Kovalev Focused, But Admits Andre Ward is a Top Priority
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Sergey Kovalev aced the interview. Then he got the job. And this weekend in Las Vegas, he heads into the office for the first time. The three-belt light heavyweight champion scored the most significant victories of his career in his last two fights – battering Bernard Hopkins over 12 rounds and stopping Jean Pascal in eight – and returns to the ring Saturday night against top-ranked IBF contender Nadjib Mohammedi. The 30-year-old Frenchman is a 10-year professional with 37 wins and 23 knockouts in 40 fights, though he’s never fought for a world title and dropped a unanimous decision in 2010 to the same foe – Welshman Nathan Cleverly – who was halted in four rounds by Kovalev nearly three years later. Kovalev concedes to having not done a whole lot of Mohammedi research. “I know almost nothing about him,” he said.