MICHAEL YORMARK: Legacies are built on seminal moments
when the challenge seems insurmountable.
Back in November,
the two best pound-for-pound fighters
in the world tested each other
like they had never been tested before.
World champion Andre Ward faced a defining moment,
and countered with an epic comeback victory
over Sergey Kovalev.
After that showdown, there was a lot of talk.
A lot of debate. A lot of speculation.
And yes, a lot of excuses.
But on June 17th, we will put all that talk to bed.
Because Ward-Kovalev 2: The Rematch... is officially on.
These guys don't like each other.
And let me tell you, it's genuine.
He don't deserve respect from me.
What he has to wrap his brain around is,
there's nothing scary about you.
ROY JONES JR.: Both of these guys wanna win.
Both of these wanna inflict pain on the other guy.
REFEREE: Mr. Ward, Mr. Kovalev, let's do this.
Here we go.
MAX KELLERMAN: Ward-Kovalev one was a great fight.
JIM LAMPLEY: Stiff jab by Kovalev.
Hard right hand for Kovalev!
I was convinced this was gonna end early.
I think Andre Ward showed people a lot about himself.
You really wanna see what Ward can do?
LAMPLEY: Andre landed a hard right hand.
A lot of times, you gotta bully the bully.
He fought a smart, perfect fight.
KELLERMAN: You are watching greatness.
The pure, almost genius level of talent of Andre Ward.
That's been the standard of my career.
You've seen the fight, I've seen the fight.
LAMPLEY: This is building toward being a great fight.
He's used to having his way. I'm not going nowhere.
Nothing that's gonna stop him,
not Sergey Kovalev or anybody else.
JOSH DUBIN: When a bully gets punched in the face...
the bully pees down his leg.
Sergey Kovalev was shocked.
There's nobody in the ring.
You had an opportunity to finish me.
I didn't feel it.
Where was "The Krusher"?
MICHAEL BUFFER: And new unified light heavyweight
champion of the world!
Do you want a rematch?
Of course. And I will kick his ass.
I'm very much in this guy's head.
Yeah, I wanna destroy him.
He took what does not belong to him.
It's a unanimous decision.
Witnesses is here. Witnesses are here.
You can keep tweeting on your phone over there.
Everybody saw what happened.
You can cry and complain.
All three judges got it wrong?
DUBIN: Well, you didn't get your way.
You ain't getting your way. You're not gonna get your way.
I will finish his career.
It's gonna be me and him.
I think... there's unfinished business here.
(CROWD CHEERING)
KELLERMAN: Andre Ward is a special fighter.
He is the challenger, moving up in weight
and taking on the consensus baddest man in the division,
light heavyweight champ, Kovalev.
ANDRE WARD: The look on most of these guys face,
especially fight week was "Yeah, we hear you talking,
but you bit off too much this time."
KELLERMAN: One of boxing's best offensive fighters,
a knockout machine,
who has just rampaged through the division,
destroying everything in his path.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
-(BELL RINGS) -(CROWD CHEERING)
I thought the first fight was very competitive.
I really thought it could have gone either way.
It was what I consider a David vs. Goliath event.
I remember saying during the fight at a certain point,
"Only a great fighter will win this fight."
You have to be great to win a fight like that.
I thought the first fight was two classic styles.
The pure vicious puncher in Sergey Kovalev,
and the game-studied, defensive, almost genius level
of talent of Andre Ward,
and I think when you bring those together
you have the potential for a real high-level chess match,
which is what we ended up seeing.
BERNARD HOPKINS: Sergey Kovalev, I spoke to the man,
and he asked me who I thought won,
and I said, "No comment."
That was a close fight.
I thought Kovalev won a close decision.
I was in, I guess, what you can call the minority,
having Andre Ward winning that fight, 114-113.
He fought a smart, perfect fight.
And he made Sergey Kovalev fight a fight
that no one had seen him fight, in 30-plus wins,
with almost 80 percent knockout ratio on his record.
That was a game changer.
-KELLERMAN: Oh! -LAMPLEY: Down goes Ward,
on a perfect right hand shot!
LAMPLEY: Never has he tasted thunder like that before.
The second round stood out just 'cause of the knockdown.
Kovalev's a big puncher. He's got a monstrous right hand.
For a second, with Sergey Kovalev,
one little second, you get off your mental...
Done.
It's lights out.
CHRIS MANNIX: At that moment,
having seen so many Sergey Kovalev fights,
I was convinced that this was gonna end early.
