According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the June 17 Andre Ward – Sergey Kovalev bout registered approximately 130,000 Pay Per View buys.

Ward’s eighth-round knockout of Kovalev in their rematch on June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas generated a live gate of $2,187,340, according to figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday, far less than the first fight generated seven months earlier.

The revenue from last month’s bout came from the sale of 6,366 tickets, even though Roc Nation Sports announced a crowd of 10,592 on fight night. There were 2,113 complimentary tickets given out from a total of 10,748 available, according to the commission.

HBO Sports presents WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: ANDRE WARD VS. SERGEY KOVALEV 2, the exclusive replay of their highly anticipated light heavyweight title showdown, SATURDAY, JUNE 24 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The HBO Sports team, which was ringside at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for the live HBO Pay-Per-View presentation June 17, calls all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

The fight will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.

Last November, in the most anticipated fight of 2016, Kovalev and Ward squared off under the bright lights of Las Vegas. The 12-round battle ended with Ward edging out a unanimous decision victory by the thinnest of margins.

Seven months later, on June 17, the rematch took place in the same city, with an even higher level of intensity. Elevating his standing among the top pound-for-pound fighters, the undefeated Ward scored an eighth-round TKO triumph that has the boxing community buzzing.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

By Jimmy Tobin-
Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev got the opportunity he wanted Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Seething from what he believed to be a bogus decision loss to Andre “Son of God” Ward in November, enraged by Ward’s conduct in a dead promotion leading up to their rematch, Kovalev swore to deliver a display of ultra-violence that would permanently remove Ward from the sport. In the eighth round, without a whiff of protest, Kovalev let referee Tony Weeks save him from that opportunity.

At least that is one way of interpreting the ending of a rematch that will be remembered for outdoing its predecessor in controversy. The outrage that met Ward’s disputed win in the first fight was mitigated by the likelihood of a rematch, one that Ward, after stringing Kovalev, HBO, and aficionados along as is his wont, agreed to.

Controversy, however, in the form of blows borderline and low and a stoppage either premature or appropriate will forever attend any mention of this fight. There are grounds for controversy here, objections rooted in something less trivial than a dislike of Ward. And for that reason, if you were looking for more than a boxing match waged at the highest level (not an unfair request given the price tag), complete satisfaction was not to be found in the ring Saturday. Ward indeed worked maliciously at the margins of sportsmanship—as everyone except Kovalev seemed to anticipate—and should you look for fouls in that work you will certainly find them. So too will you find a sympathetic ear if you believe the stoppage was premature. Many will argue that even if Weeks missed the low blow that punctuated Kovalev’s undoing, he should have offered a ten-count to a fighter neither protecting himself nor fighting back.

Perhaps Kovalev deserved a chance to try and recover; Ward, a chance to remove any controversy from the stoppage. Instead, Ward is left with a second disputed win over a fighter so many hoped would forcibly remove him from the sport, and that outcome, in the hands of those who do not respect let alone see greatness in the Oakland fighter, will only stoke the flames of animosity toward him.

But if what you wanted was the answer to the question of who is the better fighter, did Saturday not bring it? And in a manner that provides less room for debate than the outcome of either of their fights?

That is why there will be no trilogy: not because Ward should see no reason to provide it (true), not because Kovalev does not deserve it (true for now), but because the superior fighter has been established at the expense of yet another pay-per-view bomb. Ward is a fighter in ways Kovalev for all his formidable technique and power is not, and that has become increasingly clear since a second round knockdown in their first fight brought Ward as close as he has ever come to professional defeat.

It was Ward operating as a fighter that saw him fix his attack on, above, and below, Kovalev’s beltline. Had Kovalev, responded in a manner befitting the “WAR” cap he sported days earlier, which is to say, responded in kind, Ward would have tempered his assault. Weeks may have shown greater interest in policing such tactics, too. Instead, Kovalev turned imploringly to the referee, away from the action, bringing to mind lyrics from Alexisonfire’s “Get Fighted”: “Cuz all the fashion (in the world can’t save you now).” That behavior told Ward there were places Kovalev would not go, and that trapped in that uncomfortable territory he would break.

There is an education to be had when you share the ring with a dirty fighter, one that Kovalev has not acquired. This is not to defend such fighters (though they are certainly not without their charm). Still, it is naive to operate on the assumption that a man fighting for his livelihood will respect the rules if he knows how to skirt them. Naive too to expect referees, each with his own interpretation of how a fight should unfold and where his grounds for involvement lie, to enforce those rules ever to your favor. And yes, a feeble apology for Kovalev the sportsman can be offered here, but think what praise would have been heaped on him had he intentionally strayed his best cross to the belly six inches low and set clear for all the terms of engagement.

It was difficult to watch Kovalev, a fighter both vilified and adored for his relish in cruelty, look to the referee for help and not recall the concern he raised to trainer John David Jackson early in his career: that he might not hit hard enough to find success as a professional. There is a fragility there; a need for reassurance that should things go poorly Kovalev would have with him the means to a quick escape. This is something Ward, who has never been a puncher but does not doubt himself, would never ask for. Granted, Kovalev’s fragility only became an issue against a great fighter, which is where such weaknesses should be brought to bear, where they are most forgivable too. But for all Kovalev’s menace, Ward is the nastier of the two, and Kovalev conceded as much at about the time of his precipitous wilting from the fight.

Perhaps the fight came down simply to that, what with so little separating Ward and Kovalev technically: not fouls, not liberal officiating, but a question of poise and bearing in a bloodsport. Those seem like fine determinants of superiority in an evenly match prizefight. They would determine the outcome were Ward and Kovalev to meet again. And they would yield a similar result.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday at Mandalay Bay, in a rematch barely anticipated for being unpromoted, American Andre Ward defended his light heavyweight championship by stopping Russian Sergey Kovalev at 2:29 of round 8. Aficionados will litigate the finale for a long while because, bereft of reliably violent spectacles these last five years, aficionados have evolved into a litigious, petty bunch.

Here’s how the match ended: One man, contracted to fight, bent himself at the waist, perched himself on the ropes, and silently beseeched the referee to intervene. The other man contracted to fight threw haymakers at his opponent’s midsection until the referee made him stop. Because this was a fight, the man who kept fighting won, and the man who stopped fighting lost. If you’re looking for more nuance than that, stop reading this and go watch HBO replays with the volume turned up.

There is something uniquely nauseating about a man who uses the word “unfair” to describe his plight. It implies both a lack of volition and a childish belief some parental figure or other is supposed to ensure outcomes correspond to his wishes – whether those wishes are for fairplay or preferential rulings or a compliant media. It is an expression of weakness that says: “Whoever was supposed to protect me from the unfavorable didn’t, and I had to fend for myself, and I couldn’t, and it’s not my fault.” It’s a speech difficult to abide from a toddler and impossible to respect from a man.

Immediately after being folded in two by an opponent whose career he promised to end violently, Kovalev didn’t use the word “unfair” – and the charitable interpretation of this is that he has enough character, enough masculinity, not to do so. The uncharitable explanation is that he lacks the vocabulary. For, at various moments in the fight, Kovalev did wear the mien of a man whose mind cycled through the Russian word for “unfair” way more than a prizefighter’s should.

In the first match of what will not be a trilogy Kovalev dropped Ward, and Ward wore the customary look of surprise – lead actor in a theater of the absurd – every great fighter wears whenever he gets dropped. Ward was not prepared for what happened but soon regained, through some combination of character and great conditioning, sufficient semblance of himself to neutralize Kovalev’s attack just enough to get to his corner and 60 seconds of refuge. By comparison to Ward, Kovalev looked singularly unprepared for the experience of pain and fatigue he felt in Saturday’s eighth round.

Did Ward’s punches land below the upper line of Kovalev’s silvertrimmed trunks? Yes. Did they land below Kovalev’s bellybutton? Maybe. Did they land on Kovalev’s testicles? No.

The universal remedy taught in every gym in the world for a man who hits you low is to repay him with the same coin. This is prizefighting, after all, not boxing, and when you are paid 40 or so times a workingman’s salary to entertain workingmen with your savagery you forfeit some of the appellate processes afforded lawyers and bankers, see; you are expected to remedy most injustices with your own hands. Heaven knows Tony Weeks would’ve allowed it. Weeks is a fight-friendly ref – part of the reason Marcos Maidana roughedup Floyd Mayweather three years ago, part of the reason Ward broke Kovalev in half Saturday, and all of the reason Kenny Bayless was in the ring for Mayweather-Maidana 2.

One of the qualities that make Ward a great prizefighter where Kovalev is a good one is the men’s differing reactions to what adversity happens when their opponents break rules. Kovalev struck Ward behind the head a number of times in the match, and each time sharpened Ward’s concentration on the objective of giving Kovalev commensurate pain. Ward struck Kovalev lower than Kovalev expected to be struck a number of times in the match, and each time sharpened Kovalev’s concentration on the inadequacy of the referee’s reaction. “Krusher” Kovalev, the man who would beat Ward till he could no longer support his family with prizefighting, lowered his hands and lowered his head and winced and turned his back – overcome with pain and an acute sense of unfairness.

Again, if your fortune is made pandering to Americans’ lasting fears of psychopathic Soviets, you don’t get to sit on the lower ropes, arms crisscrossing your belly and a look of betrayal on your face, while a guy from Oakland wales the daylights out of you – it’s catastrophic to your brand.

Writing of brands, since that’s the thing these days, Krusher will probably be back on HBO before Ward is because HBO no longer has the money or energy to do better; Kovalev can fire his American trainer, import some legendary coach from Chelyabinsk, go back to hipthrusting at overmatched opponents for reliable purses, conduct ferocious postfight-interview callouts at men who’ve no reason to fight him, and dance nimbly round the fact his career’s defining win came against someone two months from his 50th birthday.

For Ward the future is trickier. A unification match with Adonis Stevenson is the best idea, but Stevenson’s understandable fidelity to Showtime (who else’d’ve paid him to fight such challengers?) is an obstacle only pay-per-view revenue might surmount. Trouble is, Ward’s not a pay-per-view draw, and everyone in the fight game knows it except Ward and his promoter. Ward’s not a ticketseller or a salesman, a very good commentator or interview. Honestly, he’s not much of an an entertainer of any sort.

But he is one hell of a fighter.

That’s worth more than the sum of every other thing.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS – One righteous right was the beginning of an end to the fight. But there was no end to the controversy. It rages on.

It looked as if the Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev rivalry had finally reached a conclusion in the eighth round Saturday night in a HBO pay-per-view fight at Mandalay Bay.

Ward, who calls himself Son Of God, landed a lightning bolt of a right. He came out of a slight crouch with a strike that traveled up-up-up-and-over a drooping left onto the side of an exposed chin that sent Kovalev stumbling across the canvas, on to the ropes and into defeat Saturday night in a light-heavyweight rematch at Mandalay Bay.

Referee Tony Weeks ended it at 2:29 of the round with Kovalev bent over in pain. The Russian looked weary. Looked finished. But he, his manager Egis Klimas and promoter Kathy Duva weren’t. They promised to carry on the fight.

They alleged that Ward got away with low blows. Duva said Ward landed four of them in the eighth, one early in the round and three more in the corner in the seconds before Weeks waved if off.

At the post-fight news conference, Duva promised to file a protest with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. She said she asked the Commission for a video review. The regulatory agency said no, she said. A formal protest would be the next step, she said.

Ward didn’t want to talk much about the latest wave of controversy that has separated the two camps since he won a hotly debated decision over the Russian in November.

“Now, we have quieted all the whining,’’ Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) said before Ward and his camp ignited the low blow controversy during the post-fight news conference.

“If I rob a bank and get away it, I’m a lucky millionaire,’’ Klimas said. “He’s a lucky champion.’’

When asked if Ward is the world’s best light-heavyweight, Kovalev (30-2, 25 KOs) said: “As a dirty fighter, yes, he’s the best at 175.’’

Tension between the two fighters and camps grew and spilled over into interviews and a news conference during the days before Saturday’s opening bell. One insult followed another. It got ugly. It’s no surprise, perhaps, that fight did too. Ward was warned for throwing a low blow in the second round. Kovalev acted as if he had been hit low repeatedly during the next several rounds.

All the while, Ward kept his distance, moved away, then ducked in for a quick exchange and never allowed Kovalev to set his feet long enough for him to gain the kind of leverage he needed to unleash his power. Then, there was the cleanest shot of the night, a thing of beauty and the beginning of painful end for Kovalev, who at the time of the stoppage trailed on two scorecards, 4 rounds to 3. He led on the third, 5 to 3.

