The hard-hitting Russian, who holds the WBO, IBF and WBA titles, faces mandatory challenger Mohammedi on July 25th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but reacted angrily to talk of Pascal and Stevenson when answering questions from various journalists at his media obligation.
“I had some problems in my training camp for Pascal. I made some mistakes. I started to make my weight very late,” said Kovalev.
“I was very happy after Hopkins fight. It was a lot of things. I celebrated New Year and Christmas in Russia. Christmas is biggest holiday in Russia. I got a lot of overfull. It made for me big trouble to make the weight for the fight. I didn’t have a good sparring partner for the fight. It was a lot of things. Right now everything is clean and going very well.
“I don’t want to speak about Pascal because he does not deserve to get attention. He lost my respect for him even before the fight. I cannot respect even his team. He is piece of shit. Same as Stevenson. I think all fighters make terrible fighters in Canada. I don’t respect and I want to kick his ass again and much, much bigger this time. If it will happen rematch, he will sleep in four rounds because he is a piece of shit.”
Asked again his thoughts on WBC champion Stevenson, Kovalev added bluntly: “He is a piece of shit.”
Kovalev then moved on to give his reaction to fighting at such a high profile venue in the capital of boxing, before ‘Krusher’ finishing with a stark warning for the unfancied Mohammedi.
“For me, any fight means a lot because it is the next step. Who I am and how I do my job means a lot. He is the #1 IBF contender. He deserves this fight.
“I very excited that I have three titles and I have the opportunity to defend it against Mohammedi. He deserves this fight. He is #1. He is very motivated. When a boxer is motivated or any man is motivated it makes him very dangerous. I can say (this) – that I will kick his ass.”
A unification fight between Kovalev and Stevenson still looks a long shot to happen in the near future due to TV network conflictions for both world title holders – leaving the fight in danger of losing fans interest the longer the block stays in place.
