Andre Ward Thankful There’s No More “Stopping And Going” In His Career

Unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward said he is all tuned up for his upcoming rematch against Sergey Kovalev.

Ward recently appeared on ESPN’s First Take program co-hosted by HBO boxing commentator Max Kellerman and said he has been working very well in training camp and is happy that he is able to consistently train and not acquiring ring rust anymore. Ward did not fight for over an 18-month stretch from 2013-15 after legal battles over former promoter Dan Goossen.

“I can’t speak for [Kovalev], but for myself you’re going to see a fighter that rises to the occasion and goes to another level,” Ward said. “I’m going to have fun, I’m going to enjoy myself and I don’t think I really had much fun in the first fight. There’s levels to this game and as an athlete, you know, ‘I won, but I didn’t do this, or I wasn’t clicking.’ I’ve been doing things in training camp that I haven’t been doing in a long time. I feel like my legs are back. I’m feeling good because people have to realize I’ve had some stopping and going in my career, legal battles to push through. But this is the first time I’ve had consistent fights over an extended period of time. I take full responsibility for the early part of the fight, but I’m also going to give myself and my team a lot of credit for handling adversity and you’re just going to see a tremendous performance.”

Ward is defending his unified light heavyweight titles (WBA/IBF/IBO/Lineal) against Ward on June 17 in an HBO pay-per-view headliner from Las Vegas. Ward won the first fight back on November 19, 2016 via unanimous decision.

The interview can be seen in the video above.