By Rick Reeno
MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward (30-0, 15KOs) got a little fired up by some of pre-fight comments being made by Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, who promotes WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-0, 26KOs).
Ward will challenge Kovalev for his world titles on Saturday night in an HBO Pay-Per-View headliner from the T-Mobile Arena.
The pre-fight festivities have been rather quiet over the last few weeks, but on Thursday - during the final press conference - both camps were trading more than their fair share of words.
Ward was planning to keep things civil, but claims Duva has been egging him on for a reaction. He promised to react in full force - once he's in the ring with Kovalev.
"I was off to the side trying to mind my own business and Kathy Duva woke me up, she started talking. I don't know why she keeps doing that. It's interesting that the ones doing the most talking are the ones not getting in the ring and feeling the punches. So she can keep doing what she's doing. I love it. That's what a big promotion is all about," Ward said.
"That's what a big fight is all about. We're not supposed to like each other. His side has been doing a lot of talking. It's fine, that's okay. It's not our first rodeo. We've been down this road before. We don't always respond right away because sometimes our side is misinterpreted. We get it, we're watching and we're taking notes - but in the meantime we keep working - and then we produce on fight night, that's what we specialize in."
"All of the talking is great, I love it. But know one thing, I'm not taking no mess on Saturday night - I will be there."
