kovalev couldn’t hurt him enough to send Ward to the canvas again during any of the following 10 rounds. While Ward admits Kovalev caught him with “a good shot” during a reckless defensive moment, the undefeated light heavyweight champion wasn’t overly impressed with Kovalev’s vaunted power.

Kovalev entered their fight having knocked out 84 percent of his first 31 professional opponents (26 KOs). Ward wouldn’t compare Kovalev’s power to the strength of any of his 30 previous opponents, but he indicated during a recent conference call to discuss their rematch that it wasn’t like anything he hadn’t felt before.

“I mean, honestly, I’m not really in the business of assessing guys’ power,” Ward said. “I think, like I’ve said before, he’s a good fighter. [His power] is not what it’s cracked up to be. I give him his respect. He’s a champion and I think once you become a champion and you defend your belt, you’re a champion for life. So, you know, he’s a champion-caliber fighter and we give him that respect. But in terms of rating power and all that kinds of stuff, I’m really not in the business of that.”

Before Kovalev knocked him down, Ward hadn’t been dropped in exactly 11 years, not since Darnell Boone sent him to the canvas in the fourth round of a six-round fight Ward came back to win by unanimous decision in November 2005.

Ward (31-0, 15 KOs), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist from Hayward, California, will defend his IBF, WBA and WBO 175-pound titles against Russia’s Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) in their rematch Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Their scheduled 12-round bout will headline HBO Pay-Per-View’s four-fight broadcast, which is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT ($64.99 in HD).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.