Egis Klimas, manager of former world light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, commented on the recent statements of former trainer John David Jackson and suggested that Jackson was capable of drugging Sergey before the fight with Andre Ward.
- Congrats on Usyk's victory over the weekend. Can you give us some thoughts on his performance? Nothing can be better than a win over Marco Huck. It was a good fight and a great victory for Usyk. I think it was one of the best performances from Aleksandr.
- What did you think about Huck's action before and during the fight when he shoved Usyk and hit him while he was down?
- Huck had some words for Aleksandr that are not accepted in the Russian or Ukrainian community. Then in the ring he had some very dirty actions as well. What I liked the most though is that Aleksandr didn't react bad and he did what a boxer is supposed to do."
- Were you pleased with the way that he finished the fight?
- Of course my friend, he did really good and finished the fight the right way."
- Briedis or Perez? Who do you think he's going to be fighting next?
- I have my money on Briedis. I think he's going to win the fight and that's going to be another very good fight. This tournament has all of the champions and unfortunately there aren't any American champions, but I wish we would be able to have a tournament like this in America."
- Kovalev-Shabranskyy was just announced. Can you give us some thoughts on that fight?
- Shabranskyy is a very tough opponent for Kovalev I would say. I saw him many times in my gym and he's a very tough cookie. It's not going to be an easy fight for Kovalev, but I think Sergey is going to do the right thing. Let me tell you this, I think we're going to see a completely different Sergey than we have in the last couple of fights."
- John David Jackson has been making some derogatory remarks about Kovalev, calling him a quitter. What started all this? What's going on?
- I don't like to talk trash, but we're coming to this point and John David Jackson is the one who started it, but I'm not sure he didn't put some kind of sleeping pill in Sergey's water before we went into the ring because Sergey was asleep in the ring."
- Are you serious?
- I am serious and you can put that in the f**king paper."
- What was the main reason that Sergey decided to no longer work with him?
- Sergey hasn't announced yet that he's not going to work with him anymore."
- Well after John's remarks I imagine the relationship is over. So who's going to be training Sergey now?
- We haven't decided yet, but we will look for somebody. There's many trainers, not too many teachers. We're going to look for a teacher."
- Does this put Sergey at a disadvantage going into his next fight?
- Sergey is the caliber of fighter where he knows what to do. We're not going to change him, we've just got to bring him back to where he was at the beginning. That's what everyone wants."
- Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?
- Boxing has been having a very good year and there's much more to come, so stay tuned."