In the end, Ward’s big right hand was the fight’s decisive moment. It made him look prophetic. He promised a stoppage. He said cornerman Virgil Hunter had trained him to win by knockout. He promised. He practiced. He delivered.

“A third fight?’’ Ward said when asked the inevitable question. “Nah, I don’t think so.’’

For now, at least, it looks as if this rivalry will resume at a Commission hearing. That means more talk. Ward made it sound as if he has heard enough.

On The Undercard

Wait a Second: Guillermo Rigondeaux wasn’t dull this time. But he was controversial. Or, at least, the Nevada State Athletic Commission was.

It took the Commission 15 minutes to rule Rigondeaux’s knockout punch of Moises Flores (25-1, 17 KOs) landed before the fist round ended.

Rigondeaux (18-0, 12 KOs), the WBA’s 122-pound champion, threw a hook as referee Vic Drakulich stepped in between the super-bantamweights. HBO video shows the blow was thrown after the round ended. But, no, the Commission deliberated, presumably viewed its own video and said the shot landed before the bell, or at 2:59 of the first.

Wonder how long it will take Flores to file a protest?

The Noisiest: San Diego Christopher Martin (30-9-3 10 KOs) got rocked, dropped and beaten, but Trevaine Williams (11-0, 4 KOs) of New Haven couldn’t knock the wind out of him. Martin did plenty of huffing and puffing in profane at referee Kenny Bayless for his decision to stop it at 1:44 of the first round.

The Rest: Russian light-heavyweight prospect Dmitry Bivol (11-0, 8 KOs) pounded Cedric Agnew’s right eye into swollen mess for a fourth-round TKO over the Chicago fighter (29-3, 15 KOs); Cuba middleweight Luis Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) opened the PPV part of the card with a fifth-round TKO of Russian Arif Magamedov (18-2, 11 KOs); New Jersey junior welterweight John Bauza (7-0, 4 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a second round TKO of Mexican Brandon Sanudo (5-5, 2 KOs); welterweight Enriko Gogokia (5-0, 2 KOs) of Central Asia’s Georgia scored a unanimous decision over Johnathan Steele (7-1, 5KOs); Middleweight Bakhram Murtazaliev (9-0, 7 KOs), also of Goergia, blew out Brazilian Alex Sandro Duarte (6-1, 4 KOs) in first round stoppage; and unbeaten St. Louis middleweight Vaughn Alexander (10-0, 7 KOs) pushed his victory total into double digits with a fourth-round TKO of Mexican Fabiano Pena ( 17-8-1, 13 KOs).

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – A day after tension at a news conference was off the scale, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev weighed in Friday amid a few words and gestures, yet without incident.

Kovalev smiled instead of scowled.

Ward talked at him during the ritual face-to-face pose after the weigh-in. It was probably the first time they were so close to each other since the fight was announced at a formal news conference ago on April 4.

It was the last time they’ll merely look into each other’s eyes before the hostilities commence Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in a light-heavyweight rematch in a HBO pay-per-view bout (6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST)

The biggest surprise was the sight of a relaxed Kovalev. He was an angry man Thursday when he walked out of a formal news conference after boycotting a scheduled session with reports.

“I didn’t want to waste my energy with words,’’ said the Russian, who wore a red cap covered with endorsements instead of the black hat that said WAR in white letters Thursday. “Tomorrow, you are going to see the true Krusher.’’

Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and his corner have other ideas. They say that Ward’s hotly debated victory by unanimous decision in November is just the beginning of the end for Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs). Ward manager James Prince has called him Usher instead Krusher. No interpretation necessary. They intend to usher him out of light-heavyweight contention, if not out of his career altogether

In the face-off for photographers, Ward stared at Kovalev and said words he didn’t share with fans or media in the weigh-in’s immediate aftermath.

“As long as he understood me,’’ said Ward, who grew up in Oakland, Calif., and hopes to extend the hometown that started with the Golden State warriors NBA championship. “That’s all that matters.’’

Ward trainer Virgil Hunter said he has been training Ward to knock out Kovalev.

“Wow,’’ Kovalev joked. “Really? Okay. By the way, who is Virgil Hunter?’’

There’s been a lot of talk that Kovalev’s anger will make him too emotional at opening bell. But there was no hint of rage in the Russian Friday. He appeared to be poised and very much under control.

“I keep saying that Sergey is a happy man when he’s angry,’’ his promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events said. “He really enjoys his work when he’s angry. He’s in a perfect place right now.’’

Duva looks at Kovalev and recalls a story he told her. He was 18 years old. A gang of about 10 confronted him at store near his home in Chelysbinsk, Russia. They wanted whatever he just purchased and whatever else he had on him.

“I could’ve run or I could fight,’’ Duva said Kovalev told her. “If I run, I have to live with this.”

According to Duva, Kovalev said he knocked down five of the young men. Then, he went to his car and got a hammer. The other five others fled.

“Sergey’s life is fighting,’’ Duva said. “It started in the street. From early on, he knew not to let anger and rage prevent him from knocking out five guys.’’

Now, he faces a sixth, easily the toughest he has ever encountered.

The differences between the two are gigantic, so big that they help explain the mounting tension between them. They come from opposite side of the world, speak different languages and grew up in different cultures. Their very different perspectives of the world clash.

Only the weights were identical with both at 175 pounds Friday. At the sports book, Ward is a slight favorite. He’s a huge favorite in almost every other way.

According to a contract filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Ward is guaranteed $6.5 million by his promoter, Roc Nation.

Kovalev will collect 75 percent of Main Events net profit, according to Duva, who estimates that Kovalev will get a check for about $1 million.

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – There’s not much left to say, so Sergey Kovalev probably said it best by not saying much at all.

One word across the front of Kovalev’s cap might have summed it up best Thursday at a contentious news conference when promoters, managers and trainers exchanged insults the way Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will for the next couple of months. More on them later.

WAR in white letters stood out boldly on a Kovalev cap that, appropriately enough, was black. The Russian picked the right color for the role he has in his rematch Saturday against Andre Ward in an HBO pay-per-view bout at Mandalay Bay. He’s the bad guy, perhaps by choice or maybe because he remembered the red cap with the same word stitched in gold that Marvin Hagler wore for his legendary victory over Thomas Hearns more than 32 years ago.

Whatever the motivation, Kovalev declared his intent with silence both ominous and perhaps deadly. He skipped a session with a handful or reporters before the formal news conference. His promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, and his manager, Egis Klimas spoke for him.

“He is stressed out,’’ Klimas said. “…He came here to fight, not talk.’’

Duva said Kovalev was like a tiger, pacing back and forth up in his hotel room. Klimas said Kovalev had grown restless at endless rounds of interviews conducted in English instead of his native Russian. It’s also no secret that he just doesn’t like Ward or anybody else around the light-heavyweight champion who took his titles in a hugely controversial decision last November. The tension between the two is evident and it adds an intriguing element to a rivalry as genuine as it unappreciated.

Kovalev appears to dislike Ward so much that he doesn’t even want to be in the same room with him for long. At least, the Russian didn’t hang around Thursday. He showed up for the news conference with a scowl that seemed to say that the message on his cap was dangerously real.

When it was his turn to speak, he thanked his promoters and Mandalay Bay. Then, he looked to his right and at Ward, who was appropriately dressed in good-guy white.

“I’ve already said enough,’’ Kovalev said as he then pointed at Ward. “And, you, be prepared.’’

Ward didn’t like what he heard. Or saw. His rhetorical counter was immediate.

“Don’t point your finger at me,’’ said Ward, who showed up for his session with reporters before the news conference.

Kovalev turned his back on him, walked off the stage and out of a room adjacent to the Mandalay Bay Events Center, site for Saturday night’s fight.
What happened next was predictable. The news conference turned into a Kovalev roast.

Kovalev calls himself Krusher. Ward manager James Prince had fun with that.

“Usher,’’ Prince said.

Prince also suggested Kovalev was rude.

“I don’t know how they act in Russia, but we don’t act that way in the USA,” he said.

Without Kovalev at the end of the news conference, there was no ritual, nose-to-nose pose for the cameras. With the mounting tension, you can only wonder what might happen when the two are asked to face each other in a pose for the photographers after Friday’s weigh-in.

The bumpy news conference was just another chapter in in the overall tension between the Ward and Kovalev camps. Duva and Klimas say that Kovalev has been doing the lion’s share of promotional work.

“On this, Sergey does not think Ward is doing enough,’’ Klimas said. “Ward has a sugar daddy who pays him $7 million for this fight. Sergey is earning every single penny. He is promoting this fight as much as he can.’’

But Roc Nation, Ward’s promoter, argues that Main Events hasn’t done its share.

“I find it is odd that they comment about it,’’ Roc Nation’s Michael Yormark said. “They haven’t done anything to promote this fight.’’

The build-up this week for the rematch has also been lost amid all of the hype over the announcement Wednesday that Mayweather will fight Conor McGregor, a UFC star, in a Nevada-sanctioned boxing match on August 26 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in a Showtime PPV spectacle.

“It is also a kick in the teeth, at least to me personally, in terms of the circus they announced yesterday. That’s been on the front page of
everything. That’s a little discouraging.’’

Meanwhile, Yormark opened the news conference by saying that Kovalev-Ward is “not the money-grabbing spectacle that will play out later this year.’’

No, it’s not. Ward-Kovalev 2 includes heightening tension and mounting stakes. It’s real as a fight can be. About that – and perhaps only that, there’s no disagreement.

LAS VEGAS, NV (June 15, 2017) – On Thursday, June 15, Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and former WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs), along with their teams, participated in the Fight Week Powered by Monster Final Press Conference for their highly-anticipated showdown. Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Below is what the participants on the dais had to say:

Andre “S.O.G.” Ward – Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion

“Thank you everybody, before I start I just want to send my prayers out to Daniel Franco and his family. It broke my heart when I heard, and on top of that, he is a stablemate of mine. He has fought on several of my undercards. It’s the worst situation that a fighter can find themselves in so I just want to let his family know that I’m praying for him. I would love to speak to him at some point in time and I’m dedicating this victory to him and his family because he is a brother in this sport. It’s a tough situation but we are praying and I know he’s going to pull through.

“I’m excited to be here. I’m the same guy that I was last time, the guy that I was five fights before, two years before. We don’t have a lot of highs and lows in this camp. You know we’ve been grinding from the beginning, we’ve got a blue collar mentality, we put our head down, we don’t take no mess. We fight to stay humble because we know where our strength comes from and if that strength is removed, we’ve got problems. It’s no different in this fight. I’m no higher than I was last time. Emotionally, I’m no lower. I didn’t train any harder. There was no major overhaul but we’re going to make adjustments. We know his side is going to make adjustments. At the end of the day, I’m not going to be distracted by the talk. I’m not going to be distracted by the ploys. I had a couple of missions in mind when I came to Las Vegas–to glorify God with my performance and the way I act outside the ring, to defend my belts that I won back in November, and to get home and kiss my wife and kids.

“I’m locked in on what I’ve got to. I hope everyone tunes in to HBO Pay-Per-View. And those who are reading this, if you are here, come to the fight. It’s going to be a tremendous fight. I’m expecting his best. You’re going to see a different Andre Ward. I’m just going to leave it at that. You’re going to see another guy in there Saturday night; and that is my favorite time – show and tell time. All the talking is good for the fans, it’s good to build it up, it’s all good but anybody that knows me, knows that I’m about the action. About getting it done. I’m thankful to be in this position. I’ve been in this position for over a decade and I’m blessed to be at the highest level for as long as I have.

“I’m excited to see some of these young fighters on the undercard. A lot of guys who I know; that I’ve watched develop. This is [their] time to shine. This is [their] moment. And my boy, Rigondeaux, I’m always happy to be on a card with him. That’s a master. Nothing but respect.”

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev – Former Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion

“First of all, I want to say thank you for Mandalay Bay and Richard Sturm. Also, Nevada commission, HBO Pay Per View and to my team for everything that I have right now. What do you want to hear from me? I already said enough and I will prove it June 17 in the ring. You get prepared. (Points at Ward) Thank you very much.”

Michael R. Yormark – Roc Nation President & Chief of Branding and Strategy

“Back in November the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world tested each other like they had never been tested before in their careers. On that night, Andre Ward faced a defining moment and countered with an epic comeback victory over Sergey Kovalev to become the new Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion. Over the last three months, everything that needs to be said about this fight has been said. We don’t need to build hype any longer. The table has been set for what we believe will be the fight of the year not the money grabbing spectacle that will take place later this summer. We have two fighters with different styles, who approach the sport differently and clearly handle themselves differently outside of the ring. There’s no hiding the truth that there is dislike throughout the camps. Or that Sergey has made one outlandish comment after the next. My daughter who attended the grand arrivals earlier this week asked me “Daddy, why is he pointing at you?” I reminded her that bullies always tend to pick on those a little bit smaller than them. But I told her that’s okay because I am confident that Andre will take care of business on Saturday night.

