Kovalev: I’m going to punish Ward

By Allan Fox: Former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) says he’s going to punish unbeaten Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) on HBO PPV June 17, because he says that he doesn’t deserve to be the champion at being given a 12 round decision he didn’t do enough to earn in their previous fight on November 19 last year. Kovalev says Ward is walking around with his nose in the air, carrying himself like he’s a king rather than just a fighter that was given a gift decision by the 3 judges that worked the previous fight between them. Kovalev says he’s going to destroy War and end his boxing career.

Ward-Kovalev II will be taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like before, the venue favors the 33-year-old Ward, who comes from nearby Oakland, California. It’s just one state away from Nevada. Kovalev is from Russia, but he now lives on the opposite side of the U.S in Florida. The boxing fans that will be attending the Ward vs. Kovalev II fight on June 17 will almost surely be favoring Ward rather than Kovalev. What that means is the rounds will likely be scored in Ward’s favor if they’re close. The last time Ward and Kovalev fought, even some of the not so close rounds like the 10th went to Ward. Ward won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision.

The judges all had it scored at 114-113, 114-113 and 114-113. The scoring made little sense, as the three judges gave Ward almost every round in the second half of the fight. Ward was dropped in the 2nd round when he tried to fight Kovalev. Ward didn’t make that mistake again, as he took the fight to the inside starting in round 3 and stayed there for the remainder of the fight. Ward wasn’t doing much punching on the inside. It was pretty much just mauling. It was probably one of the most boring fights I’ve ever seen. The fight had potential to be a great one of Ward had fought, and if the referee had done his job to stop Ward’s grappling.

“I think the judges made a mistake. I knocked him down,” said Kovalev. “I thought it would happen again. I didn’t know my power would run out. I think Andre Ward understands he didn’t win the fight. Right now, he believes in himself more than before our fight, because he believes he found the key to get the victory over me. He knows and understands he didn’t get the victory over me. But June 17th, it will be much different,” said Kovalev.

Kovalev tired out in the second half of the fight with Ward, mostly because of the wrestling that Ward was doing. It was prolonged wrestling with the referee standing not doing anything to separate the two fighters. You might as well have not had a referee at all working the fight, because the guy that was in the ring was just watching and not stepping in to separate the two. Kovalev was the one trying to fight. Ward turned into a wrestling match after he got knocked down in the 2nd round.

”I want to prove he didn’t deserve the belt. I want to get my belts back,” said Kovalev. ”It’s my goal. I want to punish Andre Ward, because he doesn’t deserve the money, the belts and the status as champion. He’s not a champion to me. I don’t respect this guy. He’s nothing to me. My goal is to collect all 4 belts. Right now, Andre Ward is in my way. I’m very proud to get the WBC belt to my home. My first step is to get the 3 belts from Andre Ward,” said Kovalev.

If Kovalev is going to win the rematch, then he’s going to need to show right of the bat that he can beat Ward on the inside, because the fight is going to take place at close quarters. That’s where Ward needs it to be. Ward doesn’t match up at all with Kovalev on the outside. Ward isn’t young anymore, and he lacks the outside game that he once had. Now all he can do is jab, grab and maul. The speed that Ward once had has deteriorated with age and years of inactivity. Ward is arguably is just a shell of his former self. The only thing that Ward has left of his former game is his keen mind and his inside smothering skills.

If Kovalev is going to win this fight, he’s going to need to show that he can land in close while being wrestled. It’s not easy to hit someone that’s holding you. It’s also very hard to wrestle for 12 rounds. Kovalev still doesn’t understand why he was tired after 5 rounds. It’s scary how Kovalev doesn’t understand, because it’s so obvious why he gassed out. The reason is Kovalev was being forced to wrestle Ward because that’s all he was doing. Like I said, Ward couldn’t fight Kovalev on the outside, because he didn’t match up. The referee didn’t stop Ward from wrestling, so it was 3 minutes of hard mauling round after round. Wrestling tires you out.

Even Ward was tired. The thing is, Ward doesn’t have any punching s power, so he doesn’t lose anything from his game. Ward just wanted to keep the fight in close, and win rounds based on short punches thrown while holding on. They weren’t huge shots. They were just ones that were thrown while wrestling around. If Kovalev hasn’t learned how to fight on the inside, he probably will lose again, because I can’t see the judges giving him a decisiision with the pro-Ward crowd cheering for everything he does in the fight.

”He knows he didn’t win the fight,” said Kovalev about Ward. ”He’s trying to get the people to believe that he got the victory and fair. He didn’t win fair. In my hometown, a 25-year-old girl slapped me much harder than Andre Ward punched me in the fight. I don’t feel any hard punch from him,” said Kovalev.

Ward says he’s not bothered by the things that Kovalev says about him, or about how he insists that he was the one that rightfully won the fight. I think it does bother Ward, because his win wasn’t validated by the boxing public. The boxing fans that think Ward won are in a tiny minority. Most of the fans appear to believe Kovalev was robbed of a decision.

“I’m not sure who the judges are, but if they do their part, Sergey wins the fight,” said trainer John David Jackson.

Kovalev would do well to make sure the judges don’t have a say so in the final outcome of the fight. When you’re seen as the visitor like Kovalev, it puts you in a place where you start off the fight at least 4 rounds down and you have to claw your way out of that. A knockout is the only that you can take the judges out of the equation. Kovalev will probably need to do that, because I don’t think the judges will give it to him.