See, that smile means, "you got me."
-(CROWD CHEERING) -Seven!
"I'm glad I'm up, but that was good, Sergey".
LAMPLEY: Kovalev wants to finish.
He's gonna go for it right now!
I got hit with his best shot, and was fortunate to get up.
TRAINER: Look! Look at me!
I think Andre Ward showed people
a lot about himself in that round, you know?
He was hurt. He says he wasn't hurt,
but I think he was hurt.
You know what we're here for! You great.
Don't worry about a knockdown. Don't even entertain it.
This guy's never lost since he was 13 years old.
Well, I guess this is the reason. Here we go.
Now go out there and turn this around, 'Dre.
Do it!
LAMPLEY: It's an uphill fight for Andre Ward.
KEITH IDEC: Sergey Kovalev can really punch.
You're like, "Man, this guy might be the monster
that everyone says that he is".
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Try to fight while you hurt.
Try to fight while you don't even have your legs,
let alone your bearings.
That's where you're in trouble. Andre Ward recovered so quick.
You've seen the fight. I've seen the fight.
He recovered within seconds!
That is training. That is important.
But it's also... it's also the man.
You really want to see what Ward can do?
He got up with that fire in his eyes.
Oh, now Andre's getting off the deck,
and it's not against some kind of guy who landed
a lucky punch, that punch was landed by design,
by a guy who knows how to end fights.
A lot of times, taking a good punch isn't a talent.
You make up your mind, and you're stubborn about it,
that I'm not going nowhere.
KELLERMAN: He needs to risk a knockout to win this fight.
Says that Andre Ward's got a lot of guts, a good jaw,
a big heart. He's here to win, he's saying to himself,
"there's nothing that's going to stop me.
Not Sergey Kovalev or anybody else,"
and that's what he did.
He basically dictated the whole fight...
and the other dude has just complained since.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Judging from Kovalev's reaction when he put Ward down,
I think he had a feeling that it was...
he had it.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Absolutely. He missed an opportunity.
Anytime you knock someone down,
when you get him in that position...
they don't see another round.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
He tried to alter the next four rounds
to land that one perfect shot.
And in doing that, he kind of, used a lot of his energy.
That might have messed with Sergey's psyche.
That was a hard shot,
and everybody else didn't get up.
When a bully gets punched in the face
and a bully hits you with his best shot
and you get up,
the bully pees down his leg.
And that's what the bully did.
He had no plan B,
because he thought that he would land his best shot
and that would be that, and that wasn't that.
HOPKINS: How do those things happen
when you're used to doing something
and it's going your way,
and now you run into that one guy...
that gets up and fights you tougher, and stronger
than the first three or four rounds.
And I think that Sergey Kovalev was shocked.
WARD: He's used to having his way.
He's used to dictating, before fights, during fights,
and he wins a lot of his fights merely on his reputation.
We had to catch up. That was where the focus was,
to win the next rounds one at a time,
and get into the fight.
And just take it round by round. Mm-hmm.
We gotta win every single round. You hear me?
KELLERMAN: He's gonna have to weather the storm
and rough Kovalev up.
Where it really went in another direction
was right around rounds four and five
when Andre Ward made that championship level adjustment.
I think Kovalev took his foot off the gas a little bit.
If I were in the corner, I would have been yelling
"Sergey, gawd donnit, jump on him!"
You know? 'Cause that's what you gotta do.
KELLERMAN: Now what are you gonna do, Andre?
Do you have a plan B? Yes. Plan C, yes. Plan D?
He has plans A through Z.
A lot of times, you gotta bully the bully.
He doesn't like you in his chest.
TRAINER: This is what the greatness is.
There's nobody on that level who is that adaptable as Ward
who can be in the middle of a situation,
whether it's going for him or against him,
and react to what his opponent is doing better.
Robinson got up, Leonard got up,
Ali got up. You got up! Do it!
I've never really had to come from behind like that,
and to prove that to myself, the biggest moment of my career.
I feel like it took me to another level.
However you want to encompass what happened
in that first fight,
something changed in the middle of that,
one guy was able to make the adjustment,
the other guy, Sergey Kovalev, was not able to.
Of cour-- I mean, Kovalev dealt with it very well,
but that's one of the things that Andre does well.
Those who would say, "Well, that threw Kovalev off,
what Kovalev should have done"-- Yeah, okay.
You go in and do that against Andre Ward, you know?
What Kovalev did was totally excellent.
