By Keith Idec
TOTOWA, N.J. – Sergey Kovalev is a white Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 2009 as an ambitious yet anonymous boxer.
Andre Ward is a black American from Hayward, California, who began his professional career late in 2004 amid a lot of fanfare after winning a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
They seem so different, yet Kovalev’s promoter sees numerous similarities in these unbeaten light heavyweights as they head toward the biggest fight of their careers Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“They both have enormous chips on their shoulders,” said Kathy Duva, whose New Jersey-based company, Main Events, promotes Kovalev. “They both have something to prove. It’s interesting when you look at their upbringings. Sergey was deserted by his father. Ward was deserted by his mother. This is the making of a situation where what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. … If it doesn’t destroy you, it makes you stronger. They took that loss and they turned it into that fire that motivates them. And when you hear them talk about their upbringings, it becomes clear that these are literally two sides of the same coin. Opposite in every way, yet exactly the same.
“Both grew up in poverty. Both decided that they were on their own. Both decided that they had to go make their way in the world. Both had a father figure come into their lives – Egis [Klimas] later for Sergey, but he actually had a coach in Russia who played that role when he was younger. And with Andre, it was Virgil Hunter. They were two people who got the message very early on, ‘You’re on your own.’ I lost a parent really young, too. I get it. You get this message as a child that no one is looking out for you anymore. Even if you have a parent left, the loss is so profound and the security that every child has is gone. And when you lose that, again, it either destroys you or you realize you’ve gotta stand on your own two feet. These two got that message.”
The 32-year-old Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) is a slight favorite over the 33-year-old Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs), who’ll defend his IBF, WBA and WBO 175-pound championships in their HBO Pay-Per-View main event ($64.95-$69.95 in HD).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