“From Team Ward’s perspective once the fight is over on Saturday night there will be no doubt. There will be no excuses. There will be no debated ending. Saturday, June 17 will be an opportunity for Andre Ward to solidify his status as the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

“On Saturday, June 17, there will only be one – one true champion, one pound for pound king, one real face of this sport. The epic rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will have its intended ending. With Andre Ward leaving Las Vegas and taking his belts back to the Bay Area, to join the Golden State Warriors’ second NBA Championship in the last three years.”

Kathy Duva – CEO of Main Events

“I want to talk about the fight. I would like to thank the media. I always do. Whether I say it up here or I tell you in person, without you we would not have a sport. We certainly wouldn’t have a big event this weekend. I do appreciate the fact that you spend your time, most, if not all of you, with little or no reward at all when you cover our events. But it seems strange to me that the question I have heard most often this week since I have arrived from the media is: ‘Why isn’t this a bigger event?’ This is a big event. This is the best fighting the best. Literally, number one and number two in the world fighting a rematch of a controversial fight, the most controversial fight of last year, both in their primes, just seven months away from their first encounter. They are two of the finest athletes in the world, two grandmasters in the ring testing their skills and their intellects in a fight that the media and the fans always say they want to see. This is what we have brought you. We have brought you what you want. Today you can decide when you carry our message out to the world whether you want to tell your readers, your listeners and your viewers that this is an amazing event, well worth their time and their money or if you want to spend more time talking about a lot of the manufactured drama outside of this ring. Or about that circus that is going to take place here in August. All of the elements are here: HBO, Mandalay Bay, our great cable and satellite partners, two of the great, elite fighters in our sport, in their prime, a great event where absolutely anything can happen and now it is up to you. I implore all of you, please go out and tell our story. Tell our story to our fans who, I promise you, will be kicking themselves on Sunday morning if they missed this. It is a great event.”

“Somebody reminded me last night, ‘When was the last time we saw Sergey Kovalev as the challenger?’ The answer to that question is when he was fighting in Wales against Nathan Cleverly. That Sergey was ‘The Krusher.’ That is the guy who got that nickname. That is the guy who I see is back here again today. I am very happy about that. I have a feeling he has had it with the talking. We have all had it with the talking, to be honest. But he is here. He is ready and he is going to get his belts back. I give to you the former light heavyweight world champ of the world and the future light heavyweight champ of the world Sergey Kovalev.”

“I have to also point out that, now that the gossip girls are done with talking about all of their outside the ring stuff, that stuff isn’t necessary here. I think it is kind of sad that Ward’s team doesn’t have enough faith in him that they have to go to these lengths to try to twist Sergey’s head. Sergey will be there, I promise, on Saturday and he will be angry and he will be spectacular. We are going to have fireworks. Please don’t miss it.”

Virgil Hunter – Trainer of Andre Ward

“One thing I can concur, as Kathy said, was why wasn’t there as much interest? If you go to the websites, you see them talking about fights three to four months from now and we understand. But the best fighters this year, and like [Kathy] said the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the world are fighting two days from now. Why is it like it is? I don’t know. I’m sure it may have something to do with Andre Ward and how he stands up for himself as a man, but we’ll leave that alone.

“On a sad note, I’m sad that John David Jackson took it to where it shouldn’t have gone. My grandmother taught me something a long time ago–she told me the truth has feet and a lie has wings. That’s why a lie can fly all over town and get there first. The truth moves slowly, but when it gets there, it will stand on its own. It’s very disappointing to know what I know and then it turns out to be the way it is. We’re going to leave that alone because I’m not here to mess with his livelihood. I said that from the very beginning, if you can’t help, don’t hinder.

“I thank everybody for coming. Looking forward to another very highly-competitive fight, a fight that means a lot to both men. When it means a lot to both men, you can’t help but have a fight. We took everything that Sergey said personally. If he wants to injure Andre, end his career, hurt him, we took that at his word and we just put our heads to the grind. I’m glad he’s [Kovalev] mad too, so hopefully, we can put a happy smile on everybody’s face after June 17.

“Those who gave him [Kovalev] this special pass, he just showed you what he thinks of you… to not give you the opportunity to snap a faceoff photo. It’s like a little kid playing ball on the streets, who has all of the bats and the bases, but when he strikes out he wants to take all of his stuff home. It’s really an insult that he has been built up, allowed to have all of these things to take place in his career from HBO and everybody else, but he walks out on what has always been traditional in boxing.”

James Prince – Manager of Andre Ward

“This has been a long journey for us. As you can see, we run people off. I don’t know what belts they’re talking about getting–I guess someone’s going to buy them a Gucci belt or something because he won’t be receiving these belts. Krusher has ran off, his manager has ran off, everyone has ran off. Left the scene. I don’t know if this is how they behave in Russia but we don’t act that way in the United States of America. That’s not American-like. But we understand they’re not going to show up for the post-press conference as well because it’s going to be the same story. We’re going to defeat them.

“Kathy, I haven’t heard your voice sound so nervous, but I understand you have it all on the line right now. That’s OK. You got it coming. But I understand also that you all want to be victims on this promotion. Kovalev and Brother Jackson accused us of lying and we don’t do that. We don’t practice that. It’s just the facts.

“[John David Jackson] couldn’t have said it more clearly than in the interview with Radio Rahim. What a beautiful interview, Brother Rahim. I mean, it came out of his mouth, ‘I made [them] an offer and if they would’ve accepted my offer, I may not be here.’ I’m not putting words in his mouth, that’s what the man said. I’ll let that rest.

“I don’t have a whole lot to say at this point – other than, there will be some beautiful undercard fighters on this show. [Saturday] is our night, this is a Roc Nation night, an Andre Ward night. We shall be victorious and shine. One more thing and deliver this message to Krusher… He ain’t no Krusher. We should rename him to Usher, get rid of the KR.”

Josh Dubin –Attorney and Co-Manager of Andre Ward

“I was having a conversation with my brother James Prince and what role we play in the lives of the fighters that we represent. We had a conversation about breaking the cycle. In this room are some old friends of mine, guys that I was blessed to be part of their lives and careers–Paulie Malignaggi, Bryant Jennings, Junior Younan “Sugarboy” and, of course, my brother Andre Ward. The guys we represent are from hard-scrabble backgrounds, they aren’t privileged guys. They literally have to fight to get what they get. To be able to just be along on the journey to help them break the cycle, whether it be of poverty, violence, the conditions they grow up in, is a source of tremendous pride for me, individually, and really why I do it.

“Even going back to Lennox Lewis, they let us in, and we have a very important job to play. For all the managers out there, know that behind-the-scenes we are there through the struggles, through the tears, through the injuries, through the paralyzing politics of the sport and it’s a grind sometimes. These guys deserve all the credit in the world for getting in the ring and literally risking their lives. I think that gets lost in the shuffle of trash talk and everything else. But this beautiful sport has helped so many people break the cycle. Mike Tyson said it perfectly once, ‘go from statistics to specialists.’

John David Jackson – Trainer of Sergey Kovalev

“It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s nice to see all the press that came out for this fight. This is a very good fight. The first time around, it was a good fight and had a very controversial ending. The second fight should be very interesting between these two combatants – these are two of the best fighters in the world today. It’s a pleasure to be a part of this event. I look forward to it.

“The past few weeks — past maybe month or so — there have been a lot of things that have been said. I call that gamesmanship and give Team Ward credit for that. They had to try to get inside people’s heads to maybe offset the training camp and the fighter’s ability to work through that and perform the best he can. I give [Team Ward] credit because there’s been a lot of lies and a lot of things have been said. What that has done for us is it’s allowed Team Kovalev to be closer. We’ve grown closer. He’s listening more and doing what he’s supposed to do for this fight. It has given us a great adhesiveness. The team is even stronger, so I want to thank them for the things that were said. There will be a lot of untruths that will be told, a little later on, at this press conference. But I have proof that all that are lies – trust me; it’s in my phone. There have been a lot of lies that have been told.

“Having said that, I think this will be a very good fight that boxing needs. Two of the best at their craft. One will come out the winner and that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s an intriguing fight for the fans and it was made and deserves to be seen. I want everyone to come out and enjoy it and I hope it’s a tremendous fight. Hopefully, it’s a fight of the year because both of these guys are tremendous fighters. This is what boxing needs: two of the best going against one another. We are looking forward to it. Camp was great and now it is just time to go to work Saturday. I hope to see everybody there and hope we have a great fight.”

Egis Klimas – Manager of Sergey Kovalev

“I happy to be here in Vegas, not because of the nice hotels and the hot weather. I am just happy to get this thing over. It is very close. We have just two more days to go. Everything is going to be put in the place back where it belongs. We’ve been talking a lot and everybody is getting tired, especially looking at what is being done with the managers coming to the stage and saying what their fighter is going to do in the ring, who is going to get a knockout, how we are going to take care of business but at the end of the day we are sitting downstairs. We are not in the ring. The fighters are the ones who are fighting. They have to prove to each other.

“I wanted to thank everybody. I wanted to thank the press. I wanted to thank host hotel, Mandalay Bay, HBO Pay Per View, Nevada commission for having us here. Hopefully, it is going to be very good fight and we will see Saturday night. Thank you very much.”

Tony Walker – Vice President, HBO Pay-Per-View

“Let’s talk some boxing. On behalf of our Executive Vice President Peter Nelson and the rest of the HBO staff, we really appreciate the efforts of you supporting boxing and supporting this great event on Saturday. I would like to thank the press for the attention you’ve given this show and especially thank your editors for recognizing the significance of a top-flight, boxing event. Must thank the promoters; it’s never easy to put together a top-flight boxing match, an event with a main event like we have and an entertaining undercard for the fans. Thanks to Michael, Kathy and their staffs for doing such a great job.

“We are extremely proud to present this as a pay-per-view show because this is boxing at its highest level. These are two veteran fighters at the top of their game who have had great international acclaim and success. When you get around these fighters, you see the confidence they exude. They have a lot to fight for on Saturday night. They have put their careers on the line. I’ve also heard there’s a bit of a rivalry between these two on a personal level. It all adds up to a great night of sports television, something we think is worth boxing fans putting their money and time towards. If you find anyone who doesn’t think this is a great show, I would direct them to watch a replay of the first fight or watch the 24/7 documentary we did about this show. I must say that the first two minutes of 24/7 is gripping television.

“Lastly, I want to thank our distributors–the cable, satellite, teleco companies–that have done a good job of telling people about this event on Saturday. We promise you, in conjunction with them, a great broadcast, very clear picture and an entertaining night of TV.”

Richard Sturm – President of Entertainment & Sports for MGM Resorts International

“Welcome to the media, fighters and our colleagues at Roc Nation, Main Events, the HBO team and fight fans worldwide. We are excited to have you join us at Mandalay Bay for today’s press conference and are thrilled to kick off the summer boxing campaign with this international championship rematch. As many of you have witnessed firsthand, over the years, Mandalay Bay Events Center has been the home to many exciting boxing events and this weekend will be no different.

“These two great champions–Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev–fought a little more than six months ago at the T-Mobile Arena. As we all know, that battle was a close, thrilling fight. This second one will prove to be another sensational fight. We look forward to seeing you this Saturday night for a great event.”

Bob Bennett – Executive Director, Nevada State Athletic Commission

“I’m obviously a regulator and I’m in the middle here. That’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I would like you to know that, on behalf the Nevada State Athletic Commission, we consider it an honor to regulate this championship fight once again. And we do so with passion, commitment and accountability. That’s what we’re all about.

“We’d like to thank Michael Yormark from Roc Nation and Kathy Duva from Main Events for hosting this championship fight in the fight capital of the world. Of course, we’d like to recognize Richard Sturm from MGM and the Mandalay Bay for hosting another world-class event. Last, but not least, I always try to make it a point to recognize the fighters.

