Kovalev interview: "Pascal pre-fight made me angry, I wanted to end him quickly"

Kovalev – Pascal. What happened? Yeah, pretty bad. I mean, I’m satisfied with the result, but not with how the fight went. I didn’t like how I boxed, but this was expected, as I knew that the fight will be difficult. My training wasn’t really smooth, always being interrupted by different reasons. Something always came up, forcing me to take breaks. I think I spent too much time enjoying my victory over Hopkins, delaying my training. Fighting with such preparation was risky. This time I wasn’t 100% sure that the fight will go well, but I decided to just do it and see what happens. It seems the powers to be (meaning heaven), decided that my reasons for interrupting training were justified. So you believe it was possible to overcome your training shortcomings? Were they outside influences or wholly your fault? 50/50, it’s hard to really say what and how some things unfolded. On the other hand, I definitely took too much time in the resting phase: Hopkins, New Years… the associated food. *(in Russia, the new year celebration is a very big thing, the festivities usually last a week or so, during which lots of very tasty but maybe not so healthy food and drink is consumed). I gained a few extra kilos, had to fight with those too. This time making weight was my first victory. In general, I weighted the same as always, but with missed training came difficulties in dropping that weight. In February they (media?) wrote that Pascal requested doping tests from you, what was the problem? He proposed the testing, but wanted some unknown company to do it. I commented that in general he wanted too damn much. I came to him, in his home country, wearing my three belts.... that’s already above and beyond. We said, we’re ready to do the testing, but under the VADA system, same way they test Olympians, to which they didn’t say thing and the topic was closed. Then in the end I get tested anyway, right before the fight, literally before warmup. Who instigated the incident during the stare-down? For those that didn’t see it, I’ll explain. He started getting close to me, and I say to him “keep your distance.” He kept coming closer, so close that I could smell his breath. I didn’t want for him to touch me, so I tilt my cap to keep the distance, and move back maybe another 10 cm. He kept coming, and instead of keeping some distance decides to grab my hat. I didn’t like that, so I pushed him and said: “what are you doing?” The rest is well, everyone saw that. But I guess now he’ll have a souvenir to remember the fight? They suggested that I give him a gift, yes, but honestly, after the fight I had no desire to approach him or offer any sort of congratulatory or supporting statements. Like, with Hopkins, after the fight everything was put into place, everything that happened before the fight stayed there, now we have mutual respect. With this… opponent, though, I didn’t have the desire to approach him. Many citizens of Montreal wished for my victory. Really? Many recognized us while we were there. In the shops, restaurants, often told me to kick his ass. Once I even asked, why are they cheering against their homeboy? To which they said “he forgot where he came from.” In the 8th round, everyone waited for him to fall down, yet it was you that went down. It looks scary. Did you slip? Yes, I put a lot into that punch, didn’t quite connect and slipped. I got up quickly, but the commission was sitting right there, and they really have it out for me. I see them signaling to the ref a “3”, meaning, so that he would deduct for a knock-down. Meanwhile I’m telling him that everything is fine, I’m good to go, and that the ref better look at the other guy. Cuz Pascal went straight to the corner and you could see that he’s losing his balance. As the ref turns around to go to him, Pascal grabs on to the ropes and appears to be just chillin. The fight resumes and I get him hard with a nice right, then not so hard but on point, then the fight is stopped. In time? Why have tragedy in sport? If this would have been the first time I’d caught him like this during the fight , but Pascal already received enough punishment. Sometimes boxers need to be saved from their own courage. It’s understandable that he’s full of adrenaline, that he’s ready to keep fighting, but sometimes it is best if the ref makes the call to stop. Roy Jones was in Pascal’s corner, whose fights you saw way back as an amateur, did you think about this? Didn’t really worry about that, you can’t teach someone to be Roy Jones, you have to be born as him. How many times did he get you cleanly? Pascal certainly wasn’t a punching bag. I consider him the best opponent in my division, someone who deserves the chance to fight for the title of champion. I would say that during the fight I let through 4 serious hits. I didn’t drift off or lose balance, but they were serious hits from his side. He’s not a standard fighter, punches often came from weird angles, so it wasn’t easy. From my point of view, I’d say I accomplished 40-50% of what I set out to do. There was this unexplained aggression that went beyond that which is present in a typical fight. I guess the stuff that happened before the fight really made me angry, and I wanted to punish him as quickly as possible. I suppose this one of the things that got in my way, in some ways I overextended and got tired sooner. What angered you? He did a lot of things which showed disrespect not only to me, but also to the sport. He didn’t do a stare-down duel after the weigh in. Then said that I apologized to him for the hat incident. I know for a fact I didn’t apologize, and for what was I supposed to apologize for? After the incident they asked us to record another stare-down, but without the drama. But hey, I don’t care, as long as he doesn’t touch me I’m fine to look him in the eyes. So we come together, I say “did you calm down?” He nodded and extended his hand, and I shook it, I guess he thought I was apologizing to him? Kathy Duva said, that the purse for this fight could be a million dollars? Yes. This is the guaranteed purse for the fight, and also should be some percentage for the online viewer sales in Canada. That’s why we agreed to come to Canada, because Pascal is popular there and is a strong boxer. We understood that we could make good coin from this fight. Now on to Nadjib Mohammedi? I want to keep my IBF title, and I have a mandatory defense against him. If I don’t fight, they take my title, but I want to get all the belts. Right now I have the WBC diamond, which gives me the right to fight for the main one. A fight with Mohammedi won’t bring any money. The purse will probably be under a million for each team. HBO won’t give any money for the fight, they don’t consider him a show-worthy boxer. I’m ready to box though, I want to be remembered in history as someone that held on to 4 titles. Will you try to get seats for the MayPac fight? Nah, I’ll watch it on TV. Floyd for the win? Pacquiao When we last met, you said that USA isn’t letting your mother in, is the situation still the same? Three times we applied for a visa and all three times we got denied. Don’t really have much to say, we’ll wait a little bit and try again. I suppose they think she’s trying to emigrate. When she applied for the first time, she came with my little brother. Maybe they decided that she is an immigration risk, coming and not leaving sorta thing. Now, whenever we apply, maybe a red flag comes up. Maybe someone could help us out, I don’t know. Right now I want to rest up, then off to deal with all these issues. http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/787346 credit to reddit user for the translation