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Ward vs Kovalev 2 - diehard - 04-05-2017

Ward-Kovalev 2 set for June 17 in Vegas

Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions and Krusher Promotions are pleased to announce the highly anticipated rematch between the unified Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and former titleholder Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs). Ward vs. Kovalev II “No Excuses” will take place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The championship event, presented by Corona Extra, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View.
Team Ward and Team Kovalev will partake in a three-city press tour the week of April 10 to officially announce the fight, including New York City, the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Further details will be available in the coming days.
“I’m going to keep it short and sweet. You got what you asked for – now you have to see me on June 17. This time…leave the excuses at home,” said Ward.
“I’m glad to know that rematch will happen. I really hope that Andre Ward will get into the ring for this rematch. Fans of boxing will see the real Krusher–the one they have missed for couple of my last fights. For me this rematch is very important as no other bout in my entire boxing career. Thanks a lot to all of boxing fans,” said Kovalev.
“Roc Nation Sports is proud to be the lead promoter behind a boxing rematch for the ages,” said Michael Yormark, Roc Nation President & Chief of Branding and Strategy. “Last November, Andre showed the world he was boxing’s best. No doubt he will build upon his legacy come June 17 in another historic night. There’s no excuses, the rematch is on.”
“After the last fight, we are preparing for another unbelievable experience. Can’t wait for the bell to ring! This is sure to be another nail-biting roller coaster ride,” said Kathy Duva, CEO, Main Events. “This is the only fight that Sergey wants right now and he refused to settle for anything less than the chance to get his belts back. I’m told that Roc Nation and Andre Ward have lots of great ideas for the promotion and we can’t wait to see them in action!”
“After a razor thin decision last November in their first meeting, the boxing community has been eagerly waiting for a Ward-Kovalev rematch,” said Tony Walker, Vice President, HBO Pay-Per-View. “These are two world class prizefighters who embrace being on the sport’s biggest stage. Like Andre and Sergey, we can’t wait for June 17th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.”



RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - justafan - 04-05-2017

Great find Die and a great fight. Was really hoping this would happen.


RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - diehard - 06-08-2017

Ward tested and ready
By Robert Hough

Andre “S.O.G.” Ward, who faces Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in a rematch on June 17, confirmed Wednesday that he is enrolled in VADA testing for the light-heavyweight fight.
Ward (31-0-0, 15 KOs), who won a narrow decision in the first fight, has long spoken of a commitment to doing what he can to make boxing a clean sport.

“I’ve been tested at least five times this camp,” Ward said on a conference call. “I don’t know what people might be reading, but with all due respect, there are lies on the internet.”

Now 33, Ward acknowledged that he has to take more and better care of his body, though he’s satisfied with his physical abilities and the mental side remains fierce.

“The desire is still there and I’m not getting hit with punches I hadn’t been getting hit with or anything like that,” he said.

The fight with Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) for the WBO/IBF/WBA light-heavyweight world championships, is set for Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-Vie


RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - diehard - 06-08-2017

Kovalev: Andre Ward will pay inside the ring

Main Events - June 7, 2017 1 Comment

Yesterday, former WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) and his team hosted an international conference call to discuss his upcoming rematch with Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 16 KOs) which will take place June 17 live on HBO Pay Per View®, and live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Below are some highlighted quotes from the call:

“This training camp we deleted all my last mistakes and like doing good. Like I think that right now is much better and right now is training camp is going right. Everything is good and we will see June 17.”

“You know, like, everything depends from my preparation how I get the best shape for the fight. And I’m trying to get now in best shape for June 17 and we can see what will happen June 17. I don’t know, like, how exactly the fight is going to be by decision or somebody stop each other. Let’s just see. I don’t have a prediction. I just have one goal to beat Andre Ward and beat all shit from him because he doesn’t deserve the belt and the status of a champion. He now is really high his nose and walking everywhere and don’t see the people around him. I want to put him back in his place.”

“Yes, I feel much better, you know, I am not any nervous about my shape right now because the last – before last fight I couldn’t say before the fight like I came to fight and say I don’t want to fight him because I am not ready. I gone to the fight and walked stairs into the ring, you know, and fought Andre Ward with empty strength. My energy strength was empty one month before the fight. And right now, I understand that I did very great fight in myself with empty strength against who I believed was the best American fighter. You know, and good fighters get in the ring there. But now I feel that this fight is going to be different and much better than last one.”

“I just felt like the most what they give me motivation is haters. When I lost, I used to take a lot of punishment that I lost. In Russia is more than in America, you know. But in America, even in America, boxing fans of Ward text me by Facebook, by Instagram, by social media that I won the fight. And they right now are going to support me in next fight. And right now is my most motivation is haters, haters yes. And I want to disappoint them and team Ward, team of Ward because they right now speaking a lot of bullshit to my side. They say that I this, I this, I this. I don’t care. They will pay inside the ring for everything for what they said. Trust me.”

“I’m really happy with the 24/7 that just came out. I was just watching it today and I was beginning to see it today online and I would urge anyone who hasn’t seen it to take a look. I think HBO’s work is always the very best; it is always brilliant. People are saying this is the best 24/7 in years and that’s quite a statement when you consider the quality of the work that they do. So, that seems to me to be a great selling tool and hopefully that’s going to have a big impact in the next few days.”

“I believed for a long time that Sergey does his best work when he doesn’t like his opponents, so Ward and his people have done a great deal to ensure that will be the case. So, I’m really happy about that.”