“These two fighters are truly warriors who dare to succeed under some of the stressful conditions that they’re under. They dare to put their reputations on the line under some of those most stressful conditions and that was very evident in the first fight. As Richard said, it was a very competitive fight and we look forward to regulating this second fight. With that said, thank you very much and God bless.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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LAS VEGAS, NV (June 15, 2017) – On Wednesday, June 14, the televised undercard of Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” sat down to participate in roundtables with the media during Fight Week Powered by Monster. Head trainers Virgil Hunter (Team Ward) and John David Jackson (Team Kovalev) followed the group of boxing talent with respective roundtables of their own. Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Below is what the participants had to say:

Virgil Hunter, Trainer of Andre Ward

“[Andre’s] ring IQ speaks for itself but the worst mistake you can make is to underestimate the opponent’s IQ. We take it all the way to the top, whoever we’re fighting. The mindset is you’re the best in the world. You’re the best that ever did it. You don’t want to stop the bar on eight when you can go all the way to 10. The bar is set at 10 in giving Sergey the credit that he rightfully deserves. Look, I’ve said it before, but I’m a Sergey Kovalev fan. Just not this fight. But I’m a fan of his. I knew a long time ago that if we ever moved up to light heavyweight that we would meet. I understood that a long time ago.

“You can never tell what’s going on in a fighter’s mind. I tend to let Andre set the tone. If we have to change it up, then I’ll come in and we might change up a few things. But he’s been doing it so long and I trust him. I know exactly what I’m looking at when he’s fighting. He can set the tone. If the frustration becomes an asset for us, we’ll stay there and keep him frustrated.

“Me knowing Andre’s mindset and how he approaches things, I told him that we’ll train for a knockout. It doesn’t mean it’s going to come, but we’ll train for it. It’ll be quite evident in the fight. He’s going to get hit because you got to get hit to win and get knockouts. He’s been hit by Sergey and he described the punches just as I see the punches on TV, very sharp… not concussive but sharp. [A knockout] is a possibility. I’ve only trained Andre to purposefully knock out somebody twice – the first one was Chad [Dawson], the second one was this one. I never trained him to knock anybody out, but those two I did. Only twice have we changed strategy to stop somebody.

“What we want to do is make sure Sergey doesn’t get the flush punch. He might graze you, he might rush punch, he might punch you like ‘get off me’ as opposed to being planted and zeroed in and ‘boom’ give him that shot. Sergey never landed another punch after the knockdown. So, if Andre was hurt, how could he make Sergey miss? All you got to do is watch it after the knockdown.

“I’ll have to take Sergey at his word, but when I look at the fight, I just don’t see where he got tired. He continued to throw and he continued to press. I don’t see personally where he got tired and I think I can identify fatigue in a fighter pretty well. But I have to take him at his word.

“No, Andre never made any excuses about his fight. Look, it was a tough fight, a great fight. If you came to the fight and participated in the fight, you don’t have any excuses. I’m not making any excuses; I’m just saying we’re going to have a different fighter. That doesn’t guarantee victory or anything, just a different fighter.”

John David Jackson, Trainer of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev

On the first fight against Ward:

“My opinion is the same now as it was that night: Sergey won the fight. If you look at the first half of the first fight Sergey dominated. If you look at the second half of the fight Ward got back in the game but Ward didn’t come back and dominate like the way everyone says he did. Especially with the knockdown, Sergey won the fight hands down but he unfortunately didn’t get the decision. For this fight, if he can fight the second half of this fight the way he fought the first half of the last fight, then of course we will win the fight. He has proved it publicly that he can outbox Ward at his own game. The question now is, can Ward come back and try to outbox Sergey at Sergey’s game? That is highly doubtful. Ward isn’t a big puncher and can he take Sergey’s body shot? We’ll see in the second fight what happens but if Sergey fights the second half of this fight the way he fought the first half of the last fight then he wins. I had the first half 5-1 or maybe 6-0 for Sergey but the second half I had it 3-3 or at best 4-2 for Ward. So, when you count in the knockdown, Sergey won the fight.”

On whether it’s the game plan to knock out Ward:

“No. Sergey needs to stick with his jabs and his combinations, put every round in the bank just like we did the first fight but in the second half he needs to sustain that attack. Don’t falter and he will win. If he goes for the knockout, he may not catch Ward. Ward is a very defensively sound-minded fighter. Sergey needs to be smart.”

On Sergey’s tiredness, late in the first fight:

“There is a different conditioning coach now so hopefully that helps him physically as well as mentally. They seem to work well together. If he did his job than Sergey will be fine. For the first fight Sergey was running 14 miles a day and I asked him why. I told him he was going to wear his legs out. He is still running but not nearly as much. He is saving himself for this time around. I told him that although he was fatigued he hid it pretty well. I couldn’t tell that he was fatigued. He got a different coach for the conditioning part and that should work for him. If it works for him physically, it will help him mentally. And that is a tremendous blow to help him win this fight. Now that he has brought a new guy in let’s see if that is what he needed to be more successful in his pursuit of Andre Ward.”

On prediction for the fight:

“I give Andre a lot of credit for being a very defensive-minded fighter. The fight might go the distance but that’s ok. We aren’t worried about that. If it goes the distance and Sergey does what he is supposed to do, he dominates; he should win hands down. Just think about this: if Sergey hadn’t slowed down and kept up the same pace he had, what would Ward have done differently? He would have gotten his ass whooped the same way because Sergey beat him in the first half of the fight the way he wanted to. Sergey slowed down and that allowed Ward to get back in the game. If he didn’t slow down, then what would Ward do? He would have still lost the second half of the fight the way he lost the first half. Sergey allowed him to get back in the game. He didn’t just do it; Sergey allowed him to get back in the game because he got tired.”

On the knockdown in the first fight:

“I wasn’t surprised he got up because Sergey didn’t hit him flush. It was kind of a grazing shot. It wasn’t full with his knuckles. If Sergey had hit him with a solid shot, Ward probably wouldn’t have gotten up. He got hit with a shot that wasn’t solid.”

On changes for this fight:

“We worked on the inside game. Both fighters held a lot and Sergey was to blame for that also. Now Ward thinks that he is going to hurt Sergey to the body and probably break him down. Well, guess what? If you watch Ward’s fights he grabs a lot. He is not a true inside fighter. He grabs a lot and he holds and hits with the free hand. As good as Sergey punches, do you think that he is going to stand there and take those kinds of punches to the body? No. Sergey’s mentality is different. He is a survivor-type fighter. He is defensively sound. Once he gets hit he is going to take off. He is not going to stand there and take those kinds of punches.”

Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs), WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion

“I can’t wait for Saturday night. The Mexican boxing community is going to be out there and every Mexican is ready for war, so we’re ready to put on a spectacular fight on Saturday. I believe my preparation has always been excellent and the Cuban school of boxing has always been something I’ve focused on. I believe, on Saturday, June 17, it will be shown. I train for one boxer at a time and when it comes, it comes. You just train hard all the time. No boxer intimidates me in any way. [Flores] is a good boxer and I’m impressed by his style, but I’m not intimidated by anyone. It’s a God-given gift to move [the way I do] in the ring and have the reflexes I have. It just kicks in. I go to work when I step into the ring.

“I’m 122 pounds, I’ve always been at 122 but I’ll still beat anyone at 126. Weight isn’t really much of a big issue for me. I just want the big names and the big fights. For really good quality boxing, it’s not really about size. It’s more about heart, conditioning, speed, experience, excellence – everything I’ve gone through. We live everyday based on the results and the good work we put in. All the people are intimidated to get in the ring with me.

“When you have two superstars like that – and two friends of mine – it’s hard to determine [who will win]. But they’re going to put on an excellent show on Saturday, June 17. Andre Ward will truly have to prove whether he’s the real champ and this is the real test.’

Moises Flores (25-0, 17 KOs), Interim WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion

“I feel great; I’m level-headed. I’m trying to take advantage of the opportunity and do what I need to do. [Rigondeaux] being favored is not really a big deal. I’ve been the underdog during my last five fights, so this is nothing new to me. I understand the game. I’m humble; I’m OK with it, I’m ready. I’m ready to fight.

“[My reach and height] is definitely an advantage. We’re definitely going to use that advantage – we just need to use it the right way. His age will play a part in [the fight], so we need to take advantage of it and my youth. But I’m sure he’s done his job in the ring and in the gym. But so have I. I think it will be one of the toughest fights of my career because of his boxing style. He operates from a distance, his legs are strong and he’s intelligent. He doesn’t have the same speed he once had, but he’s still fast. We just need to attack him and trap him. I think my boxing style can slow him down.

“These are the opportunities you train for. He’s a boxer in every sense of the word. But what can he – or any rival – do to me that life hasn’t already done to me. [Rigondeaux] is the posterchild of a real boxer and, for all that, I give him credit. People talk because they love to see action, blood, a horror movie. They want to see combat. Rigondeaux has talked a lot and we’re going to confront him in the ring. There will be action, there will be blood. I work for that.”

Dmitry Bivol (10-0, 8 KOs) – Interim WBA Light Heavyweight Champion

On changing opponents from Sullivan Barrera to Cedric Agnew, a Southpaw:

“Any fight with any level opponent can create problems for a fighter. This is boxing and anything can happen. I think that if I follow the plan that we have set everything is going to be good. I am definitely glad with the way things have gone now. It is my 11th fight and I am glad to be fighting on such a big event on HBO Pay-Per-View. It is a great honor. It is a great achievement for me. We have set certain goals with my manager, my trainer, my promoter and the rest of my team and so far, everything is going by the plan. I am very glad that everything is going the way it is.”

On the Russian light heavyweights:

“I have certain pressures in my career and in boxing most of those pressures come from what I have to accomplish for myself. The goals I have set are for myself. It really isn’t a competition or a comparison to other fighters from Russia or any other fighters in the division. As long as I am achieving what I have set out to do and as long as I am going beyond what I am supposed to be doing fight after fight, that is the achievement for me. That’s a win for me.”

On his opponent:

“I never really try to set the main goal of knocking somebody out. Obviously, I want to showcase a good, exciting fight. I will be looking for openings and if there are openings I will use as many of them as I can. Hopefully, I can try to finish the fight earlier but I am ready to go the full ten rounds if I have to.”

Cedric Agnew (29-2, 17 KOs) – Former WBO Light Heavyweight World Championship Challenger

On his opponent:

“I think he is a pretty tough competitor but that goes without saying because everyone is a tough competitor. My thing is to overcome what I am dealing with that night and to impose my will on him and come out with the victory. It is going to be an all-out war. I am just trying to take it to him the whole fight. The things they say about him [Bivol] are the same things they said about Kovalev. I didn’t run from Kovalev. I can take a hit. I just need to stand in there and try to overcome that storm for the first few rounds and stay focused, stay grounded and stay ready.”

On his title fight with Kovalev in 2014:

“I just underestimated him. It was a learning experience. I grew from it. I am still trying to grow. Afterwards, we went back to the gym and we worked on different things and worked on perfecting different parts of my craft. We’re not quite where we need to be but things are moving in the right direction. People don’t know certain things that a fighter deals with on fight night and in training camp. He could be feeling physically ready but not mentally ready. We need to give fighters a chance to prove themselves and comeback after a loss. People look at fighters like they are not human but we are human too.”

On his confidence for this fight:

“If I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t be taking this fight. My thing is to fight the best-of-the-best in my weight class, to prove to myself and prove to the naysayers out there. I have been the underdog in quite a few fights and it doesn’t bother me at all. My thing is, those who really know me know I am not an underdog. It is going to be an action fight. It is going to be a grit and grind war out there. I am here to showcase my talent, my skills and it is going to be an amazing fight. You’re gonna see me fight a hell of a fight. You’re gonna see a lot of Cedric Agnew come Saturday night.”

Luis Arias, USBA Middleweight Champion (17-0, 8 KOs)

“I should have been at this stage (in my career) already but timing is everything. For whatever reason, my timing is now. I’m a little late; I’m 27 and should be fighting for a world title by now. But give it another year and I’ll be fighting for a world title. I’m just going to make a statement. I’m going to get him [Magomedov] out of there and I’m just going to start calling out some names.

“The middleweight [division] is definitely one of the top divisions in the game right now; I think it’s middleweight, welterweight and heavyweight that are the popular divisions in the game. I’m coming out at the perfect time. There’s a mega-fight coming in September in my weight class. The goal is to get the winner.

“[Magomedov] has a good record. He has the best record that I’ve fought so far. I honestly don’t feel like he’ll be my toughest opponent. But like I said, we’ll have to wait and see. He’s coming off a loss; he got dominated by an opponent. He’s fighting an undefeated champion, who is very confident and strong. Had the best camp I ever had. We’ll just have to wait and see. If he’s willing to take it, I’m willing to dish it out for 10 rounds but it will be over before then. We’ll find out Saturday night.”

