By Jeff Aranow: Andre Ward, the IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion, says he’s totally inside former champion Sergey Kovalv’s head and got him all upset with the stuff he’s saying. Ward says the excuse making that Kovalev is doing shows more about him now than he learned about him in their past fight on November 19th last year. Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) sees this as pure arrogance on Kovalev’s part that he can’t admit when he’s been beaten by him. Ward sees this as the downfall for the Russian fighter.
(Photo Credit: Roc Nation Sports/Khristopher Sandifer)
Ward meets Kovalev in their rematch on June 17 on HBO pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward plans on taking the fight to Kovalev and not boxing him, because he sees that as the best way to beat the 34-year-old. Ward did a bit of both last time he fought Kovalev, and he still scrapped by with the judges giving him the victory by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 114-113, 114-113 and 114-113.
If Ward is going to use the same game plan as last time, then it could be just as close. It might go against Ward the next time because it’s unlikely that the judges will want to put themselves in the same position as the first set of judges that gave Ward a close win that the boxing public didn’t agree with.
“The reality is I’m in the dud’s head,” said Ward about Kovalev. “When have you seen him act like this? I’m in his head. That doesn’t mean everything, but I’m in his head. Like I’ve been saying, I’ve learned more about this guy in the last 4 months than I have for fighting him for 12 rounds,”
It’s important to Ward for Kovalev to come around and give him credit for beating him last time, but that doesn’t make much sense. If Kovalev truly believes he beat Ward despite not being his best, he’s not going to admit that he deserved to lose that fight. He would be lying to himself if he gave Ward the credit that he so badly wants. Kovalev would be doing Ward a favor by saying he deserved to lose because then some the boxing fans would change their opinions about the previous Kovalev-Ward fight and say that Ward really did win. However, at this point, I don’t think the boxing public are going to change their minds about the fight no matter what Kovalev says. The fans saw the fight for themselves, and they believe that Kovalev won.
If Kovalev says that Ward deserved the win, the boxing fans are going to see him being a good sport by giving Ward kudos, but they’re still likely to stick with their initial judgment about the fight. People have eyes. They saw what they saw. Ward lost the fight in the eyes of the boxing fans. It was just 3 judges that saw Ward win in front of a large pro-Ward crowd. Whether the judges were influenced by the fans is unclear. We’ll never know for certain.
“I’m focused on fight No.2, and obviously I don’t want it to go the distance,” said Ward. “Whether it’s him quitting, throwing in the towel or getting clipped, that’s not out of the question. I lost respect. The excuse making for 4 month’ straight, I can’t respect that. He respects me, but that’s going to be his downfall. His arrogance. You put your mouth on my God. I didn’t address it today. He messed up. It speaks to his arrogance. Pride comes before the fall. That’s what’s going to cause him to walk into something,” said Ward.
Ward, 32, shouldn’t put too much thought on trying to get a knockout of Kovalev, because that’s wasted effort. Kovalev has a great chin, and he’s not going to get destroyed by Ward’s power shots. If Ward is going to be looking to get a knockout in this fight, he could be going up the wrong creek without a paddle. Ward is much better off using the game plan that he employed for their November 19th fight last year. Ward did a fine job of staying close to Kovalev to keep him from getting his shots off. If it’s not broke, then why fix it. Ward doesn’t need to change anything from his previous strategy because it worked so well for him.
“I expect to see a better Kovalev,” said Ward about Kovalev. “This isn’t the first loudmouth I’ve fought. I’ve fought many Kovalevs. But you’re not going to get me out of my game. Boxing isn’t going to win me this fight. Fighting this dude will win me this fight. Taking him where he doesn’t want to go, and starting earlier. If he’s gassing in the 6th round at a slow start, what’s going to happen if we start from round 1? I’m not going to be hard to find,” said Ward.
Starting earlier for Ward could work against Kovalev in the rematch. It all depends on what Ward means y “starting earlier” in the fight. If Ward means that he’s going to trade with Kovalev earlier in the fight and look to make it a dog fight, then it might not be a good plan for success. Kovalev is the better fighter in the power department. Ward is the better inside fighter. His best plan would be to stay as close as possible to Kovalev for 12 rounds, and make him show that he knows how to exist at that range.
Kovalev couldn’t do it last time. He didn’t even try to fight Ward on the inside. Kovalev stood and waited for the referee to break him apart. When that failed to happen in many of the rounds, Kovalev was stuck having to deal with Ward’s better inside game. Kovalev should have been given a quick coaching lesson in his corner with his trainer showing him and telling him how to throw short punches on the inside. I didn’t see that happening. Kovalev made no adjustments, and that’s why he struggled against Ward.
If Kovalev’s trainer John David Jackson isn’t capable of teaching him how to fight on the inside against Ward, then he needs to get a new trainer that can teach him the finer points of inside warfare. It’s obvious that Ward is going to go back to that same game plan in the rematch because that’s the best trick that he has up his sleeves. Kovalev won’t get tired if he’s allowed to stand on the outside and throw his big power shots. What tired Kovalev out is Ward’s inside fighting. Kovalev isn’t equipped for that kind of fighting. I don’t think he will for the rematch either, but he at least can improve 30-40% of where he was the last time if he works hard in this area in training camp.
“I have to treat him like he’s going to be 2 times better,” said Ward. “I’ve got to think like that. But deep down, I know how his body works. You’re not going to turn into a superman overnight. You went out of your element for the last fight going to places you never trained before. You went to Big Bear for a couple of weeks and came back. I know all the things you did. He trained hard, you still gassed out because it’s years of cutting corners. That’s years of bad habits outside of the ring. You can’t turn that around in 8 weeks. It’s not going to be easy,” said Ward.
