Sergey Kovalev is moving on with his career. And he will do so without the services of trainer John David Jackson.
Will Kovalev have a trainer before his next fight, which is scheduled to take place in a little over two months time? According to Kovalev, do not hold your breath.
Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 knockouts) will face light heavyweight contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy on November 25 inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 12-round bout will air live on HBO.
The Shabranskyy bout will mark Kovalev’s return, since his eighth round stoppage loss to Andre Ward on June 17. After spending the summer visiting family and defending a master’s thesis in his native Russia, Kovalev has already begun training for the Shabranskyy fight.
The notable omission from this training camp is Jackson, who had been in the corner of Kovalev since 2012. During that time, Kovalev won three world title belts and was considered the best light heavyweight in boxing.
Then came the two fights with Ward, the second of which was punctuated by the stunning knockout loss. For Kovalev, the events on that day are spotty, at best.
“I don’t remember anything from the middle of the second round on,” Kovalev told a group of boxing scribes Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas while waiting to watch the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight that evening. “I woke up from the right hand by Andre Ward in the eighth round. I don’t know what was wrong with my body during the fight.”
“... What has happened, happened. It’s already history. It was like a bad dream. I woke up and now I want to continue my career.”
Kovalev, who is promoted by Main Events and managed by Egis Klimas, heard what Jackson said recently about what had occurred during training camp for the Ward rematch. Jackson stated he dropped Kovalev with body punches and had private discussions with the Ward camp.
Not mincing words, Kovalev had his own opinion of Jackson.
“It’s funny but I don’t need a coach. All this time with John David Jackson, I got nothing from him. Everything, my preparation, was constructed by myself. Jackson wouldn’t help me. A coach should help you inside the ring between rounds, when you have a minute rest, to explain or help you with tactics. I know when and where to punch, since I began boxing at 11 years old. I had thoughts for a while about splitting with Jackson.”
“I read (what Jackson said about me) but in Russian (media). Someone translated what he said to Russian. I don’t want to say any bad words (about him). He’s a nice guy. He’s not the coach for me. He might be a good trainer and a good guy. I need a teacher who will take me to the next level.”
For now, Kovalev is training himself and is content with that. It does not sound like he is in a hurry to seek out a trainer with whom to to work but that could change.
Maybe he doesn't need a trainer, but he sure needs a conditioning coach/expert, as his stamina is woeful.
Kovalev needs to sort himself out, because it sounds like his career might peter out if he isn't careful, because the noises coming out of his camp aren't very encouraging to me.
boxing_rocks wrote:Where is a part of the article where Klimas is saying that they are actually contacting different trainers?
I only included the pertinent comments directly related to the title of the article being quoted. If I quoted the entirety of The RING’s thoughts on the matter in its original format, the post would have been far too long to read.
That being said, I did not manipulate or misrepresent any of the content of the article. It has been replicated verbatim, with only the extraneous content removed.
I had already previously posted a separate thread discussing Kovalev looking for trainers.
I said before : Kovalev is an ego-maniac, Jackson is a typical aššhole. But, in this interview, Kovalev spoke like a gentleman.
It is a little bit strange for me, honestly.
boxing_rocks wrote:Where is a part of the article where Klimas is saying that they are actually contacting different trainers?
I only included the pertinent comments directly related to the title of the article being quoted. If I quoted the entirety of The RING’s thoughts on the matter in its original format, the post would have been far too long to read.
That being said, I did not manipulate or misrepresent any of the content of the article. It has been replicated verbatim, with only the extraneous content removed.
I had already previously posted a separate thread discussing Kovalev looking for trainers.
ValMar wrote:I said before : Kovalev is an ego-maniac, Jackson is a typical aššhole. But, in this interview, Kovalev spoke like a gentleman.
It is a little bit strange for me, honestly.
Sergey is blunt. Says/does what he needs to say/do and gets it out of his system. Remember the heated temper surrounding Sillakh? Well, when he entered the ring it was nothing but respect, after the KO comes the outburst, then it's back to respect. People want to paint him as some total scumbag when he doesn't follow the trend of being a fake media persona.