Arif Magomedov (18-1, 11 KOs) – Former NABO Middleweight Champion

On his only career loss:

“It was a long time ago; it was more than one year ago. I know I did a big mistake, I know what it was and right now I am preparing completely different. We are going to see everything is going to work for me for sure. I know why I lost the fight before and I know where I made my mistake. That guy was not very good and I was fighting in even more better fighters. I know how I’m going to work to (give him a loss).”

On his opponent:

“He’s a very good boxer; he never had a loss and I watched a lot of his fights. I saw the video on the internet about him and he’s very fast and a very tough guy. I think he is one of the best opponents I ever had. Anybody who saw my fights on the internet probably tell that I’m going all the time straight, I give a lot of power punches and I’m doing a lot of combinations all the time.”

On extra motivation coming to the United States as the underdog:

“I got the goal to have performance here in the United States and I am reaching it step-by-step. I’m going to the big shows and I know that one day I’m going to be a champion. People in the United States love boxing more than in my country. People are very loud here and you can feel the fans are very (interested) in the boxing; they know who is good in boxing.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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LAS VEGAS, NV (June XX, 2017) – On the heels of the most anticipated fight of the summer, here is what some of the media are predicting for Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” on 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press
I had Kovalev winning the first fight, so maybe I’m the wrong one to ask. But I think a boxer always has an easier time making adjustments than a puncher and that should favor Ward in the rematch. Ward has a good measure on Kovalev’s power and he’s really good at switching things up in the ring, as he did in the late rounds of the first fight. I think it goes the distance again, with Ward taking a unanimous decision.

Ward: Unanimous Decision
Bernard Fernandez, SweetScience.com
There is an expanding school of thought that Ward, the craftsman/technician, will be even better the second time around, having had 12 rounds and months of tape time to work out an even more intricate fight plan. I’m not sure I buy into that. Kovalev is no one-trick pony; he has skills to go along with superior power. If it’s a KO, he probably gets it, and it’s not out of the question that he can win on points as well. Let’s call it “Krusher” by 10th round stoppage.

Kovalev: 10th Round Stoppage

Keith Idec, BoxingScene.com
Kovalev by split decision. There isn’t much separating these elite light heavyweights. Expect another very competitive fight that includes several more very difficult rounds to score. Kovalev will win a debatable decision this time and create demand for a rubber match.

Kovalev: Split Decision

Michael Rosenthal, Editor Ring
Ward was successful in the second half of his first fight with Kovalev because he made necessary adjustments. I believe he’ll carry that knowledge and momentum into the rematch, which he’ll win by a unanimous decision in another competitive fight. No controversy this time.

Ward: Unanimous Decision

Matt Christie, Boxing News Online
Just like the first contest, this one is exceptionally hard to call and the events of that closer than close opener do little to make the job of choosing a winner any easier. Kovalev was a menace throughout, but perhaps the defining factor could be Ward’s ability to adjust. He did it in the first bout whereas Kovalev struggled to when it became clear the tide was turning. The pick is for Ward to win again on points, but without the controversy.

Ward: Unanimous Decision

Brian Campbell, CBSSports.com
Ward has already tasted Kovalev’s power and figured out ways to adjust and disarm “The Krusher.” That puts the pressure on the former champion. While you can expect Kovalev to be more aggressive, Ward just seems to have an answer for every style thrown at him.

Ward: Unanimous Decision
Willard Ogan, NBC Sports Bay Area
The fight will start slow with Ward working inside. Body shots will do Kovalev in.

Ward: 10th Round TKO
Michael Woods, NYFights.com
Ward adapted pretty quick to the Russian’s attack. We should see “Round 13” look like the second two-thirds of fight one. Unless Sergey is fresher on fight night because he’s not over trained. But he is 34, and he is what he is. Ward is the better adaptor, and a defensive master.

Ward: Unanimous Decision
Daiske Sugiura, Yahoo! Japan
Kovalev might be spending too much energy on hating Ward, which could backfire, and Ward is calm and collected, focused on what he needs to do. That being said, I watched the first fight twice, scored it for Kovalev both times. Quite simply, Kovalev is a better and stronger fighter at this weight class, it won’t change, and the judges will get it right this time.

Kovalev: Unanimous Decision

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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LAS VEGAS, NV (June 13, 2017) – Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and former titleholder Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) opened Fight Week Powered by Monster with their Grand Arrivals at Mizuya Lounge at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Tuesday, June 13, ahead of their ultimate rematch on 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Below is what the fighters had to say:

Andre “S.O.G.” Ward – Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion

“I am looking forward to making a statement in this fight and answering any questions that may be out there and removing any doubt that may be out there, so I’m excited. You got to look at the other side of the coin, there’s a lot of people that thought I won the fight and he got what he asked for. Now after this, we don’t want to hear any excuses. We don’t want to hear about anything. We’re going to shut the door on this and, like I said, take all doubt and all questions off the table.

“In this sport, I have very little room for error. I always have the pressure on my side – no matter if I’m the challenger or the champion. But that’s OK because me and my team, we’ve learned how to deal with the pressure. We know how to deal with it. I come here looking forward to bringing back everything that I brought, including those belts. I’m excited. I can’t wait, we’re a couple days away. All of this talking is getting ready to be over. We’re getting ready for my favorite part, which is the fight. June 17. It’s about business, so I did what I had to do the first time. I’m looking to turn it up this time.

“The pressure is always on, man. It comes with my territory and it’s been like this since I’ve been a baby – 16 years old, 17 years old. You get to a point where you don’t run from the pressure, you embrace it. That’s what all the greats do. All I got to do is be myself and that will be enough. Everything else will take care of itself. At the highest level, you’re going to face adversity. It’s not if, it’s when. But the question is how do you respond? We responded like we were supposed to. I’m just looking forward to giving the fans another great fight in a few days here at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on June 17.

“A lot of people talk about the jab and the right hand. But if you look at the second part of the fight, he [Kovalev] wasn’t landing right hands and jabs. He had a good moment and he’s a really great fighter – I’m not taking anything away from him. That’s why I want to face the best, to be the best. Some people thought I won, some people thought I lost. So let’s do it again and that’s the beauty of rematches in this sport. It’s nothing to get defensive about. You just lace it up, do it again and we’ll see what happens.

“I got out of that business a long time ago – trying to prove people wrong – because it’s not an even playing field. I’ve shut guys out – 120-108; 120-107 on the scorecard – and I’ve literally heard grumblings about something. If it’s not this, it’s that. You get to a place where you mature as a man, you mature as an athlete, and you make the decision that ‘I’m going to live my life in the middle.’ I appreciate the praises, but I can’t get too high with those. And the criticisms – I can’t get too low with those. People are entitled to their opinions. Let me just keep doing me and that’s really the best place to be as an athlete.

“Tactically, I obviously want to have a better start and I’m going to have a better start. That’s really what got me in my hole – the start. I’m sure he’s made some adjustments and he’s going to come harder, but I’m ready. I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do. When you prepare the way you’re supposed to – and all the boxes are checked – it’s time to go to work. And I’m going to go to work, having fun and enjoying what I do, and put on a show in the process on June 17.”

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev – Former Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion

“You know it’s good that he’s believing himself right now, that he’s got the key for me, but he didn’t get the key. He won two rounds against me as empty Kovalev, I remember I was like a heavy bag. Just like a fighter who came in the boxing gym like one month ago. And he’s like right now, ‘oh yeah I beat the Kovalev, but he won with empty Kovalev’.
“For this fight, I definitely had to get in shape, have different emotions and different motivations. I don’t just want to get my belts back and thank boxing fans for the support. I want to thank my haters – they motivate me to keep going. I want to get my belts and I’m here for this.
“Yeah, my fists will say it. I’ve already said enough. I want to say to Team Ward – they’ve said a lot of trash to my side, my team. He will pay for everything; I promise you.

“I appreciate him giving me the opportunity to get my belts back and on June 17 it’s going to be a different fight.
“I was empty one month before the November fight. Ward fought an empty Kovalev. This time I will not be empty – Ward will be fighting Krusher. I had pushed myself so hard in the beginning of training camp that one month out I was empty. I felt so much presser for the fight – my first fight on HBO Pay-Per-View – that I just trained too hard.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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Oxnard, CA: 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 knockout 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.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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By Bart Barry-

Saturday brings a rematch of 2016’s most-anticipated match, Andre Ward versus Sergey Kovalev, in Las Vegas, on HBO pay-per-view, and it may be 2017’s most-anticipated rematch, but that’s the most to be said for it. Good as the first fight was it ended in a way that anticipates a predictable result the next time, no matter how many mean sentences the combatants now speak about one another.

As this fight nears interest dwindles. There are various reasons for this – neither guy is particularly likable or charismatic hence neither guy’s vindication feels particularly relevant to any of us – but that’s nothing good promotion should be unable to surmount. Except nothing like good promotion is anywhere near this fight, is it? The HBO “24/7” franchise is hollowed-out from exhaustion; the idea turned 10 years-old a few months ago, making it a three-year idea stretched to thrice its proper duration, and now it sputters leglessly along with cameos from a branding executive and a lawyer and whatever media still shows up for kickoff press conferences.

Remember when folks thought Jay-Z’s Roc Nation would change boxing because Jay-Z was a hustler and boxing had never seen one of those before? Whatever ingredients make a great promotional outfit Roc Nation has none of them.

Here’s Saturday’s promotion thus far:

Ward thinks Ward won. Kovalev thinks Kovalev won. HBO’s unofficial scorer thinks Kovalev won. HBO’s onair hypeman thinks Ward won or maybe Kovalev did but it really doesn’t matter because whoever won is a great fighter which means it really matters a lot or not at all or a whole lot!

By the fifth minute of the first HBO infomercial I started trying to remember who I thought won the first fight and arrived at the conclusion I cared deeply about the match in its first four rounds, when someone might be knocked unconscious, and substantially less with each round that followed. I vaguely recall surprise Harold Lederman’s scorecard was not tilted to Ward and vaguely recall not-disagreeing with it, which makes me think I thought Kovalev won, but that’s no reason to feel enthusiasm for this rematch. More telling: I traveled to Oakland years ago to watch Ward fight Chad Dawson but haven’t seriously considered attendance at either of his fights with Kovalev. This looks like evidence one can disembark the Ward bandwagon without he becomes a Kovalev fan – which I kind of imagine I was, too, a couple years back.

Ward is tired of Kovalev’s smiling-psychopath schtick, and evidently so am I (though I didn’t realize it till the moment I wrote it). It’s a generational thing. I was in highschool when the Cold War ended and in college when it became apparent the Soviet Union had rotted from within way back when I was in grammar school, hence Perestroika, and therefore a pivot to Japan as our new bogeyman was just the thing – business as an another form of warfare, etc. What was obvious to hockey fans even before Glasnost – Soviet athletes were disciplined and conditioned and creative but in no way evil – became increasingly obvious to the rest of my generation, even while our parents remained fixated on Russian nukes and domino theories and satellite states and the like.

Sergey Kovalev’s handlers have capitalized on Americans’ abiding suspicions of Russian malice, and a weak era in boxing history generally, to make of Kovalev a mythical creature many times more malevolent and less crafty than he actually is. According to HBO’s intrepid reporting, though, Satan got fatigued after round 5 of his November match in large part because a biased referee was letting Satan get held and clenched before biased judges stole Satan’s belts and . . . well, they don’t make evil quite like they used to.

Kovalev assures us he will end Ward’s career Saturday, Ward claims there’s nothing frightening about Kovalev, and reality is leaning Wardwards. Kovalev’s best chance of beating Ward happened 10 rounds ago, and every moment since then, to include the rest of their match and the months that preceded their rematch’s signing and their trainingcamps, has made a Kovalev victory less probable. Ward solved Kovalev, and if he didn’t deserve the decision in their first fight he would have had he not been dropped by a threequarter cross, and he won’t be dropped by that punch Saturday. If Kovalev intends to beat Ward he will have to make a messy attrition of it. There’s a good chance Kovalev doesn’t have the constitution or technique for that. More to the point: Kovalev’s promotion of this match is that he will visit an atrocity upon Ward and Ward knows it and fears it, and you can’t talk like that and then pout if judges don’t give you a decision again.

Ward’s wager is on Kovalev’s emotional fragility – the Russian is a frontrunner who folds when things start to feel unjust. Ward likely will begin the fight at distance, a touch disengaged, looking to run Kovalev into an accidental headbutt or two, while exaggeratedly endeavoring to steal rounds in their final 30 seconds. If this drives Kovalev to a paralytic froth of rage Ward will look to stop him in the championship rounds, otherwise Ward will continue adapting and hitting Kovalev’s body in clinches till Kovalev has another inexplicable onset of midfight fatigue. Other scenarios are possible but don’t feel probable.

