Sergey Kovalev is an angry man.
?I don?t like this guy and I want to punish him because he puts his nose really up right now,? Kovalev said of unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward. ?I don?t care if he shows respect to me or not. I know only one thing: I will kick his ass! I want to destroy him.”
Even prior to the first bout, Kovalev and Andre Ward weren’t exactly chummy. But ever since Ward controversially defeated him in November, Kovalev has been incensed.
In fact, since last fall the fighters’ bitterness towards each other has only grown, especially on Sergey’s end.
?I want to destroy this guy as a boxer, as a champion. For me, he is not a champion, he?s fake champion. He lives right now with this status (but) he?s a fake champion. He believes in his victory over me and right now he?s trying to get belief of people in this victory. He knows he didn?t win. It?s wrong, for me, it?s wrong.?
Is Sergey just trying to promote the fight?
… Probably not.
?It?s not the first fight where I?m angry, I?m always angry when I am fighting…?
Boxing is a sport that generally requires its combatants to have a killer instinct anyway. Killer instinct, of course, is a euphemism for ruthlessness. It describes the ability within a person to hurt another person for non-self-defense purposes. Fighters are typically thought to innately possess this nature, figuratively-speaking, inside the ring.
In Kovalev’s case, though, his apparent disdain for Ward goes beyond the typical (sporting sense) ‘killer instinct’ he carries into the ring.
Winning a close decision this time probably wouldn’t be enough for Sergey as he seems to want to put a real ‘hurtin’ on Ward.
Will Kovalev’s anger boil out of control a la Mike Tyson in his rematch with Evander Holyfield? Would he, out of sheer instinct, anger and frustration, take the opportunity to belt a defenseless Ward outside the rules?
Would he be able to control himself if Andre took a knee after absorbing a hard combination?
Should he have Ward hurt against the ropes, would Sergey immediately stop punching when the bell rang?
Sergey Kovalev has never been a dirty fighter but if there’s any elite-level fighter capable of being disqualified this year, it’s Sergey Kovalev.
——– Ward vs Kovalev 2 News Date: June 17 Broadcast: HBO PPV Location: Las Vegas Venue: Mandalay Bay
Division: Light heavyweight Titles: WBA, WBO and IBF Champion: Ward ————
Ward vs Kovalev odds At this moment, SKYBet says the odds of Ward winning by KO/TKO or Disqualification (DQ) are 8/1. However, we are not seeing the odds of a Ward win via DQ only.
Overall, SKYBet has Ward slated as the overall 2/3 favorite while Kovalev is their 5/4 underdog.
Disqualifications rarely happen but the statistical probability of it occurring for Ward vs Kovalev 2 is likely much higher than the typical prizefight.
Let’s hope both fighters keep it clean on June 17.
