ANDRE WARD DISCUSSES HIS FUTURE PLANS, CRITICS, AND MUCH MORE: "WE'RE NOT DUCKING ANY OF THESE GUYS"
By Ben Thompson | August 16, 2013
"I understand how this business is and I understand I gotta be ready for anything. We're not ducking and dodging anybody; from the Stevensons to the Golovkins to the Froch, who really doesn't want to fight. We're not ducking any of these guys, so if they want me to keep fighting lions and bears, I just gotta be ready for the lions and bears," stated undefeated and undisputed super middleweight king Andre Ward, who had a lot to say about his future plans and much during a recent appearance on FightHype Radio earlier this week. You don't want to miss what else he had to say. Check it out!
SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT KING ANDRE WARD:
On his future plans...
That's the question. That is the question. I mean, as far as me, I just want my fans to know, and just people in general, that I'm healthy, I'm strong. I've really been actually ready to fight, or at least go to camp for a fight, for the last few months. I can't dig into the situation right now. Probably by the end of the week I will be able to dig into the situation and talk more names and who the network, HBO, is trying to get me to fight and what's the hold-up and what the issue is, but right now, my team is just doing their job. My team is, you know, right now Dan Goossen, my co-promoter Antonio Leonard, and my manager James Prince. I mean, they're fighting for me like I'm the number 2 fighter in the world, which they're supposed to be doing, and that's all we ask for. So in the meantime, I have to stay ready and that's what I'm doing. Just know that I'm healthy and I'm strong and I've been ready for the last few months to fight. I'm just waiting on the business side to work itself out.
On his recovery from shoulder surgery...
I've had an existing injury since I've been a young kid. I've had a partially rotator since I've been 12. What we did was we just dealt with it. We built the muscles up around the rotator and we just did what we had to do. With it further getting injured, the doc said, "Hey, let me go in here and I can fix this." And he went in and fixed it, so I got a lot of pop in my right hand now, a lot of pop that I didn't have, a lot of different sorts of punches that I couldn't throw, and, man, I'm excited.
On potential future opponents...
I'm ready to fight anybody. Regardless of how you feel, you gotta respect the injury, and that's what my team and I have talked about and that's what we're in the process of doing. I mean, I don't think I've had a soft touch since 2009, and we're not even asking right now or pushing for a soft touch. We're just asking for the right situation to move us into a position for bigger and better situations. You know, there's been a few names that have been thrown out there that we've been trying to fight and they haven't been fully accurate, and I don't know who's been putting those rumors out there. Some of the names that they threw out, like [Dimitri] Sartison, that was legitimate. That was a name that we felt was a solid, good comeback. The dude is a former world champion, he's only lost to two champions, and he's going to bring it. He's the type of guy who's going to try to push me; anybody that fights for the title, they're going to step their game up. That was one of the names, but there's other names that we brought up, you know, internally; me and my team. At the end of the day, I understand how this business is and I understand I gotta be ready for anything. We're not ducking and dodging anybody; from the Stevensons to the Golovkins to the Froch, who really doesn't want to fight. We're not ducking any of these guys, so if they want me to keep fighting lions and bears, I just gotta be ready for the lions and bears.
On critics of certain fighters and certain styles of fighting...