I’ll take Ward, UD-12, more decisively this time.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

LAS VEGAS, NV (June 8, 2017) – Yesterday, Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) participated in an international media conference call ahead of his highly-anticipated rematch against former titleholder Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs). Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” takes 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Here are some of the highlighted comments from Team Ward:

Andre “S.O.G.” Ward – Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion

“It’s a blessing, what the Bay Area fans have always done for me and for what they do for their athletes, whether they’re homegrown or transplants from other cities. They just appreciate the people that go out there and represent them well. And they always return the favor.

“I enjoyed my victory just like I would any other victory. People have to understand that anytime there’s a close decision, you’re going to have opinions either way. I’ve never refuted the fact that it was a close decision but all those out there that say that it’s some home cooking, they’ve got to remember that I’m not, you know, from Las Vegas, Nevada. You can’t just highlight that side of it. You got to highlight the people that also felt that I deserved the victory and (that it) was a tremendous comeback. It doesn’t take a close decision to get criticism. I’ve shut guys out for 12 rounds and got criticism. So you become immune to it after a certain period of time.

“Like I said before, [Kovalev’s] a good fighter. It’s not what it’s cracked up to be and 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.

“I thought I won the fight by at least two rounds. But at the end of the day, there’s close rounds that you can call a swing round. I don’t know how this individual is judging the round or how they feel about it but if you look at the scorecards, I think the judges did a tremendous job because they were on one accord.

“I’m honored to represent my country which I’ve done since I’ve been fortunate enough to do [as] a little boy at the Junior Olympic level all the way up to the Olympics. I’ve had a lot of international competition as a professional and it’s an honor and a privilege to live here in the United States and to represent my country. And I’ve always tried to do that, no matter who I’m fighting.

“I think the first fight was a great fight. I think there was a lot of drama in the first fight, more drama than I wanted. I think it was a tremendous fight and I believe, round two is going to be a tremendous fight.

“I’ve faced a lot of adversity inside the ring. 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 come get that back. I also have a tremendous coach who is my godfather. You saw him shift and go into a different gear to tell me what I needed to hear. He didn’t panic but he had a sense of urgency and he told me what I needed to hear. He just reminded me of all of the greats that had their moment. And he just reminded me that this is [my] moment. And sometimes in fights, especially in moments like this, it’s not so much technical… it’s a feeling.

“On the physical side, it was Virgil having the foresight early on when I was a young boy. He saw that I had a lot of ability and skills. He always told me that I don’t look at the things [I] do well, I look at where you can be beat. He said when I was 11, 12 (or) 13 years old, ‘The only style that can give you trouble right now is a buzz saw.’

“The jab is a lost art today. Skilled inside fighting is really a lost art and a lot of guys don’t want to be there. They want you at range. They want you in a certain place and if they can’t have you there then you see a totally different fighter.

“So outside of my family, I didn’t really have a lot of ex-fighters that I could pick up the phone and call. So I just try to be available, have my phone available, and make the time where I need to make the time (for some of the younger fighters). They’ll let you know what they need to talk about and what they want to talk about. If I have the answer, I’m going to definitely give them everything that I can give them. If I don’t, I’ll try to help them find it because at the end of the day, whether it’s Claressa [Shields] or Shakur [Stevenson], I’m for the fighter. I’m pro fighter. We talk about [training] stuff but it’s also more about life—being stable and making the right decisions now so that down the road, you’re happy that you did what you had to do. It’s an honor and a privilege to be someone that any of those fighters would want to pick up the phone and call. I don’t look at it like a burden. It’s an honor and a privilege.”

Virgil Hunter – Trainer of Andre Ward

“We’ve had a good camp. We’ve had a very smooth camp, the way you would like them to be. Sometimes it can’t always turn out that way but we are fortunate enough this time to have everything clicking. It’s good to see Andre in the gym after four fights and see him getting back and closer and closer to who he truly is—not just as a warrior and a battler and an individual who has a lot of dog in him but also that very skilled pugilist. I’m looking forward to June 17 and let Andre do the talking that night with his left and his right hand.

“[Andre is] a professional and he’s been through this for the 24 years of his life. You have to understand when he went to the Olympics he wasn’t with me at all for three months. So he’s a professional. He knows what to do. He’s my least worry of leaving town for a week. It’s part of the sport. It’s part of the game. And when you have a professional like Andre, you know, you don’t worry about those things.

“Well the opponent definitely won’t see the same fighter in this fight for a number of reasons. 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.

“An amateur is when you’re at the top level and you fight at a top level. You go into national tournaments and tend to see some opponents more than once and more than twice. So in a sense, [Andre] has had rematches. As far as this rematch is concern all I can say is ‘oh boy.’ That’s all I can say.

“There wasn’t any fear or trepidation going into the first match. You can’t have that. Of course, you’re aware of what the opponent brings. We’re aware that you have a bigger opponent or a stronger opponent, an opponent that can punch. We’re aware of all that but we’ve been through that before. I mean when he fought in the Olympics at light heavyweight people don’t know or they never acknowledge the fact that he was only 170 pounds. So, he was giving up weight, height and size there. So, he’s used to it. He’s accustomed to it. And because of his physical strength and his stamina and his IQ he’s able to overcome all of these so-called advantages that the other fighter might have. So, once again we respect our opponent and we respect Kovalev on what he has done and what he’s capable of doing. And it’s a healthy respect but it’s not a respect that’s going to stop him from getting smashed June 17.

“My job is to be in that realistic moment. I know [Andre] would embrace and understand what I was saying because it’s been between he and I, things we’ve talked about over the years many, many times. Sometimes you just have to put the strategy out the window and appeal to who you know that fighter is. And I know who he is.”

Josh Dubin – Advisor and Attorney of Andre Ward

“On behalf of James Prince and myself, I just want to thank everybody for participating in the call. We are extremely grateful for the support of HBO, all of our sponsors that have stepped up and of course, Roc Nation. At the risk of making Virgil a little bit more uncomfortable, I do feel like from top to bottom we just have the best team out there and certainly, the best trainer in the world. I feel blessed to be part of such a historic event. I know that on June 17 you’re going to see magic in that ring and one of the best, if not the best ever, step into the ring to do his thing yet again.”

Michael R. Yormark – Roc Nation President & Chief of Branding and Strategy

“Obviously, Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” has the potential to be the fight of the year. As you have heard and as you’ve written these fighters don’t like each other. These fighters don’t have respect for one another and this obviously creates a lot of buzz, a lot of curiosity and a lot of anticipation for next week’s fight.

“As you’ve heard Andre state time and time again after this fight there will be no excuses. And without a doubt the winner of this fight will absolutely be the pound-for-pound king in the sport of boxing.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos, D’USSÉ Cognac, ProSupps and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Box Office.

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Oxnard, CA: As Arif “The Predator” Magomedov (18-1, 11 KOs) prepares to face his toughest opponent to date, Luis “Cuba” Arias (17-0, 8 KOs), on the Ward vs. Kovalev 2 HBO Pay Per View® telecast on June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, he will have a new trainer in his corner, Marco Contreras, the long-time assistant to legendary trainer, Robert Garcia.

After he first arrived in the United States in 2015 from Russia, Magomedov trained with UFC star Ronda Rousey’s notorious trainer Edmond Tarverdyan. During their time together, Arif secured a 4-0 record with two knockouts and earned the NABO Middleweight Title. Tarverdyan’s training schedule with Rousey proved to be too difficult to maneuver around, so they parted ways amicably. Since then, Magomedov suffered his first career loss against to Andrew Hernandez in May of last year. He returned to Russia for the remainder of 2016 and stopped Chris Herrmann in the second round in his most recent fight.

Earlier this year, Arif returned to the US to prepare for his appearance on HBO Latino Boxing against Elias Espadas. While he was in Russia, Magomedov’s manager, 2016 BWAA Manager of the Year Egis Klimas, had arranged for Contreras to begin training Magomedov. The two men met for the first time at the airport, as soon as Arif arrived in Los Angeles. When asked about his initial impressions of Arif, Marco replied, “Arif is a tough guy. He’s got experience. He came back after that one loss in Vegas determined to make a change for his career. He’s been really adjusting well. He’s a good fighter, pressure fighter and he can take a punch. It’s always a pressure fight. So he’s gonna come, come and come and be in front of your face all night. He’s not gonna be dancing around, he’s just gonna be there and make it a fight. I don’t see any weaknesses right now. Mentally he’s good. He wants to prove a point.”

Magomedov and Contreras train at Klimas’ new gym, the Boxing Laboratory, in Oxnard, California where several of Klimas’ fighters, including Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, train. The environment has been beneficial for Magomedov, who added, “I am very happy that I ended up in this gym. I really, really like to work with Marco. I am so happy that I ended up here in Oxnard.”

The fight with Espadas was scrapped at the last minute due to illness. Because he was already training with Marco for the Espadas fight, they felt he was in prime condition to accept the fight with Arias when it was offered to him shortly thereafter. Magomedov acknowledges that Arias will be a tough opponent for him, but is ready for the challenge. He said, “I watched all his fights. He’s a good boxer, he moves well, he’s fast but I made some notes that I need to make and know what I have to do.”

Furthermore, he feels he learned a lot from his loss against Hernandez and can apply those lessons to this fight. “I had enough time to think, to look back at everything, to see if I need to make adjustments and I did make certain adjustments. I learned something for myself, that I won’t let this happen again.”

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva visited Arif at the Boxing Laboratory last week and was happy to see a change in him: “Before the Hernandez fight, Arif just didn’t seem like himself. When I saw him at the gym last week, I saw the Arif who had been so impressive in the ring against Derrick Webster. Training in Oxnard and working with Marco has been great for him and I can’t wait to see the results in the ring at Mandalay Bay on June 17th.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Water, Zappos and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

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Oxnard, CA: 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:

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, Former WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion

“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.”

Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events
“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.”

John David Jackson, Trainer of Sergey Kovalev

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.

“He’s good at what he does and that’s surviving and making the fight ugly and win the way he wins. You can’t knock him for that. But can he improve? No, not really. He did the best he could that night and he survived and he was even given points for that. So, if you’re going to make any adjustments, they may be small adjustments, but they’re not going to be adjustments that make him a better, more aggressive, dominating fighter. Then guess what, they need to be playing Russian Roulette and he’s going to get clipped.”

“I never said Andre was a dirty fighter. I said the things that he does, they’re not fan-favorite because he does hold a lot. As far as the inside game, there is no real inside game for him. Look, a true inside fighter doesn’t grab and hold the whole fight. He makes his hands free, he blocks shot and he counters back. That’s not what Andre does, he does hold a lot. But those things work for him and you can’t knock it. If it works and you’re winning and he has fans for it, okay let it be that. Sergey held somewhat himself. Later in the fight, he got fatigued so he did hold a lot. But we’re working on that for the second fight. And this fighter, he can be the best fighter because you have to think about this. When you have the power that Sergey has, tremendous God-given talent, the power that he has, we don’t need him to hold on the inside. If Andre wants to fight on the inside this time, which they may try to fight more on the inside, then he has to do a gamble and the gamble is can he take the body shots that Sergey is going to hit him with?”

“Here is what Ward’s team is going to try to do: they tried to disrupt our team because, at this stage, they know that’s all they really can do. If they have – if they need – if they want to be honest about it, they can say we really didn’t win the first fight but we got the decision. Okay that’s part of boxing. We have to – and our side has to accept that. But now to try to play mind games and try to make different maneuvers to offset our camp, you can’t do that. Our camp is strong. Actually, what they did, and I’m glad they did it, it made us even stronger and become closer and we’re working a whole lot better. So, I need to thank them for doing the things that they thought were going to offset our camp. It made camp better for us. So, I appreciate it. And for them to say that I reached out to them personal, come on, seriously? If you want to say that, fine, I have no problem with that. Come June 17, all the things that Sergey wants and he does to have back his belts, he’s going to get that. He’s going to do what needs to be done and that’s fight inside the ring, not talk, to be the champion and to fight. If Ward really wants to prove that he is the better fighter, then fight. Fight a good, hard fight, not do what you do best and that’s to be – he takes guys and maneuvers them around the ring and wins fights strategically but not in an exciting fashion. For this fight, here, to prove that you deserved the first decision that you got and that you are the champion, fight. Stand in the ring and fight this man and prove that you’re the better fighter and show the fans that, you know, you deserve this fight, this title. So, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens come the 17th. But when all is said and done, Sergey Kovalev’s hand should be raised, he should be world champion once again.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Electrolyte, Zappos and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

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LAS VEGAS: When WBA Light Heavyweight Interim Champion Dmitry Bivol (10-0, 8 KOs) faces Cedric “L.O.W.” Agnew (29-2, 15 KOs) in a ten-round battle on Saturday, June 17 on the televised undercard of Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” it may be the first time many fans watching on television or live at the Mandalay Bay Events Center catch a glimpse of the up-and-coming light heavyweight prospect from Kyrgyzstan. Boxing fans are certain to remember Bivol after they witness his exciting style and aggressive power. The event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay Per View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Bivol is originally from Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan and now resides in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In his short two and a half-year pro career, he has quickly made a name for himself in the light heavyweight division. In his first ten fights, he amassed eight knockouts for an 80% knockout-to-win ratio. In only his seventh professional bout, he secured the WBA Light Heavyweight Interim Title when he knocked down Felix Valera twice on his way to a unanimous decision victory. Since then, he is 3-0 with two knockouts over Robert Berridge and Samuel Clarkson, despite only being 26 years old.

