By Keith Idec
Andre Ward won’t say much about it, but Sergey Kovalev’s constant jabs at him have motivated the light heavyweight champion.
The controversial conclusion to their first fight was more than enough to make Ward want to win their rematch more decisively next week. But Kovalev’s attacks on social media and threats to end Ward’s career have provided some more fuel during another long, grueling training camp.
“He’s in beast mode,” Josh Dubin, Ward’s co-manager, attorney and adviser, told BoxingScene.com. “Everything’s going sensational. He’s training his butt off and he’s locked in in a way I’ve never seen him before, and I’ve been with him a long time. He wants to put a big exclamation point on this one.”
Dubin acknowledged that Ward wants to silence Kovalev more than he did before their first fight. The Russian knockout artist has called Ward “Son of Judges,” a play on his actual nickname, “Son of God,” because Kovalev thinks Ward didn’t do enough to win their November 19 bout by unanimous decision (114-113 on each of the three scorecards).
Russia’s Kovalev also has promised he’ll “end his career” and “punish him.” Blaming his performance in the second half of their 12-round fight on over-training for it also has annoyed Ward, who views Kovalev’s claim as an excuse.
“It certainly has lit a fire under him,” Dubin said. “For someone who carries himself with as much class and dignity as he does, I think that the way Kovalev acts sometimes – and this is just my humble opinion – I think that the way he acts certainly isn’t helping his cause any. Not when you start saying ridiculous things at press conferences after the fact, when you’ve already walked away from the podium, and you post things [on social media] that are just tasteless and classless.”
Dubin believes Ward will make Kovalev pay for how he has acted when they fight again for Ward’s IBF, WBA and WBO titles June 17 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The 33-year-old Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) is a slight favorite over the 34-year-old Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) as their HBO Pay-Per-View main event approaches.
“Sometimes people need to be humbled and I think he’s gonna be humbled on June 17th, even more so than the last time,” Dubin said of Kovalev. “Maybe he’ll think twice about posting fake text-message conversations or wearing ridiculous T-shirts that you then have to go back and apologize about.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.