You know, we're used to him blowing people away.
There's nobody in the ring, you know?
The first four rounds, like, I didn't feel it.
But in the fifth round, my energy... finished.
Andre cracked this code with this man, uh,
what they call "The Krusher."
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I'm with the fans, going... seeing this fight here.
Honestly, Sergey brought another guy in from Russia to speak.
So during the fight, I was limited on what I could say.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
So how are you gonna limit me on what I can say,
when I've devised a plan for you to fight this kid?
Now you're going to another guy,
I don't know what he's telling you.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
He-- I've never seen him fight.
First time I've seen him in my life so I know he's not a boxer.
There were a couple of rounds that could have easily gone
either way.
If you're going to give those close rounds
where not a lot happened to Sergey Kovalev,
the thing you have to ask yourself is,
"What did he do to win those rounds?"
You know, you judge a fight,
you say to yourself at the end of the round
"Who hurt the other guy more than the other guy hurt him?"
And in my mind, Sergey Kovalev hurt Andre Ward
most of the rounds.
I thought Sergey Kovalev clearly won the tenth round.
But I remember turning to the guy next to me and saying,
"Well, that stopped the momentum."
(LAUGHS)
There's no question Sergey Kovalev won
the tenth round. I mean, come on.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(BELL DINGS)
LAMPLEY: A tremendous fight.
WARD: It wasn't what I expected.
I expected more.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
It's never been, like, you know, after any pro fight,
"I don't know if Andre won. No, no, you know Andre won,
everyone knows Andre won".
But for the first time...
he was, you know, "...I don't know".
(BELL DINGS)
And there's something about the beneficiaries
of bad decisions in boxing,
where they're painted as the bad guy.
They don't score the fight.
And of course they think they won, right?
If we went on the basis of how fighters felt
at the end of every fight,
every fighter would be undefeated, right? So...
LAMPLEY: Michael Buffer has the paper in his hand.
It was a very difficult fight to score,
and I didn't envy the judges job that night.
I think either way they scored it,
the loser of the fight could have had a problem
with the score cards,
which Sergey Kovalev obviously has had.
BUFFER: 114 to 113,
to the winner by unanimous decision.
In my opinion, there's no question
that Sergey Kovalev hurt Andre Ward
in most of the rounds,
and he did more damage, and he deserved that decision.
BUFFER: And new unified light heavyweight
champion of the world...
Andre Ward!
It just wasn't a good decision.
I mean, there's no question in my mind
that Sergey Kovalev got jobbed. (LAUGHS)
He was pissed.
What did you think of the decision?
Nothing.
WARD: Like I said before the first fight,
you know, they said,
"Why do you need to win this fight?"
I said, "Because if I don't,
I won't be given the benefit of the doubt.
That's documented".
"What do you mean?"
I said, "I have to win."
I said, "If he loses, he'll get a pass".
"Well, I don't understand".
Really, I disappointed for judges' decision,
-like, It's... -(SHOUTING FROM CROWD)
See, people say, like...
I won this fight, and everybody agree with this.
You had an opportunity to finish me.
You knocked me down in the second round.
Where was The Krusher?
Witnesses is here. Witnesses are here.
-Everybody saw what happened. -(CROWD CHEERING)
MANNIX: If you watch Andre Ward's reaction
as the decision is being announced,
he's almost surprised that he came out with it.
BUFFER: And new...
I don't think Andre thought "Boy, I got a gift there."
But I'm sure he felt that, "That was a close one,
and maybe I got away with one".
I think Andre Ward deep down thought it was possible
that he lost that fight,
and that's why he had the reaction that he did.
I've seen that many times.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
WARD: I mean, can I not be happy?
I just won the light heavyweight championship of the world.
I've been boxing a long time. I knew it was a close fight.
One hundred percent, I was elated and happy.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
EGIS KLIMAS: I called him at night and he says,
"I re-watched the fight,
and there is no way I lost that fight."
I've challenged anybody to sit with me
and show me where he won the fight. Anybody.
So far, no takers.
I'm a guest here in U.S.A. He's a local,
and all judges was from U.S.A.
He's on record saying that, "Forget fighting in Nevada,
I'll fight him in Oakland".
Can you imagine if I got a close decision
in my actual hometown?
The sky would fall. There'd be a riot.
I think that's a little sour grapes
on the part of Sergey Kovalev.
I thought he won the fight, so I understand his perspective,
but I don't think that it was Andre Ward being favored
because he's American.