On the first fight:
“Yes, I watched it; I scored the fight. I had a 9-3 best for us and 8-4 worst for us, but he won the fight. He dominated the first half of the fight. The second half of the fight he didn’t dominate as much as he could have but, you know, what Ward did didn’t really justify him getting the decision outside that. Sergey won the fight hands down. You know, the judges, why they scored it only they know exactly. We can’t dwell on the past. But whatever Ward did to survive those rounds didn’t really merit a victory for him, but he got it and we have to move on with that and just prepare for the second fight. The one thing I will tell the fans is Sergey proved the first half of that fight that he can outbox Ward at Ward’s own game. And I always knew he could. So, he showed that he could so it just adds more to what we need to do for the second fight.”

“Let me answer something first. Honestly, if you look at it, Sergey is not going to have to do much more than what he did because he proved to the fans in the first half of the fight that he can win it at Ward’s own game. Now what he needs to do is be more aggressive and effective in the second half of the fight the way he did in the first half of the fight. But he proved he’s a better fighter, he’s a bigger puncher. You know, for all Ward’s team is claiming how great he was, if that’s his best, then guess what, he’s past his prime because all he did was survive. And in surviving he was given points and awarded I guess the decision that he survived.

On the possibility of Ward changing his game plan:
“They may. Listen, if you’re a fighter and you’re smart, you come in and make adjustments. What adjustments can Ward make? He can be more aggressive. If he does, that works in our favor. Is he going to run more? If he does, that works more in our favor. The best thing he can do, as champion, he needs to prove that he won that first fight outright. Which he didn’t. So, now he needs to be a little more aggressive. How much smarter in the ring can he be than what he would be, would he be a tremendous talent as far as boxing-wise in the ring? So, you can’t get much more brilliant than he is now. He has to be – if they’re going to change his game, he has to be more aggressive, he has to be willing to take more chances to prove that he did beat Sergey the first fight, which he did not. So, there’s not much more than he can do than they did for the first fight.


RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - diehard - 06-13-2017

Kovalev: I feel much better than last training camp

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) has an entirely new training philosophy as he prepares for his highly-anticipated rematch with Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) on June 17 live on HBO Pay Per View at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has fired his strength and conditioning coach and has vowed not to make the same mistakes this time around. His new coach, Aleksandr Mikhailovich, has a new philosophy centered around his prior experience working with biathletes.

Kovalev, the 33-year old from Chelyabinsk, Russia, believes he over-trained for his first fight with Ward and, as a result, when he failed to knock out Ward in the early in the bout, the Krusher ran out of steam in the championship rounds. Describing his training regimen for the first fight, he said, “I ran a lot. I did a lot of workouts. I did three workouts a day. I over-trained because I did a lot.

“I had a conditioning coach and he was scared to say something to me. I don’t know why. He thought if he said to me I would dispute his comment or not pay him money. He is crazy. I was confused myself. I worked with him for the rematch with Jean Pascal. After these next two fights, he killed me: Chilemba and Ward. I said to him bye-bye.”

For the rematch, Kovalev has a brand-new strength and training philosophy that allows him to get the most out of his workouts. Krusher explained, “I do less workout this time to save energy. I spent a lot of energy and a lot of power in my last training camp and I was empty already one month before the fight. I never fought ten rounds of sparring for the last fight of training camp. I maximum, one time, I sparred eight rounds. Already, yesterday, I spar ten rounds. I feel tired but I feel much better than last training camp.”

“I said before my last fight with Andre Ward that I should to get more work, more training and I did it,” said Kovalev. But he realizes now this hurt him in the long run. He continued, “I understand that I made my mistake, big mistake. It’s good experience for me too. But right now, I just try to get back all my training camp experience what I did before the fight with Chilemba. Because Chilemba fight and Andre Ward is the worst two, similar shape. I fought very bad. I looked very tired in both of these fights. Right now, delete this and get back what I did before these two fights and I hope it will bring success June 17.”

His long-time trainer, John David Jackson, had this to say about Kovalev’s conditioning for the rematch: “I noticed that this time around his conditioning coach was a bit different. He has him resting more. The other coach had him doing a lot of things that to me were unnecessary. I don’t get in the way of the conditioning coach’s job and I’m not doing that with this guy, but he seemed more interested in keeping Sergey a little more relaxed and not over-training.”


RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - diehard - 06-13-2017

Ward: I just need to do me

WBA/IBF/WBO light heavyweight world champion Andre Ward’s latest comments on Saturday’s grudge PPV rematch with Sergey Kovalev. “I always want to put on a great show for the fans,” said Ward. “I value and appreciate boxing fans, that’s first and foremost. Last fight, we definitely put on a show. That said, I can’t go into a fight thinking about its entertainment value. I just need to do me, execute the game plan and get my hand raised at the end of the fight.

“As far as being the best pound-for-pound fighter, I leave it to those who have a say. I know where I stand, I know what I’ve accomplished in this sport and how I stack up against today’s elite fighters. At the same time, I don’t have a vote, so I’ll leave it to those who do. If they have me at the top, I’m thankful. If not, I’m going to just keep working.”


RE: Ward vs Kovalev 2 - nullanulla - 06-14-2017

Really looking forward to this fight, I reckon Kovalev was robbed in the first one so will hopefully get payback this time around. Diehard do you know if sky are showing this one live? Think there was only delayed coverage of the first one. And how do you see things playing out in the light heavyweight division after this fight? Adonis Stevenson has apparently already put up his hand to fight the winner and I believe Artur Beterbiev will become the IBF mandatory challenger if he beats Enrico Koelling on July 29. I really rate Beterbiev, he is a genuine knockout artist and would give either Ward or Kovalev massive problems in my opinion. Interested in your thoughts on this?