By Steve Kim
Heading into their rematch with IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs), former belt-holder Sergey Kovalev (30-1, 26 KOs) - who bitterly disagrees with the verdict rendered back in November during their first fight - and his team may considered investing more downstairs to the body of Ward.
The rematch takes place on Saturday night, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
"Here's the thing, both fighters have the tendency to grab, the last fight anyways," observed John David Jackson, the trainer of Kovalev, who would like to see his fighter be more active inside against Ward instead of just grappling with him.
Jackson wants Kovalev to target that body to break Ward down.
"Sergey grabbed a lot for whatever reason Andre does that. The second fight, here's what I definitely tell Sergey - Ward's not a body puncher. In order to be a body puncher you have to be willing to accept punishment. How much punishment is Ward willing to accept if Sergey is digging deep and hard to the body? Those questions should be answered,'' said Jackson, who says he'll have much more say in the corner this time around.
"So I don't think Ward will sit there and take those kind of punches if he has to."
Kovalev, who says he was flat that evening at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, said of his tactics:
"I did everything on my distance, from the long distance and middle distance. I fought very good for the first six rounds till I lost the energy and like in the fifth round when I lost the energy, I started to lose control of the fight because I lost the speed, I lost the reaction. I was empty. Andre Ward fought with an empty Kovalev," Kovalev said.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com