By Vadim Pushkin
Sergey Kovalev (30-1, 26 KOs) has heard the recent rumblings regarding IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (31-0, 15KOs).
Last month, Ward won a close and controversial twelve round unanimous decision over Kovalev to capture his three world titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ward recovered from a second round knockdown to win the fight on all three scorecards by a point - 114-113. The outcome has created an ongoing debate among boxing fans over which fighter actually deserved the victory.
There was an immediate rematch clause in the contract. Kovalev has exercised the clause and now expects to face Ward for a second time in the first half of 2017 - either in April or June.
But Ward has made recent statements in the press regarding the possibility of retiring from the sport.
According to Ward, unless he receives a satisfactory offer to face Kovalev for a second time - he'll have no problem with walking away from boxing.
"Of course he realizes [that we have to fight again], and so he starts saying that he can just leave [boxing]. Well, if he leaves then everybody will realize that he is a coward," Kovalev told reporter Elena Sobol.
Kovalev is still very confident that he defeated Ward - and he believes Ward's post-fight behavior tells the story. The Russian boxer posted videos to his personal social media accounts, and he says the videos clearly show Ward behaving like a defeated fighter - until he was announced as the winner.
"I can show you the videos on my Instragram account. He was shocked that he was awarded the victory. You can clearly see, the man was walking around like he lost, and then when the official made his announcement [his entire demeanor changed]."
