Andre Ward Says Sergey Kovalev 'Needs to Be Silenced' for Racist Tweet

Andre Ward said he used Sergey Kovalev's racist post on social media as motivation leading up to their Saturday rematch.

"He's culturally sound enough to know some of the things he's been doing are racially motivated," Ward said Saturday, per TMZ Sports. "It's more motivation, definitely more motivation...He needs to be silenced."

According to TMZ, Kovalev posted a since-deleted video on social media that depicted a fake conversation between the two fighters with Ward using the N- and F- words repeatedly.

"The backlash was swift from those who said that making it sound as if Ward—a devout Christian—dropped nonstop N-bombs was racist," TMZ wrote.

Jonathan Lehman of the New York Post noted this isn't the first time Kovalev has been accused of racism before a fight. He tweeted a picture of himself pointing to an image of a gorilla saying "Adonis looks great" when talking about black fighter Adonis Stevenson in 2015.

As for Saturday's bout between Kovalev and Ward at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, it comes after a controversial Ward win in November.

While Ward built momentum late in the first fight, Kovalev controlled the early portion and thought he did more than enough to win. Dan Rafael of ESPN.com wrote "most at ringside—and those vocal about the fight on social media—thought that Kovalev had won a close, but clear decision."

However, all three scorecards gave Ward the win, setting the backdrop for their Saturday rematch.