[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ male announcer:the following is a presentation of hbo sports. [inspiring music]
Hbo Game Of Thrones Schedule, - i was born to fight. - my life has alwaysbeen a fight. i think the hardest part of my fight in life is just learning how to dealwith setbacks
and learning how to dealwith obstacles and learning how to dealwith challenges and learning how to persevere through those challenges. - in boxing,you can prepare for any punch and be ready. but you never know when life can give you punch. schreiber: you could define a fighter as a man who knows only one way to make sense of the world...
who comprehends pain as a singular gauge of truth... whose approach to his pursuit is categorically inseparable from his identity. - go, go, go. - what's up, man?- okay, good to see you. - hello! schreiber: on november 19th, sergey kovalev and andre ward will square off for the light heavyweight championship in boxing's most anticipated bout of the year.
two of the world's greatest fighters. two men who've always known only one way to live. [serene music] the story of andre ward begins in northern california. it's here where the son of an african-american mother and a white father first came to understand the complexities of his identity. ward: growing up as a biracial kid in the bay area--
probably growing up like a biracial kid anywhere-- you have struggles, and the white side wouldconsider you black. so you're not acceptedon that side, and a lot of times,on the african-american side, you're not black enough. schreiber: ward's father frank, a former amateur fighter, raised andre and his brother jonathan on his own in their early years.
ward: i mean, my dad was superman to me. there was just this internal fortitude about my father that i recognized as a kid. and, you know, i always feltsafe in my dad's presence. schreiber: when ward was nine, his world changed forever when his dad took him to this hayward, california, gym. ward: so this gym right here is the first gym i've ever walked in. it's the first time i ever seena real boxing ring.
like, it's boarded upright here. like, my dad, you know--i wasn't big enough to look inside the gym. there used to be a windowright there. my dad lifted me up, and i looked in the gym,and i saw the ring. that's the first timei fell in love with-- with this sport, man. that's the first timei ever was like,
"i want to do this." joe.- hey! - good to see you, man.- how you doing? good to see you.how's everything going? - first heavy bag ever i hit. - i had to hang it up there,because once you signed it, nobody would punch it. they said, "we can't punch that." - it's the first bag i ever hit,right here.
old-school leather. i used to walk downthese steps every day. it's crazy--when you're--when you're small... - it looks so big?- it looked so big. and when you get old--and you get older, the place looks so small. - i know this placewas bigger than that. - that's crazy. and this is--this is where i met virg.
- uh-huh, exactly.that's where you met virg. - i was hitting that bag--that black bag that we talked about. and he was sitting over, like,on that bench right there-- that, you know, that littlearea over there. and i hit the bag,and i look at him, and he give me a nodof approval. - he look--he was--he was herelooking for fighters. say, "well, there he is."- [laughing]
that's crazy.- that's how everything started. - so i started right there.- yep. schreiber: "virg" is virgil hunter, who began training ward shortly after the youngster discovered the gym. they formed an instant bond, with hunter glimpsing harbingers of the extraordinary in his student. hunter: he had a wisdom
that most kids his agedidn't have. he was a winner, i mean,plain and simple, and-- really no other wayto define it. schreiber: soon, ward began what would be a highly decorated amateur career. and from the outset, the fighter, his father, and his trainer, targeted the 2004 olympics as a long-term goal. but as ward blossomed in the ring,
elsewhere he was beginning to see unnerving holes in the aura of his hero. ward: i just watched this pattern with my dad where he'd be normal in the morning. we'd go to school,me and my brother. my dad would go to work. he'd come home,he'd be normal-- tired, but normal. and he'd spendsome time with us,
and then he'd go into his room for about an hour. and then he'd come outjust a different person. and i just couldn't-- i couldn't wrapmy brain around it. i couldn't wrap my brainaround it. i'm like--and i usedto tell my brother, "man, i hate whenhe goes in that room, "'cause he--it's weird.
he comes out different." yeah, and this house-- this is when i came to find out really what addiction was. in this house, this is wheni got the understanding of, like, what my dad wasactually struggling with. i had to grow up a lotin this house, you know-- probably quicker thani wanted to, uh, because of justlife circumstances.
