John David Jackson: Kovalev cannot take punishment to the body!
‘The Krusher’ Sergey Kovalev returns to action next weekend against Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, where he will once again challenge for the vacant WBO world light-heavyweight championship. That title is one of three world titles that Kovalev held prior to his stoppage defeat to the now-retired Andre Ward.
Since losing a second-time against 2-weight world champion Ward, Kovalev endured an acrimonious parting of the ways with former trainer and former world champion, John David Jackson.
Things became very heated between the pair as accusations flew backwards and forwards. Kovalev accused Jackson of being merely a passenger inside camp and Jackson retaliated by stating his belief that Kovalev quit in his highly anticipated rematch against Ward.
The drama between the pair has gradually escalated ever since Andre Ward revealed Jackson had personally leaked vital information to Ward and his team in the lead up to their highly anticipated rematch.
https://twitter.com/KrusherKovalev/status/928745796618432512
“I’ll tell any fighter this – if you go to the body with Sergey, you can beat him,” Jackson said exclusively to BoxingScene.com. “If Shabranskyy goes to the body from round one on – it’s like I told [assistant trainer] Don Turner before the second fight, ‘If Ward goes to the body, he’s gonna stop him.’ And that’s what he did, he stopped him. Ward went to the body and found his weakness. And any fighter that fights Sergey, if you go to the body you have a hell of a shot.”
“Even in the gym, when you hit the body, he turns away,” Jackson said. “He started doing the same thing in the [second] fight [with Ward]. There were times he’d stop the sparring. He’d just walk away and come back, the same way he did in the fight. But you can’t stop.”
Jackson said. “If he can just go to the body, he has a shot. I’m gonna give him a little help here – try to close the gap and go to the body. You can’t let Sergey throw those long shots. You can cut off his power because he needs distance to get that good shot in on you. Close that gap and go to the body. That goes for any fighter. I’ll tell anyone. I’ll tell their mama, ‘Tell your son to go to the body.’ ”
“They were afraid because all they heard about was his power,” Jackson added. “They said, ‘If I stay away from him, I can beat him.’ No, you’ve gotta get inside. I saw that when Glen Johnson sparred with him. Glen kept in close and went to the body.”
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