By Keith Idec
The offer Andre Ward’s handlers made to John David Jackson to entice Sergey Kovalev’s trainer to switch sides was substantial.
It wasn’t enough, though, for Jackson to seriously consider leaving Kovalev to join the camp of the fighter that beat him six months ago in Las Vegas. James Prince, Ward’s manager, and Josh Dubin, Ward’s attorney and adviser, told BoxingScene.com for a story posted Monday night that they discussed switching teams with Jackson, Kovalev’s head trainer, several months ago.
Jackson confirmed Tuesday following Kovalev’s open workout in Oxnard, California, that talks took place to join Ward’s team for their light heavyweight championship rematch June 17 in Las Vegas. The former WBO super welterweight and WBA middleweight champion contended, however, that Ward’s handlers contacted him, not vice versa.
Jackson also told BoxingScene.com that he informed Kathy Duva – whose company, Main Events, promotes Kovalev – and Egis Klimas, Kovalev’s manager, soon after those discussions occurred. Jackson didn’t discuss the situation with Kovalev, but Duva told BoxingScene.com that she had a conversation with Kovalev about it.
“I had mentioned it to Kathy and I mentioned it to Egis,” Jackson said. “I never told the fighter. It was something that he didn’t need to know. He didn’t need to know that. First of all, it never happened. So why even put it in his mind? Now that he knows about it, if he wants to talk about it I’ll tell him, ‘Hey, I’m here. I stayed loyal to you. I didn’t go anywhere.’ And the offer was good. But here was my thing – I needed Fort Knox. If I was gonna leave, I needed Fort Knox.”
Though the offer to join forces with head trainer Virgil Hunter and Ward was generous, Jackson was more than surprised switching sides was presented as a real possibility.
“I was very shocked,” Jackson said. “I know that Virgil and Ward have very good chemistry and they’ve been together forever. Here’s what I took from that initial call – they needed to know Sergey’s shortcomings, his weak points and his strong points. And who else, besides myself, could give you that kind of information? There was no one better than me to give them that type of information, but it wasn’t for sale.”
Ward (31-0, 15 KOs), of Hayward, California, is scheduled to defend his IBF, WBA and WBO light heavyweight titles against Russia’s Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) two weeks from Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center (HBO Pay-Per-View).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.