"I take Kovalev as being an intelligent fighter and he's been in the game long enough. I think in that situation, he would probably ask himself logical questions. Would I have to deal with southpaw or not? What are the things that are coming to the table...You have to have more than power. You have to have more than skill. You have to have a lot of other ingredients that come to fruition in situations like that. Number one is being able to perform under those lights," stated Virgil Hunter, world-class trainer of undefeated former world champion Andre Ward, who opened up about their highly-anticipated showdown with Isaac Chilemba. Check it out!
BT: Congratulations on Dre getting his 30th victory. What did you think about his performance?
VH: I was pleased with the performance because the objective was to get rounds in. What would we have accomplished by getting Brand out in 3 or 4 rounds. We wouldn't have accomplished anything because we wouldn't get the work. I wanted to see his reactions. I wanted to see his reflexes. When I realized we had to go forward in the fight, I wanted to see how he did that because normally we don't go forward the whole fight; and then to fight a guy who made up his mind he's going to survive. It was a good fight for timing, good fight for reflexes, because again, no matter how hard you hit, you gotta land. So I'm happy with how the fight went and never worry about the consensus of what people said or what somebody else said somebody could've done. I mean, George Foreman got Joe Frazier and Ken Norton out of there in 2, but he couldn't beat Ali. But Joe Frazier and Norton gave Ali problems. Manny [Pacquiao] was knocking out everybody that Floyd fought. He knocked out De La Hoya, Hatton, but he couldn't do nothing with Floyd. Shane [Mosley], knocking out Margarito and people they say Floyd was afraid, but Floyd won a decisive decision over Shane. And I'm a Shane Mosley fan; always have been and always will be. I'm just speaking the facts. Sonny Liston knocking out everybody; it goes on and on that you can refute that when it comes to boxing, because again, styles make fights and I'm pretty sure that we probably would've got him out of there. I'm quite positive if we would've decided we wanted a knockout, we could've got him out of there, but we wanted the rounds and we got what we wanted.
BT: During the fight, Dre switched to southpaw and stayed in that stance for a long time. Was that something you guys decided he would do prior to the fight?
VH: Well, in the second round, I told him if he had an opportunity and was feeling it, work southpaw some also because he can. We wanted to bring that in. If you notice early on in his pro career, he went to southpaw quite often. So we did want to show a little bit of southpaw. Some of what we do is southpaw; not everything, but some of what we do is southpaw, so yeah, that definitely was in the plan.
BT: Obviously Kovalev was in attendance for the fight to get a firsthand look at Dre. Do you think Dre switching to southpaw gave Kovalev even more to think about and prepare for?
VH: You know, I really can't say. I take Kovalev as being an intelligent fighter and he's been in the game long enough. I think in that situation, he would probably ask himself logical questions. Would I have to deal with southpaw or not? What are the things that are coming to the table? I'm sure he has it where he's supposed to have it. He's got a good coach; I'm sure they'll make preparations for Andre to switch.
BT: After the fight, Kovalev went into the ring, giving everyone a chance to see both fighters side by side as they stood next each other. As a trainer, did you size him up at that moment and already start preparing for the November showodown?
VH: Me, personally, no. I've seen him on a few occasions. They're the same height. Kovalev might have a little longer reach or whatever, but no, I didn't make anything out of it at all other than HBO doing what they normally do to try to promote the fight, which is a good thing. I didn't make anything out of it at all.
BT: When Kellerman asked Kovalev about the fight, he replied saying that it was going to be similar to the Chilemba fight. What do you think he means by that?
VH: I think he's speaking of what might be considered a similarity because his promotional company and coach and everybody has said that Chilemba was the best thing for him to get prepared. I think he was more or less referring to the similarities that he could refer to. But most definitely there is a difference between the two styles. There's similarities, but there are more differences. That's not taking anything away from Chilemba because he's a good fighter. It's not taking away. They do have some similarities, but I think the differences outweigh the similarities.
BT: Obviously Bernard Hopkins has been in the ring with Kovalev. Knowing that, do you think you'll be reaching out to him to maybe pick up a few tips?
VH: I really don't do that at all because everybody has a different approach. If I was to speak to Bernard, I wouldn't want to speak to the Alien; I would want to speak to the Executioner. Even though the Executioner wasn't in that fight, I would be interested in knowing how the Executioner would've approached that fight; not the Alien, but how the Executioner would've approached the fight. I don't think an answer coming from a guy who's fought an opponent carries any more weight than a guy like Brand who's never fought Kovalev, but predicts a Kovalev knockout. I don't take anything from that because you can't. It's so much that goes into a fight of that significance. You have to have more than power. You have to have more than skill. You have to have a lot of other ingredients that come to fruition in situations like that. Number one is being able to perform under those lights. I think those are the most important things, being able to perform under the lights. I thought it was interesting, in Chilemba vs. Kovalev, some of the reasons why they said Kovalev didn't knock out Chilemba. I was surprised at some of the reasons that they used. Ticket sales, being with the family, satisfying friends; I mean, I don't know what extent all this was, but they made it seem like it was a big party every night. It probably was because of a man who was determined not to get knocked out because he weathered the storm, I believe, a couple of times. It's hard to say, but it takes more than the strengths that you displayed to win a fight of that magnitude. It takes a lot. Like I said, you look at Manny against Hatton; two rounds, the fight is over. Why? We really don't know. It was a change in trainers. He just came off a knockout loss with Floyd. I think Ricky Hatton is the best example. He never got over the Floyd knockout, so that left him vulnerable for the Pacquiao punch. He never got over that. With what was going on inside of him probably made the mistake of getting redemption for that knockout. "If I beat Manny, I'll redeem myself for the knockout administered by Mayweather." So he could've left himself open without realizing it if he had that mindset. I think he's the perfect example of that. Some guys get knocked out and they go through different changes; mental changes. I think that's the perfect example that I can give you. I can't take the Chilemba fight and make anything out of it. Only fans can do that. You have to deal with the opponent straight up.
BT: When you're watching tape on a guy, how far back in their performances do you go?
VH: It's kind of hard to explain, Ben, because I don't study tape. I just memorize things.
BT: Things like what, his tendencies?
VH: Just memorize movements, memorize tendencies, and take one on each side; one on the defensive side and one on the offensive side, and just memorize him. You know, who he is. If I look at something long enough, I don't have to see everything. It's like looking at a beautiful woman in the front. Well, we can hope that the rear view is up to par with the front, and we have a pretty good indication depending on what she has on, how she's walking, how she's carrying herself, how she's shaped all the way around. Observing all the time, you get a good idea and you'll say to yourself, "I knew it was like this even though I didn't see it because I could just tell from the front what the back was going to be about." I kinda just memorize things. More than anything, the fighter/coach relationship...because you hear things, like Kovalev being knocked down in the amateurs. This was told to me by people who actually had the fighter who did it. Doesn't say a lot, you know, because it was so long ago, but what happened then can happen at any time, and that works both ways. But I think the most important thing is the fighter/coach relationship, particularly in a fight of that magnitude. If it gets real tough, will that fighter have confidence in what that coach is saying?
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM WORLD-CLASS TRAINER VIRGIL HUNTER
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