Boxing is going through a fad over the last 10 years, or something like that, with the inception and the growth of MMA where if it's not a blood bath, if it's not two guys cut, busted up, both guys going to the hospital, then it's not, quote-unquote, an exciting fight. And if you look at the number one and the number two pound-for-pound fighters in the world, they've both been accused of the same things, so in my opinion, there's something wrong with that picture. That's not a reflection on the fighters. That's a reflection on the sport. When you got your number one and your number two not getting the respect that they deserve, then that's a reflection on the sport. And furthermore, I don't have to answer to any of these people because, you know, a lot of the people that are trying to push that agenda; see, it's people, it's certain websites that have agendas, it's certain website guys or website writers who have agendas, and the fans know who they are. If you always talk bad about a particular fighter, fans aren't stupid; they know that. And then always talk good about another type of fighter or a type of style of fighter; a lot of times, they guys that are really pushing that agenda, they've never fought a day in their life, but they gotta understand, I know what it feels like to be cut and to be stitched up. I know what it feels like to be dropped, to be buzzed in a fight. I know what it feels like to get up from being dropped and to keep fighting and finish. I know what it feels like to be in a 12-round, grueling fight and can't get out of bed the next day. I know what that feels like. I've been in this sport 20 years and I've paid my dues and I'ma continue to pay my dues, so I don't pay a lot of that stuff a lot of mind. I honestly stopped reading websites, except FightHype, a long time ago because just because you get a domain name and start a website, doesn't make you a boxing excerpt. It's no longer people just giving a clear, honest, you know, assessment of what's going on or breaking down a particular fight or fighter. It's very personal. "I don't like this guy because of this" or "I don't like that guy because of that". Well, that's not what boxing is about. Imagine how Muhammad Ali would've been treated in this day, dancing and floating around the ring the way he did sometimes not even throwing a punch. So is he not exciting? But we call him the greatest fighter of all time. We have Floyd Mayweather, who's a living legend in our sport right now, and they say he's not exciting? I mean, that's not a reflection on us. We paid our dues. That's a reflection on some of the guys that are writing that stuff...It's part of the game, and I agree with you, I do appreciate those guys because I'm not fighting right now and I do appreciate the extra buzz; because for them not liking me as much as they say they do, they're talking about me often, so I do appreciate that.
I respect the fighters who may not have the skill level to get out of the way, right. I respect that. I respect how they get down, but don't expect everybody to fight like that, and right now, boxing is turning into if it's not that, it's not exciting, and man, that's not what boxing was built on. Boxing...and you guys know my style. I don't run around the ring. Most of the time, I'm the aggressor. When I first came into the pro game, they said I had an amateur style. Then they said I couldn't take a punch. Then they said I couldn't punch. And then they said I'd never be a champion. So they gotta find something, and all of those things that they said over the years, they were wrong, so they have to find something. Now they say I can't sell tickets, but a lot of the writers that wrote that, they were in the arena that night and they know what type of crowd; we had almost 10,000 people and that's word of mouth. That's not some major, blown-out promotion in the surrounding cities. And they know that, but they'll say, "It was a modest crowd." Or they'll take a performance like that and say, "Oh, you know, he's good, but..." So it's jut the nature of the beast, so you deal with it. You let it motivate you
By Ben Thompson | August 16, 2013
"I understand how this business is and I understand I gotta be ready for anything. We're not ducking and dodging anybody; from the Stevensons to the Golovkins to the Froch, who really doesn't want to fight. We're not ducking any of these guys, so if they want me to keep fighting lions and bears, I just gotta be ready for the lions and bears," stated undefeated and undisputed super middleweight king Andre Ward, who had a lot to say about his future plans and much during a recent appearance on FightHype Radio earlier this week. You don't want to miss what else he had to say. Check it out!
SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT KING ANDRE WARD:
On his future plans...
That's the question. That is the question. I mean, as far as me, I just want my fans to know, and just people in general, that I'm healthy, I'm strong. I've really been actually ready to fight, or at least go to camp for a fight, for the last few months. I can't dig into the situation right now. Probably by the end of the week I will be able to dig into the situation and talk more names and who the network, HBO, is trying to get me to fight and what's the hold-up and what the issue is, but right now, my team is just doing their job. My team is, you know, right now Dan Goossen, my co-promoter Antonio Leonard, and my manager James Prince. I mean, they're fighting for me like I'm the number 2 fighter in the world, which they're supposed to be doing, and that's all we ask for. So in the meantime, I have to stay ready and that's what I'm doing. Just know that I'm healthy and I'm strong and I've been ready for the last few months to fight. I'm just waiting on the business side to work itself out.
On his recovery from shoulder surgery...
I've had an existing injury since I've been a young kid. I've had a partially rotator since I've been 12. What we did was we just dealt with it. We built the muscles up around the rotator and we just did what we had to do. With it further getting injured, the doc said, "Hey, let me go in here and I can fix this." And he went in and fixed it, so I got a lot of pop in my right hand now, a lot of pop that I didn't have, a lot of different sorts of punches that I couldn't throw, and, man, I'm excited.
On potential future opponents...
