By Rick Reeno
Andre (29-0, 15KOs) is not paying any attention to the critics who are talking down on Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1, 26KOs) following his performance on Monday night in Russia.
Kovalev clearly retained his IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight titles, but also had some struggles along the way in his twelve round unanimous decision win over top rated contender Isaac Chilemba.
Ward and Kovalev are signed to fight each other on November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ward has to win, without injury, his upcoming interim-fight on August 6th with Alexander Brand.
Ward is shaking his head at the critics. He says the same guys who claimed Kovalev would "kill" him are now the saying Kovalev is a tailor-made opponent.
"To be honest with you, Im not really interested in trying to change any minds leading up to this fight with Kovalev. Its not about public opinions. Its about the opinions after the fight, walking away with those belts and winning the fight. That's the ultimate opinion changer," Ward said.
"Some of the same people that are talking down on Kovalev by saying 'he's tailor-made for Ward' were the same people who were saying he was gonna kill me and why am I taking this fight and those sort of things. So opinions can change like the wind, it depends on the weather."
"I can look phenomenal in my next fight and people will say 'see he demolished this guy Brand, he's never been knocked out and Kovalev did this [with Chilemba]' but that's no guarantee what's going to happen in November. At the end of the day I'm not going to put any stock in what Kovalev did or didn't do. He's still the guy that everyone said he was. The pressure is on him as a puncher, because when a guy goes the distance people get up and say 'what's wrong with Kovalev.' But that comes with the territory when you knock everybody out, so I'm not putting any stock in what's being said at all."