and i was a young kid. i was a young kid. schreiber: the source of frank ward's struggle, it turns out, was heroin. meanwhile, andre was estranged from his mother madeline, who was living for stretches at a time in the streets, battling her own demons. ward: i saw my friends with their parents. and i was like, "man,
"what would that be like, "to come home,and your mom is there, and she's cooking, and..." i just didn't understandwhat that felt like, and it hurt. uh, but then my mom would pop upevery now and again. you know,she'd be kind of beat up from the streets--not physically, but just, you know--just fromliving that type of lifestyle.
and, you know,i soon found out that her-- her struggle was crack cocaine. schreiber: ward only lived in this house for a few years. his father lost it when he sought full-time treatment for his addiction. - and this right here--this brings back memories. this is first placeme and my brother came to. when my dad lost our home,he had to go into a program. uh, this was millie and virg,who, you know--
at that time,they were our godparents, and--and virg had beentraining me probably for, like, three or four years. you know, they took us in,and this--this is-- this is where we stayed,right here. i mean, who does that? - well, my--my whole goalin that was to make him and his brother feel secureand let them know that everything wasgonna be all right,
as far as they were concerned. i promised them thati would look after them until they were able tolook after themselves, if that's what itturned out to be. schreiber: ward lived for most of his teenage years with hunter in the bay area, though he also reunited for a period of time in inner city oakland with his mother. still, all throughout frank ward's troubles,
he remained a strong presence in his son's life... until tragedy struck when andre was 18. [somber music] ward: my father dying, and dying abruptly, was probably, you know, one of the toughest things i've ever had to deal with in my life, even to this day, because i wasn't preparedfor it, you know. my dad died of heart diseaseat 46 years old.
you know, i wanted answers from god, and-- and didn't have 'em. and i just shut down. i didn't want to box anymore. you know, i wasn't praying, reading my bible, going to church-- none of that stuff. i was self-destruction. started--started, you know,drinking a lot. you know, started hangingwith the wrong people.
um, i just didn't care. schreiber: nonetheless, the pinnacle he'd been targeting, the 2004 olympics, was drawing near. as ever, virgil hunter's guidance was vital. hunter: what i told him was-- is that whatever he hadand whatever he desired to do-- that once it's gone,it's gone. you're not gonna get it back.
i never was concerned about andre the boxer. it was andre the young man that i was concerned about. - somehow, some way, man,you know, i was able to get thingsin order in time and qualify and get backon the right track. find myself in athens, greece. [rousing music] my dad was big on things like honor. my dad was big on things like respect.
he was big on our family name. i didn't want my dad to die in vain. schreiber: ward took home the gold in athens, officially pronouncing himself one of the best young american prospects in generations. with a new level of stakes and fame in the offing, when he returned home, he sought out napoleon kaufman,
a former nfl running back turned pastor. - i just saw him as a young-- young man that was, you know,seeking to get his life right with the lord. he did talk to me a little bit about the loss of his father. um, but when i saw him,i just saw someone that was--was lookingfor direction-- had some pain.
but i was very, very hopeful that as he continued to walk with the lord, that his life was gonna change in a positive way. schreiber: with the guidance of kaufman, faith became ward's foundation. he took on "son of god" as his boxing moniker and steadily emerged as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
buffer: ward! lampley: quick left hook! ward believes he's got him hurt! and it's another knockdown for ward! ward landing when he wants to, where he wants to. kellerman: he reached for greatness tonight, and he may have grabbed it. schreiber: at 32 years of age,
he's a perfect 30 and 0. but the journey hasn't been seamless. ward's had long stretches of inactivity owing to legal entanglements with his promoter, as well as frustrating battles with injuries. today, though, as the biggest bout of his career against sergey kovalev approaches, he prefers to stay focused on the positive. ward: for many years of my life,
i'm sandwiched in between a heroin addict and a crack addict. and by the grace of god, i came out of that. i shouldn't be here doingwhat i'm doing right now. like, everything that'shappening is a bonus for me, because god was merciful--god showed me grace. you know, when i was going leftand almost blew it, you know, he had the right people in placeat the right time.
hunter: well, we know we weren't put together for nothing. we know that. so if we aren't put togetherfor nothing, then it has to be for something. wherever the biggest diamondin the world is, the expedition that we're on-- we're getting close to it,you know. we'll--we'll discover it.