If they didn’t give it to Kovalev last time despite him getting the better of Ward and knocking him down, I don’t see them giving Kovalev the decision in the rematch. That’s kind of sad though, because there won’t be a trilogy no matter close and controversial the decision is. You don’t get a trilogy when the same guy wins both of the first 2 fights.

“Of course, he knew he lost. And so he was surprised when they announced him as the new world champion,” said Kovalev about Ward. “It was written all over his face. The rematch is more personal, because I need to get my belts back. He thinks too much of himself. He’s walking around with a crown on his head. I want to punch him,” said Kovalev.

Ward did look VERY surprised when the judges’ scores were announced in giving him the win last November over Kovalev. Ward’s face changed from a look of defeat to one of surprise. It looked as if he thought he was going to lose the fight. Since then, Ward has been playing it off like he thinks he deserved the win, but I doubt that he really believes this. I think it’s a big act on Ward’s part. How could think he won? He was the one knocked down. Ward was getting beaten to the punch each time there was separation between the two fighters. The only thing Ward could do was fight on the inside with his grappling.

“This doesn’t bother me whether he respects me. I couldn’t care less. The only thing I care about is ending his career,” said Kovalev. ”So there won’t be a trilogy. Yeah, I want to destroy him. The audience will see the Krusher they used to know. I’m going to throw a little bit more punches to his face. I will kick his [expletive], 100 percent. Believe me – I will finish his career,” said Kovalev.

Ward won’t be retiring if he loses to Kovalev. The only thing it’ll mean is a third fight will happen. Neither of these guys has any place to go after they fight each other. WBC champion Adonis Stevenson likely won’t fight the winner of the Ward-Kovalev fight. I don’t see that fight getting made. Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin isn’t going to move up in weight 2 weight divisions to fight the Ward-Kovalev II winner. There’s no one for the Ward vs. Kovalev II winner to fight but each other again if they want another big payday. That’s why it’s important for Kovalev to win this fight rather than Ward.

“I’m very much in this guy’s head,” said Ward about Kovalev. “What some think is hurting me, that’s fueling me. And that’s actually helping me. There’s nothing that keeps me up at night. Be afraid of a rematch? I just fought you for 12 rounds. It’s going to be me or him, because I’m not going to be hard to find. I’m trying to make him quit,” said Ward.

I think it bothers Ward what the boxing fans feel more than what Kovalev thinks. The fans are the ones that matter, and collectively, they think Kovalev deserved the decision. There’s nothing Ward can do about that but fight Kovalev a second time and hope that he can beat him in a convincing manner the second time around.

“I think there’s unfinished business here, and no matter what Andre wants to say, I think he recognizes that,” said HBO Boxing commentator Max Kellerman. “The more I think about it, the more I think it’s Kovalev, because I think the feeling is Andre got away with one. That was by the skin of his teeth, and he was fortunate to get this decision. And it was Kovalev who showed that he has the power to hurt Andre, dropped him with a right hand, and hurt him with a jab and probably deserved to win the fight the first time. And that was with Andre pulling out every stop,” said Kellerman.

Wow, Kellerman thinks Kovalev deserved the win. That’s got to hurt Ward. Kellerman calls it like he sees it. He obviously had his eyes open in watching the Kovalev-Ward I fight, and he saw how Kovalev was landing the better shots and doing the hurting in the match. It comes down to whether you like to score the shorter punches that Ward was throwing on the inside over the harder punches that Kovalev was landing on the outside.

“You know it shouldn’t have gone past round 2. They don’t have to like each other. It’s a fight,” said HBO Boxing unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman. “Sergey Kovalev has to give up a little bit more than he gave us in the first fight. Do a lot more, give up a lot more, and turn it on a lot more. I think if he knocks him down, he’s not going to let him get away,” said Lederman.

Kovalev knocked Ward down in the 2nd round of their previous fight, but he couldn’t finish him off because the knockdown came near the end of the round. Moreover, Ward started to grapple hard after he was dropped. Kovalev didn’t train to deal with Ward’s octopus style of fighting. I see that as a failure on Kovalev’s trainer’s part, because it suggests that John David Jackson didn’t study enough of Ward’s past fight to see what he would do when matched against someone with a lot of punching power. All you need to do to find out how Ward was going to fight Kovalev is to look back at his fight with Carl Froch in 2011. Ward was getting nailed big time on the outside by Froch. So instead of staying on the outside, Ward went to the inside and wound up mauling Froch for 12 rounds.

“I don’t think it’s going 12. I think Andre’s going to knock him out,” said Roc Nation Sports president Michael Yormark. “There will be no excuse after June 17th.”

I can’t see Ward knocking out Kovalev. That seems very unlikely due to Ward’s lack of power. Ward was never a puncher during his career, but he’s even less of a puncher when he’s keeping the fight on the inside. Ward isn’t a great inside fighter like some of the past boxing greats. Ward mostly smothers on the inside to shut down his opponent’s offense.

“He wants to go back to the dance and correct what’s perceived to be wrong, right,” said Bernard Hopkins. “Andre might have to get off the canvas 2 more times; because I believe Sergey’s going to come bring that force. This is going to show a lot more about Andre than the first fight, I believe,” said Hopkins.

Kovalev might knock Ward down 2 times if he can keep the action on the outside long enough for him to land one of his big power shots. I don’t think he will though. I see Ward making sure the fight is conducted at close quarters for 12 rounds. Ward isn’t going to want to take any chance sin this fight.

“I know a lot of people think I’m absurd what I say, but I see Sergey quitting,” said Hunter.