Andre Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter says that if he is to become a fully fledged 175 lb fighter and sign to fight Russian banger Sergey Kovalev, it will happen when they are ready to do it and not the other way around.
Ward returned after 19 months out at a catch-weight of 172 lbs in June, beating up on overmatched British challenger Paul Smith and there is strong rumour that the Roc Nation star will next appear against a TBA opponent on the undercard of November’s Cotto/Canelo mega-fight, as he prepares for an eventual move to 175 good and proper.
“Time will tell where he’s gonna be, the next fight we will see a lot,” Hunter said to fighthype.com regarding his fighter’s next move and whether or not he will seek to relinquish the WBA (sup) title he currently owns.
There have previously been various levels of noise from the Kovalev camp – including promoter Kathy Duva and trainer John David Jackson – regarding Ward, with the latter picking his fighter to be too strong, too powerful and too good for the skillful former Olympic gold medalist.
“If John David Jackson thinks Sergey Kovalev is just gonna walk through Andre Ward then he’s gonna get a rude awakening,” Hunter said. “If he [Andre] does go to light heavyweight it’ll be done the right way.”
“They [Kovalev’s team] can plan that fight all they want to but it’ll happen when he and I say it’s gonna happen and [Andre] will be a real light heavyweight.
“I’ve watched Sergey Kovalev, he’s a superb fighter. He’s got good feet, he’s got good range but that’s against who he’s been fighting. I’m not taking nothing away – [it’s obvious] he punches hard but nobody has ever walked through Andre Ward.”
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