kaufman: dre definitely is the definition of a fighter. he's a fighter. knowing his past, and to watch him get up and achieve whathe's achieved in life is-- it's just amazing. i've seen him go from a boy into a man, not only just fromhis professional standpoint. i've watched him become such a--
a loving father, an awesome husband, a provider for his family. it's been wonderful to see. - apple don't fallfar from the tree. schreiber: together with his wife tiffiney, ward is raising four children and certainly not taking for granted all he's able to give them.
ward: my sons come home every day: "did mom cook? did mom cook?" like, it's amazing. i'm like, "you guys have no idea, like, how blessed you are, man." and they will one day. you know, they'll start to understand it one day, but that stability in the home is--is so important.
hello! schreiber: also, today, ward has his own mom, now clean and sober, back in his life. - good work, good work,good work. - want another one?- heck no. schreiber: and as for his father, he may have been gone 14 years, but he's never gone missing. ward: i believe my dad has been a part of this journey,
you know, since he passed. and i don't know how-- i just believe he has. you know, that's why i wearhis initials on my trunks. [uplifting music] my dad cared about character. you know, he had his struggles, but he was honestabout his struggles. and he was a fighter.
he'd always fight to getback on his feet, and he would. i think he'd be most pleased with the man that i-- that i try to be ona day-to-day basis-- the type of husbandthat i try to be, the type of father that i try to be. that--that's what would make him extremely proud, more than anything.
[solemn music] schreiber: a world away from the northern california coast, near the hazy nexus of europe and asia, the light heavyweight champion of the world came of age amid his own unforgiving landscape. kovalev: chelyabinsk is my hometown. this city is industrial city-- a lot of factories there, uh, people that they're--
are more stronger-- stronger for--for survive, yeah. schreiber: in chelyabinsk, russia, steel production is still the biggest industry: raw materials forged by intense heat... shaped by extreme pressure... into something seemingly unbreakable. it's a fitting backdrop for the story of sergey kovalev,
who saw the world he knew start to crumble when he was still just a child. - when ussr was, uh--before split, ussr, we lived, uh--lived happy. and we feed, uh, our dog, uh, some sausage, you know. we gave to our dog, like,everything that we ate. 1991, when ussr was split, when russia was born,
uh, yeah,we felt a lot of changes. our dog forgot about sausageand everything, you know. like, my mom and my stepfather didn't get enough money for-- for life. schreiber: his mother, nadezhda pashnina, once worked in one of the city's many factories. - [speaking russian] kovalev: our neighborhood--
uh, everybody live like that, you know. and we didn't understand that we were living poor or rich,you know, like-- just, like, we lived. schreiber: on trips back home, kovalev still visits his neighborhood, where he and siblings were raised by his mother and stepfather. [keypad beeping]- yeah, mom.
[electronic lock beeping] [people speaking russian] schreiber: his mother hasn't moved from his small childhood apartment, which has changed over time, but nonetheless offers constant reminders of old realities. - we got this roomand this room. this room was, uh...busy, uh...
here lived, uh, one-- uh, all the women. we used to be together,one kitchen, one restroom-- uh, restroom. and we didn't have-- we didn't have,uh, any shower, just a sink and the toilet. and this room was--
is like a kinder room. here we lived and slept, uh, me, my younger brother, and older sister. yeah, it was a-- just it was a hard, uh-- share everything, uh,between us, you know. [tense music] schreiber: and outside the cramped confines
of home, the city streets offered their own challenges. kovalev: in my neighborhood, uh, you must be have and should be have, uh, self-defense, you know, because nobody will help you on the street or somewhere, because, like, it was really tough, uh, time. some--sometimes--i don'twant to, like, cover this, but yes, i did.
three, four friendson the bikes, drove, uh, somewhereto another neighborhood and, like,robbed somebody on the street. [chuckles] we was young guys, you know. and we look--look at everything like-- try to find some action, some interesting things. and, of course,we got a lot of mistakes.
it's life. [saw buzzing] [both speaking russian] schreiber: when he was 11, he discovered a better place than the streets to spend his days. - welcome to my first gym. schreiber: it's where he first learned to box. and 22 years later, the memories are still vivid,
even amid the rubble. kovalev: yeah, here was-- you see where it was ring, and this side was, uh, heavy bags. this side too was, uh,punching bags. there and there was,uh, speed bags. this is place where i began. 1994, december 1st, was first, uh... my boxing workout.
