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By Keith Idec
Kathy Duva doesn’t deny that there are times when a boxing promoter must manufacture drama to help sell a fight.
She just doesn’t consider the upcoming Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev rematch one of those instances. Duva took issue with Josh Dubin, Ward’s attorney and adviser, and James Prince, Ward’s manager, turning their discussions with Kovalev’s trainer, John David Jackson, about switching sides into a promotional plot line for their June 17 rematch in Las Vegas.
Dubin, Prince and Jackson all have acknowledged in separate interviews with BoxingScene.com that Dubin and Prince made Jackson an offer a few months ago to leave Kovalev to join Ward and his head trainer, Virgil Hunter. Jackson said he would’ve needed an offer comparable to all the gold inside “Fort Knox” to seriously considering changing teams.
Regardless, Duva – whose company, Main Events, promotes Kovalev – thinks the focus of this promotion should revolve around the controversial nature of their first fight. That 12-round fight featured plenty of drama, particularly when Ward got off the canvas in the second round and began boxing his way toward a unanimous decision that marked Kovalev’s first professional loss.
“We have a rematch of the most controversial fight of last year,” Duva told BoxingScene.com following Kovalev’s open workout Tuesday in Oxnard, California. “We have two guys who are rated No. 1 and No. 2 by The Ring magazine fighting each other. This is only the second time that has ever happened. The first time was [Pernell] Whitaker and [Julio Cesar] Chavez. That was 24 years ago [September 1993]. This is a historic fight. Why they think they need to come up with this ‘As the World Turns’ stuff to try to sell the fight is beyond me.
“This is the Roc [Nation Sports] way. This is how they think you’re supposed to sell a fight. They must, because this is what they’re doing. I have been in that position, where you have a fight and nothing was working. You saw Bob Arum in that position last week, when he was in Chicago [for 2016 Olympian Michael Conlan’s second pro bout]. ‘What the hell else is there? Let me go out and say something crazy.’ I get it. But this isn’t that fight. The story here is that we had a very close fight between two great fighters, that had a very controversial ending, which by the way, is the way Whitaker and Chavez ended as well. That happens when two of the best fighters in the world get in the ring together. The problem is their fighter doesn’t want to acknowledge that happened.”
The 33-year-old Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) won by the same score, 114-113, on all three scorecards November 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 34-year-old Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) claims he was robbed and has been referring to Ward as “Son of Judges,” a play on Ward’s “Son of God” nickname, over the past six months.
“The fight was close,” Duva said. “Most people thought [Ward] lost. They can’t accept that. Instead of developing the story that Ward’s gonna try to get respect, they’re coming up with this phony ‘No Excuses’ [campaign]. Again, Sergey hasn’t made a single excuse. And then they are telling these crazy soap opera stories, and I don’t understand it. I really don’t.”
As competitive and controversial as their first fight turned out to be, Ward-Kovalev produced only roughly 162,000 pay-per-view buys. Their 12-round rematch, which will take place two weeks from Saturday night, also will be broadcast by HBO Pay-Per-View.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.