Despite his impressive and lightning-fast rise through the light heavyweight rankings, Bivol stays grounded in his approach to his next fight against Agnew. He said, “I look at my fights a bit differently; I don’t assume that one is more important than the other. A boxing career is like a staircase and when you successful with each win, you move up the staircase and this fight, of course, is another step up the staircase for me.”

He isn’t letting the added pressure of an international pay per view telecast affect his concentration and drive. “In reality, when you are inside the ring, mentally there is no difference whether you are at home or in the US or somewhere else,” said Bivol. “You have your opponent in front of you and that’s all I think about. I enjoy fighting in the US because the fans are very supportive and they will support the fighter they like, no matter what country or nationality he is. It’s all about being fan-friendly; anybody can create a big fan base for themselves in the US! We have our preparation system, our technique which we adhere to. It works well for me so we don’t change it much and just make adjustments to the different opponents we are facing.”

When asked about Agnew he added, “Agnew is an experienced boxer. He fought for the world title before against Sergey Kovalev. I have not faced opponents of his experience yet. I think he will stick to the same tactics that he usually does. He has been victorious in many fights using his counterpunching technique. I expect him to do the same with me. We will see what happens in the ring on fight night.”

Bivol’s trainer, Gennadii Mashyanov, said “Preparation to the fight goes in regular mode, I don’t like to give any predictions, so I can only tell that we are getting ready for the battle that fans and boxing experts will like.”

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Water, Zappos and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

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June 2, 2017 – In advance of the highly anticipated light heavyweight championship rematch between world-class prizefighters Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, HBO Sports will air “24/7 Ward/Kovalev 2,” an exhilarating 30-minute special examining the upcoming encounter. The intriguing pay-per-view event featuring the two pound-for-pound aces takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

The “24/7 Ward/Kovalev 2” special will premiere Friday, June 2 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The special will look back at their first fight and will preview the hotly anticipated rematch between two accomplished and tenacious ring warriors who first met last November under the red-hot Las Vegas spotlight. Ward, who has not lost a fight since his teen-age years, scored a razor-thin decision over Kovalev and collected all the title belts that the Russian knockout specialist had accumulated. The special will provide all-new content including portraits of both fighters’ path to this impactful showdown. Each has set up training camp on the west coast; Ward in his hometown of Oakland, CA and Kovalev farther south in both Big Bear and Oxnard, CA.

The 30-minute special narrated by Liev Schreiber and produced by HBO’s Emmy-Award-winning “24/7” production team will also be available on HBO On Demand®, HBO GO®, HBO NOW and affiliate portals as well as at www.hbo.com/boxing and various other new media platforms that distribute the show.

LAS VEGAS, NV (June 1, 2017) – Roc Nation Sports and Main Events are pleased to announce the addition of four non-televised and two free-view fights, featuring a talented slate of ones to watch, to the undercard of Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” on Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The championship event featuring the highly anticipated main event and a full undercard, presented by Corona Extra, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

The non-televised portion of the action-packed undercard include Georgian Enriko Gogokhia (4-0, 2 KOs) vs. Jonathan Steele (7-0, 5 KOs) of Dallas, Texas, in a six-round welterweight bout; Russian Bakhram Murtazaliev (8-0, 6 KOs) vs. Gerald “G5” Sherrell (6-0, 2 KOs) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a six-round middleweight bout; North Bergen, New Jersey’s John Bauza (6-0, 3 KOs) vs. an opponent to be announced, in a four-round junior welterweight bout; and Brooklyn, New York’s Junior “The Young God” Younan (11-0, 8 KOs) vs. Hungarian Zoltan Sera (28-12, 19 KOs) in a six-round super middleweight bout.

The special free-view will begin at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT and will be available on YouTube.com/HBOBoxing, cable, satellite, and telco channels prior to the main event lineup. The first of two free-view telecasts pits undefeated top prospect Tramaine “Mighty Midget” Williams (10-0, 3 KOs) of New Haven, Connecticut, against tested veteran Christopher Martin (30-8-3, 10 KOs) of San Diego, California, in an eight-round junior featherweight showdown.

“A lot of people don’t even get one chance in life but I’m blessed to have gotten two, so I have to take advantage of it,” said Williams. “I don’t feel any different going into this fight, it’s just another day. My past success came from hard work and that was a gift. Christopher Martin is a good and tough fighter. He has been in there before against good opponents but they’re not Midget.”

“I’m looking to use my experience against Tramaine Williams on June 17,” said Martin. “I believe that is going to play a big part in me winning—whether by decision or knockout.”

“There are two main traits that are common amongst all successful people—sheer hard work, and the ability to overcome hardships and keep pushing. Tramaine possesses both of these traits, coupled with his God given talent, Midget is the real deal and soon everyone will know his name,” said Williams’s manager, Andre Prince.

“It’s great to see Tramaine Williams back on track and in the ring again,” said Michael Yormark, Roc Nation President & Chief of Branding and Strategy. “He has always had the ability to ignite an audience which makes him the perfect fighter for the free-view portion of an action-packed night. Don’t miss the rise of a new star on June 17.”

In the second free-view telecast, a sure to be exciting eight-round middleweight fight, Vaughn Alexander (9-0, 6 KOs) of St. Louis, Missouri will take on Fabiano “Pit Bull” Pena (16-7-1, 13 KOs) originally from Miraselva, Parana, Brazil, but now fighting out of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico.

When asked about the fight Alexander said, “I want to thank God, Main Events and my team. This has been a long time coming. I am inching closer to my dream and making steps towards domination.”

“I am prepared 100% to win this fight and then have a chance to face a top ten middleweight in my next fight,” said Pena.

Alexander’s manager, George Jakovic, added, “Vaughn can’t wait to get in the ring again. Fabiano Pena has been in with some experienced fighters but I can tell you that Vaughn takes no one lightly and he’s prepared for another victory. Vaughn’s story in and out of the ring is unprecedented and this is another step towards his goal, which is to become middleweight champion. With his mindset and having Main Events in his corner, the sky is the limit for Vaughn.”

“Whatever challenges we throw at Vaughn he rises to the occasion,” said Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events. “He is jumping at the opportunity to perform in front of an international audience. I always look forward to watching him fight. He is always exciting!”

Enriko Gogokhia, (4-0, 2 KOs), 26, is originally from the country of Georgia and now lives and trains in Oxnard, California. He is a former professional kickboxer who ended his kickboxing career with a professional record of 42-7, 21 KOs. In his most recent fight, Gogokhia stopped Bryan Goldsby in the second round on the Sullivan Barrera vs. Paul Parker HBO Latino Boxing non-televised undercard at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. This will be his first fight in Las Vegas and his first time fighting on a Pay-Per-View non-televised undercard as well.

Jonathan Steele (7-0, 5 KOs), 26, is a native of Dallas, Texas. In seven professional bouts, he has stopped five of his opponents for a 71% knockout-to-win ratio. He made his professional debut in 2013 with a second-round knockout over Christian Daniels in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Steele would go on to stop his next two opponents as well. In his most recent bout, he secured a close majority decision victory over the always-tough Marcus Beckford in Charenton, Louisiana. The judges scored the bout: 59-55, 57-57 and 58-56. This will be Steele’s fight time fighting in Las Vegas.

Bakhram Murtazaliev (8-0, 6 KOs), 24, is originally from Chelyabinsk, Russia, the same hometown as former light heavyweight world champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. He made his professional debut in 2014, in Russia, where he defeated the first six opponents he faced, stopping four of them. In November 2016, he made his US debut on the non-televised undercard of the first Kovalev-Ward bout with a second-round knockout over Botirsher Obidov of Andijan, Uzbekistan. In his most recent fight, he stopped Josue Ovando in the fourth round in Studio City, California in January of 2017. This young prospect is undefeated with a stellar 75% knockout-to-win ratio (six of eight).

Gerald “G5” Sherrell, (6-0, 2 KOs), 23, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He made his professional debut in 2016 in his hometown with a first-round knockout over Turner Williams. He went on to win his next four fights, closing out 2016 with five wins and two knockouts. In his most recent bout, he defeated Danny Rosenberger via a unanimous decision victory. This will be his first fight outside of his home state of Pennsylvania.

John Bauza (6-0, 3 KOs), 19, was the number one rated youth amateur fighter in the nation at 141 pounds before turning professional on April 23, 2016 at the Roger L. Mendoza Coliseum in Caguas, Puerto Rico, where he scored a first-round knockout over Leroy Padilla. Bauza’s successful debut was followed by a televised fight on the acclaimed Boxeo Al Maximo series on Mega TV which took place in his family’s hometown of Cataño, Puerto Rico on June 4, where he notched a second round technical knockout victory over Mike Erosa. Bauza rounded out 2016 with three subsequent unanimous decisions against Jose Carmona, Christopher Russell and Rafael Francis. On April 22, 2017, at Claridge Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, the prospect wasted no time knocking out Francis Gakpetor at the 17-second mark of the opening round. Bauza will put his undefeated record on the line in his Las Vegas debut, on June 17 against an opponent to be announced.

Junior “The Young God” Younan (11-0, 8 KOs), 21, has been touted as one of New York City’s best boxing prospects. An acclaimed amateur, Younan was the 2011 National Junior Golden Gloves champion and U.S.A. Boxing’s number one rated junior boxer in his weight class. Making his professional debut in 2013, Younan would go on to score six knockouts in his first seven fights. A nagging injury kept him out of the ring for most of 2015 but he has since returned with strong victories against Cristian Solorzano, Rodrigo Almeida and Jinner Guerrero. On March 28, at the Mountaineer Casino Ballroom in West Virginia, Younan pounded out a six-round unanimous decision over Miami’s Victor Darocha. Younan scored a knockdown in the third round and planted some vicious left hooks on Darocha, leaving no doubt on the judges’ final score cards (60-53 twice and 58-55). Younan will make his Las Vegas debut against Zoltan Sera on June 17.

Zoltan Sera (28-12, 19 KOs), 32, will be making his return to the American ring on June 17, after splitting his two most recent bouts in Germany (loss) and Hungary (win). The veteran boxer, who primarily fights in his native city of Budapest and Eastern Europe, was last seen stateside on the undercard of David Lemieux vs. Curtis Stevens in Verona, New York, where he was handed a fourth round technical knockout by D’Mitrius Ballard. Sera has had an active 2017 with five fights, already, in the first half of the year and will face Junior “The Young God” Younan on June 17 in Las Vegas.

Tramaine “Mighty Midget” Williams (10-0, 3 KOs), 24, showed no ill effects from a two-year layoff, impressively out boxing Eduardo Garza of Texas to win a unanimous eight-round decision at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kansas on March 25, 2017. The undefeated southpaw floored Garza in the first and fourth rounds, wowing a live national television audience on CBS Sports Network. Touted since his teens, the Connecticut-native was a ten-time National amateur champion, a two-time Ringside World champion and a four-time Silver Gloves champion. On June 17, Williams returns to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas where he made his pro boxing debut at age 19.

Christopher Martin (30-8-3, 10 KOs), 30, has shared the ring with world champions Gary Russell Jr., Jhonny Gonzalez and top prospects including Miguel Marriaga, Daniel Roman, Roberto Castaneda, Teon Kennedy, Luis Orlando Del Valle and Chris Avalos. Most recently, Martin stopped USBA Featherweight Champion Daniel “Twitch” Franco in the third round of a non-title fight, handing the young lion his first career loss.

