Andre Ward: I've only seen Sergey Kovalev fight live once

By Matt Horan

Sky Sports boxing presenter Adam Smith says the light-heavyweight showdown between unbeaten rivals Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward will be a brilliant clash

Andre Ward claims that he has only seen one live full fight involving Sergey Kovalev, but is confident that 10 weeks is enough time to watch and learn all he needs to know.

The two unbeaten fighters will do battle in a huge light-heavyweight showdown on November 19 at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, live and exclusive on Sky Sports.

Image: Andre Ward

Kovalev (30-0-1-KO26) will put his IBF, WBA Super and WBO world titles on the line against the former super-middleweight kingpin and Ward (30-0-KO15) admits that although he has not seen much of his Russian opponent in action, it is by no means a problem.

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"The first full fight that I ever watched of Kovalev's was his rematch with Jean Pascal earlier this year," Ward told Boxing Scene "Other than that, I haven't seen much of him at all.

Sergey Kovalev hopes he will be recognised as the pound-for-pound best fighter in boxing if he defeats Andre Ward on November 29, live on Sky Sports.

"I've been around long enough and 10 weeks is more than enough time to really, really dissect and look at the small things.

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"I've seen him fight and I've seen plenty of clips, so I know what I'm looking at. I'm sure I will gain more knowledge at training camp as we dig deeper and I have more than enough time to see what I want to see."

Image: Sergey Kovalev (L) and Andre Ward (R) face off during the press conference for the Kovalev v Ward

Ward, who will be making his first Vegas appearance, has also received advice from fellow boxers since the fight announcement was made.

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"With a big fight like this, my phone started ringing straight away with people saying: 'I sparred with him,' or 'I was in his camp,' or 'I fought him, and this is what I see'. I have been getting these calls ever since the fight was announced.

"With that, my coach is obviously doing his job and we have discussions all the time about the things we need to know."

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