Cornermen for Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev talk about their light-heavyweight showdown

Sergey Kovalev’s face of rage and Andre Ward’s calm expression of calculation paint the promotional posters featuring Saturday night’s light-heavyweight title fighters.

Both men are unbeaten and will enter the ring at T Mobile Arena in this pay-per-view showdown with a championship and their legacies on the line.

Russia’s three-belt light-heavyweight champion Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 knockouts) has unmistakable dislike for Oakland’s Ward (30-0, 15 KOs), the former super-middleweight champion.

Ward has not only balked at shaking Kovalev’s hand, but Ward’s promoter, Roc Nation Sports, engaged in petty behavior before and after finalizing the fight contract.

Kovalev, according to those close to him, has trained to punish Ward for the diva act, planning to corner the American and strike him with heavy punches.

“I’m the Krusher,” Kovalev said of his nickname Wednesday. “I will crush him.”

Ward, meanwhile, has advanced his boxing to an elusive, crafty style that has developed so impressively that his longtime trainer, Virgil Hunter, said after a March bout against Sullivan Barrera that Ward wasn’t hit with more than four flush punches.

Yet, in a Wednesday debate between Hunter and Kovalev’s cornerman, John David Jackson, the peril of staying true to form was addressed.

“Sergey’s going in to fight and he’s mad at some of Andre’s actions, but … he’s not mad-mad. Once he gets in the fight, it’s not the same anger. It’s not in a negative way. He knows he can’t fight angry, despite the fact they think he is,” Jackson said.

“He’s not going to get out of whack. He’s coming in cool and calculating. … He has to be smart and break him down and put rounds in the bank. Otherwise, he’ll be playing catch up.”

Ward has never made a secret of his admiration for Floyd Mayweather Jr. But the Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight last year ended up as a dreary pay-per-view stick-and-move session that Mayweather won by decision.

“They can’t be great unless they fight each other,” Hunter said. “They’ve both been dominant, but we haven’t seen either dig down deep. It’s more than mental toughness. It’s what’s in [the heart].

“Who wants it most? How much punishment can you take to get your hand raised? Will you stay in the pocket to take that punishment to deliver punishment.”

Hunter expressed deep respect for the power threat of Kovalev’s punches that left an opponent dead in 2011, made him champion in 2013 with a fourth-round knockout of Nathan Cleverly, and won him every round against former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins in 2014.

“Kovalev’s right hand is impressive, but he tips it off,” Hunter said. “I haven’t seen a Thomas Hearns shot. It’s usually an accumulation of punches that get his knockouts.

“And you’re not going to accumulate punches on Andre Ward.”

Hunter said his 33 years as a probation department interrogator have him believing there’s “disarray” in Kovalev’s camp, opining that the fighter has not bought in to Jackson’s push to fight composed.

“I don’t think it’s healthy to go into a fight angry. It’s dangerous. Angry, you can make mistakes,” Hunter said.

Jackson said he laughed at Hunter’s theory.

“Sergey has power in both hands. He breaks you down slow. He goes for the body now. It becomes debilitating. Anything he hits you with is going to hurt you,” Jackson said.

Hunter contends Ward wants to underline he’s more than a classic boxer – that he’s a fighter.

“You have to evolve as a fighter. [Ward] is going through his transition,” Hunter said. “Before skills slow down, you develop other facets.

“You stick with what’s winning, but there’s more than one attribute … victory, by any means necessary.”

Hunter assessed that Kovalev has taken the exact opposite approach.

“As soon as this ‘Krusher’ persona came on [for Kovalev], he fell right into it, trying to live up to this moniker … in a way, it’s comical,” Hunter said. “They want to portray him with this sinister smile. If he’s comfortable with it, that’s fine. I kind of think it’s insulting. [Kovalev] walks around like that because they want him to, maybe he thinks that’s who he is.”

He and Ward will find out for certain on Saturday.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire