By Edward Chakovsky
Kathy Duva, CEO for Main Events, is keeping her fingers crossed that a showdown takes place later this year between her fighter WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25KOs) and Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward (28-0, 15KOs).
A deal is in place for the two fighters to face each other later this year. Ward is slated to return on March 26th in Oakland. Unbeaten contender Sullivan Barrera is being mentioned as the frontrunner for that fight. Kovalev will defend his world titles next Saturday night in Montreal against Jean Pascal in a rematch.
The two fighters are likely to return in the summer, in separate fights, before facing each other in the fall.
When Duva mentioned the potential fight to Kovalev and head trainer John David Jackson, they jumped on it with both feet. Duva says her fighter, and his trainer, are very confident about their chances in the fight.
"Sergey believes that if you want to be great you have to dare to be great, and the way to be the very best is to go out and fight the very best and win. John David Jackson has told me consistently that it’s a great fight for Sergey, he’s extraordinarily confident about it. John reacted the same way when I came to him and asked him what he thought about Bernard Hopkins," Duva told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
If the matchup comes together, it will certainly become one of the biggest fights of the year - and the HBO Pay-Per-View debut for both boxers.
Ward has been tagged with the reputation of being unwilling to leave his backyard of Oakland. As far as the venue and location, Duva says there won't be an issue if the fight takes place in Ward's hometown. Kovalev traveled to the UK to fight Nathan Cleverly. He went to New Jersey to fight Bernard Hopkins, and now he's making his second trip to Montreal for a showdown with Pascal.
"As long as the ring is twenty feet he doesn’t care. As his manager says, it really doesn’t matter where the ring is, when it’s over it matters who walks out with their hands up, and that’s gonna be Sergey," Duva said.
