Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev promising answers in their second fight

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, June 17, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will settle their score tonight at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Seven months ago, the two light heavyweights faced off at T-Mobile Arena in a fight that left fans with more questions than answers.

Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) sent Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) tumbling to the canvas in the second round and dominated the early going. All three judges had Kovalev ahead after eight rounds, but the Russian was unable to hold on to his lead.

Ward picked him apart down the stretch en route to a unanimous-decision win, handing Kovalev the first loss of his career.

“Everybody started to see Andre Ward in the second part of the fight because I was finished,” Kovalev said. “I was empty in the fifth round. I had no energy or speed left.”

It was the second straight fight that Kovalev faded down the stretch. He was able to outlast Isaac Chilemba for a unanimous decision in July 2016 but looked exhausted in the final rounds.

Kovalev now has two decisions in his last two fights, matching the number he had in his previous 20.

“During training, I don’t have a stop button,” Kovalev said. “I will just keep going. 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 the Chilemba fight and Andre Ward are the worst two.”

Kovalev has since fired his head strength and conditioning coach and brought in Aleksandr Mikhailovich, who has years of experience training biathletes.

“This time my coach was in control of the training,” Kovalev said. “He didn’t overwork me in each workout. He would stop me and tell me to save energy for the next workout. You can see the difference. I feel much better but we will really see how much better I feel during the fight.”

Ward isn’t buying it.

During the lead-up to the rematch, Ward has constantly called Kovalev out for his excuses, and vowed he would leave no room for more excuses this time around.

“Like I said before, (Kovalev) is a good fighter,” Ward said. “It’s not what it’s cracked up to be, but I give him his respect. He's a champion and once you become a champion and have defended your belt, you’re a champion for life.”

Kovalev is the only person to knock down Ward in his entire 31-fight career.

“I've faced a lot of adversity inside the ring,” Ward said. “You know, some of it the public has seen. A lot of it, maybe, the public hasn’t seen in the many gyms or the many sparring sessions and everything you’ve got to do to get to a certain level in the sport. I knew what I had in me. I’ve been on the canvas before. I’ve been hurt in fights. I’ve been cut. Things have happened and, you know, my response has always been the same where if I’m physically able, I want to get that back.”

Ward’s resolve stayed strong after being dropped, as he went on to outpoint Kovalev in nearly every round afterward to keep his WBO, IBF and WBA belts.

And just as Kovalev says he’s improved since the first fight, so does Ward.

“The opponent definitely won’t see the same fighter in this fight for a number of reasons,” Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter said. “No need to disclose but we always go in with several plans or any plan that needs to be implemented at any given time. Of course, I’m not going to ask him to do anything that I know he can’t do or hasn't worked on or hasn’t practiced, but we're fortunate enough to be able to adjust and also adapt. I believe that what we worked on for Plan A is going to be more than enough.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.