I would say there might have been more incompetence
on some of the judges' parts,
than there was any kind of home cooking.
It's a unanimous decision.
You think all three judges got it wrong?
But that's been the standard in my career.
Inside of him, he really knows, but he can't show it.
If he would be a true man...
he probably would take those belts
right there in the ring,
bring back and say, "Look, man...
I didn't win this fight. This belong to you".
That's what I would do.
He would grow into everybody's eyes.
He would become an icon. But he doesn't think about that.
He wants that unreal glory.
He took what does not belongs to him.
-Do you want a rematch? -Of course.
Of course, I want a rematch. And I will kick his ass.
I think... there's unfinished business here.
And no matter what Andre wants to say,
I think he recognizes that.
You know, they shouldn't have gotten past round two.
-KELLERMAN: Oh! -LAMPLEY: Down goes Ward!
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
We haven't seen a rematch like this in a long time.
After falling short in November,
Sergey has become his own personal hype machine.
In one of his latest tweets, he demanded:
"Andre, pray to me."
Sergey, I think what you are trying to say was:
"Pray for me."
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
You gonna curse on social media and show your bu--
Hey, we're not into all that.
You can keep tweeting on your phone over there,
you can cry and complain, and all that,
that's what bullies do when they don't get their way.
Bullies make excuses, and bullies try to intimidate
when they don't get their way.
Well, you didn't get your way, you ain't getting your way,
you're not gonna get your way.
He not deserve respect from me.
MANNIX: Maybe it's a tactic, maybe it's now he really feels,
but there is a dismissiveness to Ward
when he's talking about Kovalev.
I don't care about an Instagram.
I don't care about that stuff, man.
This is chess, it's not checkers.
You could make all the moves you want to make,
but it's about the checkmate.
This man for me, mean nothing, you know, like he's a...
-(SPEAKS RUSSIAN) -He thinks too much of himself.
He's walking like he has a crown on his head.
I'm very much in this guy's head
and I've learned more about him...
post-fight, in the last four months,
when-- How he dealt with adversity...
then I could have ever learned about him in a 12-round fight.
I didn't get to where I'm at
because there's something weak about me.
I didn't get to this point by happenstance.
The reality is, he's gotta see me June 17th.
That's the reality of the situation.
And whether you're with me... or whether you're against me...
Don't miss this fight. June 17th.
He got what he asked for.
I'll make it short and sweet... (SIGHS) Uh...
My greatest hope for June 17th,
is that the winner wins this time.
REPORTER: What do you want to do to him when you see him?
Punch him. I want to punch him.
I will get this opportunity.
YORMARK: These guys don't like each other.
And let me tell you, it's genuine.
They don't have to like each other,
it's a fight, you know. (CHUCKLES)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(LAUGHS) I think that pretty much sums it up.
(LAUGHING) Sergey's...
coming to end your career, and that's it.
(CAMERAS SHUTTERING)
I think the animosity
from Sergey Kovalev's point of view,
is that Andre Ward has kind of made it seem
like he won the fight convincingly,
when, obviously...
a lot of people thought that Sergey Kovalev won the fight.
Sergey Kovalev's really the first fight that he's had,
where at the end of it, there was any doubt
as to whether Andre Ward had won or not.
What some may think is hurting me; "Oh you...
you know, you lost in it"... that's fueling me.
And that's actually helping me.
He really is being a sore winner and I find that surprising,
uh, and telling, and very revealing.
I think, probably the biggest thing Andre Ward is offended by
is Sergey Kovalev saying, repeatedly,
that he's afraid of him.
He's clearly not afraid of him, he's now fighting him twice.
There's nothing that keeps me up at night.
There's nothing-- Be afraid of a rematch?
I just fought you for 12 rounds.
You know, the first fight was, essentially,
the first half of this contest. Rounds one through 12.
They're fighting a 24-round fight.
They didn't realize that's what they signed up for,
but it turns out that that's what we're gonna get.
We're halfway through now.
Well, you know, it's funny,
Sergey's only fought two rematches...
And if you look at the outcome of those fights...
he absolutely obliterated both of them.
Sergey might be the most...
inherently bad man (CHUCKLES) I've come across.
Thank you, Serg, once again.
-No (SPEAKING RUSSIAN) No. -Why not?
You know, you talk to him and even when he's...
being really nice to you, you know that,
one way or the other, he was going to wind up
earning money from hurting people,
and is going to want to, not only win the rematch,
but to do so in a way that causes
Andre Ward actual physical pain.
