Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev II Fight Preview: Ward Skips 'Face Off' Taping
The mind games have begun.
On Sunday, Sergey Kovalev and his camp revealed that they were supposed to film an episode of HBO's "Face Off" with Andre Ward, but the American boxer failed to show up. Well, Kovalev and his promoter, Main Events, weren't too happy about it.
"HBO was set up to shoot a Face Off with Sergey and Ward today (Sunday)," Main Events CEO Kathy Duva told RingTV.com.
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"And this morning, a few hours before the taping, HBO and I got an email from Roc Nation informing us that Andre had already left town. So unprofessional. And such disregard for the money wasted by both his promoter and Main Events. More important, an HBO crew was at the studio setting this up at 4:00 a.m. because Ward's people insisted that we start as early as possible today," she continued.
Now before anyone bashes Ward for failing to fulfill his contractual obligations, RingTV.com's Michael Woods said he also spoke with a source with knowledge of the situation from Ward's side and he was told that it was Kovalev who didn't want to help promote the fight.
Apparently, Ward and Kovalev were supposed to be interviewed during the Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight on HBO last Saturday, but Kovalev didn't want to take part. After that, Ward decided to leave town since he didn't want to go out of his way to accommodate his opponent.
Okay, so both fighters are reminding fans that they don't really like each other and the animosity is real. That should generate some buzz in lead-upd up to the bout.
But Ward and Kovalev better get their act together to promote this fight. Their first fight was good. However, it was somewhat of an afterthought for casual fans because of the lack of promotion. That shouldn't happen again.
This may be a hard fight to promote, but they should at least try.