Kovalev has been saying that JDJ doesn't really help him for years (at least in Russian). His statement meant "I don't need THAT coach". He explicitly said that he needs a teacher who would give him advise.
boxing_rocks wrote:Where is a part of the article where Klimas is saying that they are actually contacting different trainers?
I only included the pertinent comments directly related to the title of the article being quoted. If I quoted the entirety of The RING’s thoughts on the matter in its original format, the post would have been far too long to read.
That being said, I did not manipulate or misrepresent any of the content of the article. It has been replicated verbatim, with only the extraneous content removed.
I had already previously posted a separate thread discussing Kovalev looking for trainers.
Mexi-Box wrote:He should go with Robert Garcia. I remember Garcia was training Gvozdyk for a while. Not sure what happened to that.
Nah, Garcia isn't good enough. He mainly trains bangers and pressure fighters.
No hes very good, sees fighters strengths and multiplys them, look at Maidana and how well he did in his career with a crude limited tool set. Lets not forget about his diamond, counter puncher/boxer puncher Mikey Garcia, hes a high level operator.
Mexi-Box wrote:He should go with Robert Garcia. I remember Garcia was training Gvozdyk for a while. Not sure what happened to that.
Nah, Garcia isn't good enough. He mainly trains bangers and pressure fighters.
No hes very good, sees fighters strengths and multiplys them, look at Maidana and how well he did in his career with a crude limited tool set. Lets not forget about his diamond, counter puncher/boxer puncher Mikey Garcia, hes a high level operator.
Mikey is just his brother. Maidana was lucky to get aging Floyd. Anyway, he can't train Kovalev like Maidana, Rios, Rubio or the Russian Mexican (forgot his name).
Enlightened-One wrote:“I don’t remember anything from the middle of the second round on,” ... “I woke up from the right hand by Andre Ward in the eighth round. I don’t know what was wrong with my body during the fight.”
"All this time with John David Jackson, I got nothing from him. Everything, my preparation, was constructed by myself. Jackson wouldn’t help me. A coach should help you inside the ring between rounds, when you have a minute rest, to explain or help you with tactics. I know when and where to punch, since I began boxing at 11 years old. I had thoughts for a while about splitting with Jackson.”
“I read (what Jackson said about me) but in Russian (media). Someone translated what he said to Russian. I don’t want to say any bad words (about him). He’s a nice guy. He’s not the coach for me. He might be a good trainer and a good guy. I need a teacher who will take me to the next level.”
Jackson was the guy who tried to go over to Ward's camp and lied about it -- and called all the people in Ward's camp liars ... He was the man giving Kovalev the water too... He may have had bets on the fight or consorted with gamblers... He had a lot to do with Sergei's performance not be KO caliber as usual... He was trying to destroy him.
One thing for certain... John David Jackson is the biggest piece of shiit in the universe and Kovalev is better off without him.
Enlightened-One wrote:“I don’t remember anything from the middle of the second round on,” ... “I woke up from the right hand by Andre Ward in the eighth round. I don’t know what was wrong with my body during the fight.”
"All this time with John David Jackson, I got nothing from him. Everything, my preparation, was constructed by myself. Jackson wouldn’t help me. A coach should help you inside the ring between rounds, when you have a minute rest, to explain or help you with tactics. I know when and where to punch, since I began boxing at 11 years old. I had thoughts for a while about splitting with Jackson.”
“I read (what Jackson said about me) but in Russian (media). Someone translated what he said to Russian. I don’t want to say any bad words (about him). He’s a nice guy. He’s not the coach for me. He might be a good trainer and a good guy. I need a teacher who will take me to the next level.”
Jackson was the guy who tried to go over to Ward's camp and lied about it -- and called all the people in Ward's camp liars ... He was the man giving Kovalev the water too... He may have had bets on the fight or consorted with gamblers... He had a lot to do with Sergei's performance not be KO caliber as usual... He was trying to destroy him.
One thing for certain... John David Jackson is the biggest piece of shiit in the universe and Kovalev is better off without him.
That's complete bullshit. He wouldn't have come close to making weight. Thanks for linking me to an opinion piece written with less insight than anyone on this site.
Trying to paint another hateful Kovalev picture.