By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Sergey Kovalev will take a different approach to training camp for his rematch with Andre Ward than he did for their first fight.

Kovalev admitted Monday before a press conference to promote their June 17 rematch that he thinks he overtrained for their light heavyweight championship match November 19 in Las Vegas. According to Kovalev, overexerting himself during camp prohibited him from having enough stamina to keep up the same pace in the second half of their 12-round fight as he did during its first half.

Ward overcame a second-round knockdown, took control over the final six rounds and won a unanimous decision over Kovalev at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kovalev claims his high regard for Ward made him overextend himself while he prepared in Big Bear, California, for their HBO Pay-Per-View main event.

“I overrated Ward in the first fight and I overtrained,” Kovalev said through a translator. “I did way too much. I thought that was the fight of my life and I overtrained myself for that fight. And now I know what I need to do to beat him. Basically, I overtrained myself for that fight.”

The 34-year-old Kovalev began changing his training regimen before he faced South Africa’s Isaac Chilemba (24-5-2, 10 KOs) on July 11 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Chilemba took Kovalev the distance and now, after knocking out 26 of his first 30 professional opponents (87 percent), the former 175-pound champion has gone 12 rounds in back-to-back bouts. 

“My last two fights I thought I did way more in training camp than I normally do, for Chilemba and for Ward,” Kovalev said. “So from now on I’ll just do what I normally do. I’m not gonna overtrain myself or do the extra stuff that I did for those two fights. Because before my results spoke for themselves. I just have to get back to what I’ve done before for preparation for the fights.”

Kovalev didn’t specify which portions of his training for the Ward and Chilemba matches he’ll eliminate, yet did offer a glimpse of how he’ll train for this rematch.

“I overrated Ward,” Kovalev reiterated. “I overtrained. I believe I can beat anyone now. I believe I can beat any Olympic champion now. For me, it’s enough for me to do my roadwork in the morning for one hour and do my boxing one hour at night. And that will be enough to beat Andre Ward.”

Ward (31-0, 15 KOs), of Hayward, California, and Russia’s Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) will continue their press tour Tuesday in Oakland, California. They’ll square off again nine weeks from Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View).

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