Andre Ward: Kovalev Won't Bully Me - He Tires, He Gets Frustrated

By Edward Chaykovsky

Former super middleweight king Andre Ward (30-0, 15KOs) is planning to tame the bully on November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ward, now a full fledged light heavyweight, will challenge WBO/WBA/IBF world champion Sergey Kovalev (30-0, 26KOs) in the headline fight of an HBO Pay-Per-View event.

For Ward, Kovalev represents his third outing at 175-pounds. Ward made his debut at light heavyweight in March with a dominating decision over Sullivan Barrera and then dominated Alexander Brand over twelve rounds in August.

The fight with Kovalev is viewed by most as a battle of boxer vs. puncher.

Ward has been studying Kovalev quite closely since the fight got made. He feels the big puncher tires out in the second half of a fight, because he's constantly throwing that heavy lumber at his opponent. Ward also sees frustration from Kovalev, when he's struggling to stop his opponent inside the distance.

Ward plans to enter this fight in the best shape of his entire career, because he intends to take the champion into some uncharted waters.

"I want to take him places he's never been before," Ward told Sky Sports in an exclusive interview. "I don't like bullies, I don't advocate bullying and I've never been bullied, and that's not going to change in this fight. They are going to realise it's not what they thought it was going to be. He's going to be taken to places he's never been before.

"He tires in fights, he gets frustrated when he can't get guys out of there, or when he can't knock them out and endurance and conditioning are my strengths. I am just keeping my foot on the gas on my preparation, keep banging away so when it comes to fight night, I am in the absolute best shape of my life."

As far as size playing a factor, Ward was a light heavyweight in the amateurs and when he turned pro he scaled down to perform at 168. The Olympic gold medal winner is not worried about Kovalev's size.

"Even though I am moving up a weight class, I am still really scaling down to make 175lbs," Ward said. "I am not not adding on extra weight and I am still losing weight to get to 175. There's no perfect fight to prepare for certain individuals and obviously you just need to be there on the night and rise to the occasion."