In this video interview with FightHub, Andre Ward talks to Marcos Villegas about the rumors of Sergey Kovalev's trainer attempting to defect to his camp for the rematch. Check out what he had to say below...
Ward no John David Jackson attempting to join his team:
"Nah, we didn't want to bring him in, he asked to come in."
On Jackson saying it was Ward's team who reached out to him:
"I mean what else is he gonna say?! In that situation nobody is gonna say 'yeah, you got me!' I mean he's gonna try to spin it - it's just too much of a track record. And I never communicated with the guy personally, that's not my deal, you but my team, they entertained it - as they should. And I told them 'ok, see what he's talking about.' This is gamesmanship. This is a game of chess. But the only problem is, for him, we're deliberating, trying to figure out this guy's motive - he gave up a lot of information. He gave up a lot of information about what they did in the last camp, things he was trying to tell Kovalev to do, he wasn't listening to anybody. Before the fight started they silenced [Jackson] and told him 'you talk at this point in the fight, after that let my Russian coach talk.' Then even after the fight he told Kovalev 'Hey man, Ward took the fight to you, you need to change some things' and he said Kovalev got violent with him, verbally, and told him 'You need to change some things!'
"How else would I know this if it wasn't told to us? So, I mean you just gotta look at just the logic of it. I have one of the best coaches I feel like in the world. No disrespect to John David, we don't need John David Jackson. We won the first fight...so if you look at the logic of the situation it just doesn't add up and furthermore who just picks up the phone randomly one day and says I'ma try to pluck the head trainer of the guy I'm getting ready to fight? Especially after everything he said about us leading up to the first fight. First of all, that's not even our character, we wouldn't do that. Second of all, where's the logic in that? Who would take that risk...it makes no sense at all. It's just damage control, man..."