Duva: Kovalev Figured Ward Out, Aims To KO Him in Rematch!

by Radio Rahim

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, who promotes Sergey Kovalev, is confident that her fighter will return even stronger after suffering his first career defeat last month.

At the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Ward (31-0, 15KOs) got off the floor in the second round to win a razor-thin twelve round unanimous decision over Kovalev (30-1-1, 26KOs) to capture the IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight titles.

All three of the official judges scored it for Ward by a single point, 114-113. There was an immediate rematch clause in the contract, and Kovalev has exercised that stipulation.

According to Duva, Kovalev embraced his defeat as a learning experience and intends to close the show as early as possible in the rematch - because he has no intention of allowing Ward to reach the final bell.

"I think he's going to come back stronger. Every indication I've got so far, is that he's taken this as a lesson that he's just going to have to knock him out next time," Duva told BoxingScene.com.

Some insiders believe Ward had figured Kovalev out in the second half of their fight, and is likely going to win more convincingly in the second going. Ward himself expects the rematch to be easier than the first fight.

Duva as a very different outlook on what transpired in the later rounds.

"I honestly believe that Sergey figured  Ward out. It was late, [Kovalev] was coming on. He was doing better in the later rounds. There came a point where there was this big momentum switch in the fight - where Ward certainly figured Sergey out. And then there came a point, around the tenth round where the judges were not watching the same fight I was - and Sergey was figuring Ward out - and he did," Duva said.

"So my belief is when that fight ended it was the opposite of what Ward thinks, but maybe we shouldn't tell him that if he's thinking about retiring."