Vaughn Alexander (9-0, 6 KOs), 31, is the older brother of former world champion Devon Alexander. Alexander made his professional debut back in 2004 with five straight victories, four of which were knockouts. Then he was sent to prison for 12 years and was released early last year. Since returning to the ring, he has four straight victories and has added two more knockouts to his resume. In April, he made his television debut with his appearance on HBO Latino Boxing. Alexander was originally scheduled to fight on the non-televised undercard of the Sullivan Barrera vs. Paul Parker telecast but when the co-feature fell out at the last-minute Alexander’s match-up with Andres Calixto Rey was extended from eight to ten rounds and added to the HBO Latino telecast.

Fabiano “Pit Bull” Pena (16-7-1, KOs), 29, made his professional debut back in 2012 and has been a very active fighter over the last five years. Last year, he fought on six separate occasions including a bout against current WBC International Light Heavyweight Champion, Joe Smith Jr. in April. Smith managed to stop Pena in the second round but Fabiano had four more fights in 2016 going 3-1, 3 KOs in the remainder of 2016. In his most recent fight, he took on the always-dangerous Tureano Johnson in March of this year. Like Smith, Johnson managed to stop Pena early but this has not stopped him from continuing to pursue bouts with top middleweights.

Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Water, Zappos and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office.

###

ABOUT ROC NATION SPORTS
Roc Nation Sports, a sub-division of Roc Nation, launched in spring 2013. Founder Shawn “JAY Z” Carter’s love of sports led to the natural formation of Roc Nations Sports, supporting athletes in the same way Roc Nation has been working alongside and advocating for artists in the music industry for years. Roc Nation Sports focuses on elevating athletes’ career on a global scale both on and off the field. Roc Nation Sports conceptualizes and executes marketing and endorsement deals, community outreach, charitable tie-ins, media relations and brand strategy. Roc Nation Sports launched its boxing division, a full service promotional company which represents Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Andre Ward, in August 2014. Roc Nation Sports’ roster includes premiere athletes such as Robinson Cano, Skylar Diggins, Kevin Durant, Geno Smith, Victor Cruz, CC Sabathia, James Young, Dez Bryant, Ndamukong Suh, Rusney Castillo, Yoenis Cespedes, Jaelen Strong, Todd Gurley, Erick Aybar, Justise Winslow, Willie Cauley-Stein, Jerome Boateng, Miguel Sano, CJ Prosise, Ronnie Stanley, Henry Ellenson, Caris LeVert, Mike Gbinije, Melvin Ingram, Rudy Gay, Ty Lawson, Leonard Fournette, Juju-Smith-Schuster, Isaac Rochell, Josh Hart and Dwayne Bacon.

ABOUT MAIN EVENTS
Main Events is internationally recognized as one of the top boxing promotional firms in the world. Main Events has promoted boxing legends Evander Holyfield, Arturo Gatti, Lennox Lewis, Pernell Whitaker and many more. Main Events was founded in 1978 by Hall-of-Fame promoter Dan Duva, who passed away in 1996, and is now run by his widow Kathy Duva. Main Events is committed to promoting quality fights that boxing fans want to see. Currently, Main Events promotes a stacked roster of international contenders, including former WBO, IBF and WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. Main Events gained a reputation throughout the 80’s and 90’s as the sport’s number one incubator for new talent. Nearly 40 years after the company’s birth, Main Events is still turning out boxing stars and future world champions.

ABOUT THE MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER
The Mandalay Bay Events Center is a multi-purpose arena home to World Championship Boxing, premier concerts and special events. With seating for as many as 12,000, the Events Center offers excellent sightlines and state-of-the-art lighting and sound. Prominent events have included concerts such as Justin Timberlake, KISS, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, John Mayer, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Alejandro Fernandez and David Foster & Friends. World championship boxing events have featured fighters including Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins. The Mandalay Bay Events Center also is home to multiple Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events throughout the year and the annual Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction.

ABOUT CONSTELLATION BRANDS
Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), a Fortune 500® company, is a leading international producer and marketer of beer, wine and spirits with operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, New Zealand and Italy. Constellation is the No. 3 beer company in the U.S. with high-end, iconic imported brands such as Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra and Pacifico. The company’s beer portfolio also includes Ballast Point, one of the most awarded craft brewers in the U.S. In addition, Constellation is the world’s leader in premium wine, selling great brands that people love, including Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Kim Crawford, Meiomi, Mark West, Franciscan Estate, Ruffino and The Prisoner. The company’s premium spirits brands include SVEDKA Vodka, Casa Noble Tequila, and High West Whiskey.

Based in Victor, N.Y., the company believes that industry leadership involves a commitment to brand building, our trade partners, the environment, our investors and to consumers around the world who choose our products when celebrating big moments or enjoying quiet ones. Founded in 1945, Constellation has grown to become a significant player in the beverage alcohol industry with more than 100 brands in its portfolio, about 40 facilities and approximately 8,000 talented employees. We express our company vision: to elevate life with every glass raised. To learn more, visit www.cbrands.com.

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Oxnard, CA: Yesterday at Boxing Laboratory in Oxnard, California, former WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) opened his training session to the media in advance of his upcoming showdown with Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs). Below are quotes from this event. Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” takes 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® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Click Here for Photos: Credit – Craig Bennett/Main Events

Kovalev Interview & Workout – Click Here to Watch or Download

Kovalev Short Interview – Click Here to Watch or Download

Kovalev Long Interview – Click Here to Watch or Download

Video Courtesy Roc Nation Sports & Main Events
Cleared for National & International Use

Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev – Former WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion

“I don’t like this guy [Ward] and I want to punish him because he puts his nose really up right now. He knows that he lost.”

“I don’t care if [Ward] shows respect to me or not. I know only one thing: I will kick his ass! I want to destroy him. I want to destroy this guy as a boxer, as a champion. For me he is not a champion, he’s a fake champion. He lives right now with this status; he’s a fake champion. He believes in his victory over me and right now he’s trying to get belief of people of this victory. It’s wrong, for me, it’s wrong.”

“It’s not the first fight where I’m angry, I’m always angry when I am fighting, but last two fights were very disappointing for me. Right now, at this point, I am feeling good and I feel not any problem to get back my belts.”

“I was ‘over-trained’ for my first fight against Andre Ward. I did three workouts a day. I tried to do everything faster and stronger. Instead of running five miles, I did eight miles. I did more than I usually do all the time. I over-trained.”

“My preparation right now is doing great, much better than last time because I took care of all the mistakes I did in my last two fights. In those two last fights, I was over-trained, for Chilemba and for Ward, and I fought similar, you saw already. But this training camp I am doing everything very good.”

“Nothing changed with John David Jackson. We are doing same as usual. I just got over-trained last time with physical conditioning, but with boxing we’re doing the same, boxing, sparring, mitts. I do same as I did last fight [with John]; I don’t think I need to change something. I just to get back what gave me success. My two last fights were really not good and I delete these mistakes and I delete this [physical conditioning] coach from my training camps, he’s not a coach that helps me right now.”

“I am happy what’s happening around me, I mean in training camp, my family, my life and my boxing. That I have no belts is for me new motivation to kick more ass because he does not deserve these belts. This is gift for him from the judges for Christmas and Christmas already finished and belts should be back with me.”

How hard does Ward hit?

“One day in my hometown Chelyabinsk one day a girl, 25-years old, slapped me on my shoulder then Andre Ward punched me in the fight it was same. I didn’t feel any hard punches from him. I didn’t feel his uppercut and so I didn’t block his uppercut. I didn’t feel this punch but judges counted this punch. It is touches it is not punches. Punches is punches his was like a tap. Judges counted any tapping as punches.”

Did you watch a tape of the fight?

“I tried but I saw only six rounds. I don’t have patience to watch it. For me it’s much easier to fight than to watch it.”

“I think I should knock him out and I must to knock him out to get my belts back because anything can happen but I believe in judges. I think first fight they made mistakes but right now there will be other judges, not the same. I think they’re gonna be fair and honest to count our fight.”

Why didn’t you finish him in the second round when you knocked him down?

“I thought that if knock down can happen [once], it can happen again. I tried not to rush. But I didn’t know that my energy will finish in the fifth round. In the fifth round, I lost the speed, I lost the energy and I was empty, 100% empty. My body fought because my heart doesn’t say stop. I’ll be like fighting until I die. Andre Ward got like four rounds of victory with empty Kovalev, we’ll see what happens on June 17. I think will be everything on my side.”

What does this fight mean for your legacy?

“Everything. I want to live from this point of the boxing. It’s the highest level in the boxing. HBO Pay-Per-View was my dream someday be on this level. Everything this fight means to me.”

How do you stay focused at this point?

“It’s my job. I’m boxing since I am 11 years old and nothing can break me. Nothing, only kill me. If somebody will kill me, yes I will stop boxing. If I am still alive, you know I will do my job. God bless me and I have to fight and I’m ready for June 17, to get my belts back.”

“I want to prove that he didn’t deserve these belts and I want to get my belts back. It’s my goal. I want to punish Andre Ward too because he doesn’t deserve this money, these belts, this status and to be champion. He’s not champion. In my eyes, he’s not champion.”

“I have more motivation right now than first fight because I have a goal. Last fight I just had a test. Can I fight Andre Ward or no? But right now, I understand that yes, I can fight Andre Ward and I can beat him. Right now, I have a goal: to get belts back. It’s more to motivate me than any test.”

“My goal was, and still is, to collect all four belts. I got three and left to get just one. Right now, Andre Ward’s in my way to this goal and I should move him from my way to my goal. First of all, I must get back my belts. We’ll see what will happen after this.”

John David Jackson – Sergey Kovalev’s Trainer

What are your impressions of Ward from the first fight?

“He’s an intelligent fighter. We knew that going in. I’m not too impressed with much more than that. The fact that he didn’t get hit with a flush punch from Sergey, if it was a solid shot, he might not have gotten up. So, if I had to be impressed with anything I’d say it was the fact that he went the distance. He got up in the second half of the fight, he made the fight closer than it should have been, not close to where he should have got a decision, but I was impressed that he did get up and survive.”

There’s been a lot of talk in the aftermath of the last fight. Has that been a distraction to Sergey in training camp?

“I doubt that there’s been any distractions for Sergey from the last fight. He realizes that he lost the fight, not outright, but the judges didn’t give him the decision so you must accept that; it’s part of boxing and he must move on. I think that he’s accepted it and now he just wants to get his belts back.”

What adjustments do you expect Ward to make?

“In the first fight, he did just enough to survive and somehow the judges gave him the decision; he has to be Superman in the second fight. He has to be more aggressive, with less movement and he has to be willing to trade with Sergey. Can he do that? Maybe he can, but will he do it? I doubt that. That’s not his style. Most people have said now that Ward has survived the first fight, he solved the riddle of Sergey Kovalev. I highly doubt that because this wasn’t the best of Sergey Kovalev that you could have seen, not the second half of the fight. I think Andre has to do more than Sergey does to be even more successful in this second go round. Can he do that? We’ll find out on June 17.”

Sergey said he was over-trained in his physical training. You were in Big Bear, did you notice a difference?

“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. If we can just do that, he’s on course. For the next two weeks, if we do the same thing, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

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Ward vs. Kovalev 2: “The Rematch,” a 12-round mega-fight for the WBO/IBF/WBA Light Heavyweight World Championships, is presented by Roc Nation Sports, Main Events, Andre Ward Promotions, Krusher Promotions and Corona Extra, sponsored by Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Jetlux, Life10 Water, Zappos and Powered by Monster. The championship event takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” are available on axs.com and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office.

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May 30, 2017 – Leading up to the highly anticipated light heavyweight rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev – set for Saturday, June 17 and presented live by HBO Pay-Per-View® – HBO Sports will present the exclusive replay of their first showdown which sparked a hot debate in the boxing community as the hard-fought encounter resulted in a razor-thin triumph for the undefeated challenger from the Bay Area.

On Friday, June 9 at 12:45 a.m. (ET/PT) and Saturday, June 10 at 9:00 a.m. (ET/PT), HBO2 will replay Kovalev vs. Ward I 2016. Last November in the bright spotlight of Las Vegas, Andre Ward won a hotly debated unanimous decision against the reigning 175-pound champion Sergey Kovalev in the most anticipated fight of 2016. After suffering an early knockdown, Ward rebounded in the second half of the fight with an incredible display of will and skill that the judges decided was the difference. Now the question is which fighter is more determined to impose his will in the rematch?

The fight will also be available 24 hours a day to HBO NOW, HBO On Demand® and HBO GO® subscribers and on affiliate portals beginning Monday, June 5.

Ward vs. Kovalev 2 takes place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.