yeah, it was here, uh, we stand up in a line. and coach, uh,stand up front of us and explained to everybody how to do,what we should to do, like-- and what is boxing. yeah, it's, uh, my first coach. novikov, sergey...[unintelligible] schreiber: sergey novikov
was the trainer in charge of the gym's aspiring young talent. - he teach us, uh, that we must be men. novikov: [speaking russian] schreiber: but a year into his training, kovalev was dealt a blow that sent him reeling. - when i was, uh, 12 years old, my stepfather died from heart attack, you know.
like, he passed away,and i was very upset. and i stopped boxing, because really, i was really disappointed. and life, you know-- i was emotionally killed. pashnina: [speaking russian] - it was, like,maybe three, four months i didn't usethe boxing gym enough, till i forgot, uh...
this hard day when we lost our stepfather. boxing gave me, uh, hope that time, because we didn't havea rich life. schreiber: fortified and re-energized, kovalev grew up fast, steadily marching up russia's amateur rankings. but over time, he came to feel
that his path to international recognition was being blocked by his county's boxing politics. as he mulled his fighting future, in 2009, a contact in russia put him in touch with a u.s.-based manager named egas klimas. - i was travelingto kazakhstan for my other fighter's fight, and i said, um, "why don't we--
we meet there?" uh, my dear friend,don turner, was with me. i flew sergey to kazakhstan. we went to a gym to train, and sergey just did shadowboxing. he just did couple moves, and don turner, when he saw it, was like, "damn, where did you get this guy from? you can make him a reallybig, huge champion."
schreiber: following that appraisal from turner, a highly respected trainer, klimas brought kovalev to the united states to begin the process of building a professional career from the very bottom rung of the sport. klimas: and i explained to sergey, "i'm not gonna bemaking you money. "i'm not making money off you,
"because nobody's giving mea single penny. "all i can do for you-- "i can get you--get you some money for food. i can give you some moneyfor your living expenses." and i said, "as soon aswe're gonna get promoter, then promoter gonnatake care of you." schreiber: kovalev fought his first 18 bouts in obscurity and had little to show for his winning efforts. klimas: i had inside of me
some kind of fault where-- "i got to go.i don't want to do this." but i couldn't show him. he also had some pointsinto his head where, "i got to quit this. it's--it's not for me." [upbeat music] schreiber: in 2012, kovalev got the chance to impress promoter kathy duva,
who agreed to put him on the undercard of one of her shows. his opponent was darnell boone. and a minute and a half into the second round, the fighter ferociously breathed new life into his career. [cheers and applause]- yeah! - when the fight was over,kathy duva was standing with her contract right here--
with her...[laughing] was going out of the ring. she said, "where is my pen? i want you guys to sign it." - my boxing careerstarted, uh... to grow up very fast. kellerman: this guy is a mean fighter. lampley: the most sinister presence in the ring enjoys inflicting punishment.
kovalev is clinically in command here. it is over. and he made it look easy. - i even couldn't imagine that i will get this point. i really surprised myself. schreiber: sergey kovalev has never lost a professional fight and has been the unified world light heavyweight champion
for nearly two years. a husband and a father now himself, he's also a 33-year-old man who will never forget how farhe's traveled from his origins. kovalev: for everything i'm fighting in the life, in the ring-- and right now i understand that i passed a really long road to be here, you know.
and every day,new motivation again and again. and i'm here, still undefeated, and continue to my goals,to my dreams. schreiber: andre ward and sergey kovalev come from opposite sides of the world. but there are commonalities to the resolves that ultimately define their stories. and now, on november 19th, the two undefeated fighters will collide
in boxing's biggest bout of the year. - my fight with andre wardis important fight in my life and a huge step and test in my boxing career. ward: this fight against kovalev is definitely the next great fight in my life. it's definitely the nextgreat moment in my life. and--and life is about moments.
schreiber: you could say that all men are, as much as anything else, a product of their experiences. that every struggle and every victory, every encounter and every realization, every question and every resolution, determine how they live and what they want. - that was the window, rightthere, that we peeked through. - thank you, mom.[both laughing]
- i made it out. i made it through it. schreiber: they are two men who long ago discovered that fighting was the only way to make sense of their worlds. they are two men whose paths now come together the only way they should. on saturday, november 12th, "road to kovalev-ward" premieres,
a behind-the scenes look at the fighters' preparations for their upcoming showdown. then on saturday, november 19th, it's the live fight: sergey kovalev versus andre ward, live on hbo pay-per-view. this has been a presentation of hbo sports.
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