He obliterated Darnell Boone,
just blew him away, that was it,
and as far as Jean Pascal, who he had bad blood with,
he didn't knock him out quickly, quite deliberately.
He just prolonged the beating.
Having a personal dislike for his opponent
just makes him better.
Let's put it this way... we saw
in the ring, Sergey Kovalev, but not Krusher.
We will see Krusher.
Run.
KIERAN MULVANEY: If Sergey Kovalev
loses twice in a row,
no matter how controversial the verdict might have been,
this is a guy whose whole image
is based on him being this indestructible force.
If Andre Ward beats him twice in a row, that's gone.
Sergey did not have his path lined with gold medals
or premium network TV deals when he turned pro.
This is a guy who five years ago was a non-entity. Literally.
He really worked hard to get to where he got,
so quickly, from where he started, and, uh,
he is not willing to go back down there.
I think he's very anxious to get into the ring
and to take what is belong to him.
HOPKINS: He wants to go right to the dance again,
and correct...
what perceived to be wrong, right.
Andre might have to get off the canvas
one or two more times
because I believe Sergey is gonna come bring that force.
This is gonna show a lot about Andre
more than the first fight, I believe.
I don't talk about this stuff.
I keep his personal business out of it,
I'm not gonna go there,
but I know what's going on in that camp.
WARD: Unfortunately, this is a very small business.
I mean, I don't go searching for this information.
Our phone is ringing off the hook...
about habits, about mindsets,
about his reaction after the fight.
Internally, not publicly.
And it's confirmed everything we thought.
Andre conversely, is stunned by the sense that,
a lot of fans, a lot of media felt that he didn't legitimately
win the first fight.
Then he wants to make sure that this time,
there's absolutely no doubt.
His work ethic has been amazing. He preparin' for war.
You could knock him down once, you could knock him down twice,
he's getting up and he's beating you.
Period, end of story.
I don't think Kovalev understand what he's gonna be dealing with.
Is that a serious question?
Who's got the edge? Andre had the edge before,
and he's got the edge after,
and he's got the edge for eternity.
Sergey Kovalev has to give us a little bit more
than he gave us in the first fight.
Do a lot more, give us a lot more,
turn it on a lot more.
We know Ward makes good tactical adjustments in the ring,
what kind of adjustments can Kovalev make?
MULVANEY: Is he just gonna have to rely on his power?
Has he got something else up his sleeve?
No.
And I know a lot of people think it's absurd what I'm saying,
but...
I see Sergey quitting.
MULVANEY: Andre now knows
that he can be hurt by Sergey Kovalev,
which isn't a shock, but also, that he can get up from it.
I think Andre Ward is a puzzle that
there's not a boxer who's been able to figure that out.
I think he's gonna be the last one standing
with his arm raised.
The more I think about it, the more I think it's Kovalev,
because, I think the feeling is,
Andre got away with one.
That was by the skin of his teeth,
and he was fortunate to get the decision.
And it was Kovalev who showed he has the power to hurt Andre,
dropped him with a right hand, but hurt him with a jab,
and probably deserved to win the first time.
And that was with Andre pulling out every stop.
REPORTER: Do you need to punish him,
as revenge for the last fight?
Yeah, I want to destroy him, you know.
It's gon' be me or him.
'Cause I'm not gonna be hard to find.
Expect a much more fired up Sergey Kovalev.
LEDERMAN: I think that if he knocks him down,
he's not gonna let him get away.
Hopefully we're not gonna have a judge,
who not gonna let wrestling,
who not gonna let dance,
who's gonna be ordering to fight.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
We are in a fighting business, not dancing.
LAMPLEY: Down goes Hopkins!
We got two dangerous fighters...
MULVANEY: ...who are gonna wanna leave the ring
without any doubt, whatsoever.
No one wants to leave with that taste in their mouth.
Andre Ward, starting where he left off...
This time it would behoove Sergey Kovalev
to knock Andre Ward out.
A little bit more punches... and to-- to his face.
I'm trying to make him quit.
We have no idea what to expect.
I think it goes 12 rounds a second time.
YORMARK: I don't think it's gonna go 12 rounds,
I think Andre is gonna knock him out.
I would predict knockout.
I will kick his ass, 100 percent. Believe me.
WARD: What he has to wrap his brain around
is there's nothing scary about you.
I will finish his career.
Total domination and artistry.
We will see Krusher.
There will be no excuses after June 17th.
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