I'm ready to fight anybody. Regardless of how you feel, you gotta respect the injury, and that's what my team and I have talked about and that's what we're in the process of doing. I mean, I don't think I've had a soft touch since 2009, and we're not even asking right now or pushing for a soft touch. We're just asking for the right situation to move us into a position for bigger and better situations. You know, there's been a few names that have been thrown out there that we've been trying to fight and they haven't been fully accurate, and I don't know who's been putting those rumors out there. Some of the names that they threw out, like [Dimitri] Sartison, that was legitimate. That was a name that we felt was a solid, good comeback. The dude is a former world champion, he's only lost to two champions, and he's going to bring it. He's the type of guy who's going to try to push me; anybody that fights for the title, they're going to step their game up. That was one of the names, but there's other names that we brought up, you know, internally; me and my team. At the end of the day, I understand how this business is and I understand I gotta be ready for anything. We're not ducking and dodging anybody; from the Stevensons to the Golovkins to the Froch, who really doesn't want to fight. We're not ducking any of these guys, so if they want me to keep fighting lions and bears, I just gotta be ready for the lions and bears.
On critics of certain fighters and certain styles of fighting...
Boxing is going through a fad over the last 10 years, or something like that, with the inception and the growth of MMA where if it's not a blood bath, if it's not two guys cut, busted up, both guys going to the hospital, then it's not, quote-unquote, an exciting fight. And if you look at the number one and the number two pound-for-pound fighters in the world, they've both been accused of the same things, so in my opinion, there's something wrong with that picture. That's not a reflection on the fighters. That's a reflection on the sport. When you got your number one and your number two not getting the respect that they deserve, then that's a reflection on the sport. And furthermore, I don't have to answer to any of these people because, you know, a lot of the people that are trying to push that agenda; see, it's people, it's certain websites that have agendas, it's certain website guys or website writers who have agendas, and the fans know who they are. If you always talk bad about a particular fighter, fans aren't stupid; they know that. And then always talk good about another type of fighter or a type of style of fighter; a lot of times, they guys that are really pushing that agenda, they've never fought a day in their life, but they gotta understand, I know what it feels like to be cut and to be stitched up. I know what it feels like to be dropped, to be buzzed in a fight. I know what it feels like to get up from being dropped and to keep fighting and finish. I know what it feels like to be in a 12-round, grueling fight and can't get out of bed the next day. I know what that feels like. I've been in this sport 20 years and I've paid my dues and I'ma continue to pay my dues, so I don't pay a lot of that stuff a lot of mind. I honestly stopped reading websites, except FightHype, a long time ago because just because you get a domain name and start a website, doesn't make you a boxing excerpt. It's no longer people just giving a clear, honest, you know, assessment of what's going on or breaking down a particular fight or fighter. It's very personal. "I don't like this guy because of this" or "I don't like that guy because of that". Well, that's not what boxing is about. Imagine how Muhammad Ali would've been treated in this day, dancing and floating around the ring the way he did sometimes not even throwing a punch. So is he not exciting? But we call him the greatest fighter of all time. We have Floyd Mayweather, who's a living legend in our sport right now, and they say he's not exciting? I mean, that's not a reflection on us. We paid our dues. That's a reflection on some of the guys that are writing that stuff...It's part of the game, and I agree with you, I do appreciate those guys because I'm not fighting right now and I do appreciate the extra buzz; because for them not liking me as much as they say they do, they're talking about me often, so I do appreciate that.
I respect the fighters who may not have the skill level to get out of the way, right. I respect that. I respect how they get down, but don't expect everybody to fight like that, and right now, boxing is turning into if it's not that, it's not exciting, and man, that's not what boxing was built on. Boxing...and you guys know my style. I don't run around the ring. Most of the time, I'm the aggressor. When I first came into the pro game, they said I had an amateur style. Then they said I couldn't take a punch. Then they said I couldn't punch. And then they said I'd never be a champion. So they gotta find something, and all of those things that they said over the years, they were wrong, so they have to find something. Now they say I can't sell tickets, but a lot of the writers that wrote that, they were in the arena that night and they know what type of crowd; we had almost 10,000 people and that's word of mouth. That's not some major, blown-out promotion in the surrounding cities. And they know that, but they'll say, "It was a modest crowd." Or they'll take a performance like that and say, "Oh, you know, he's good, but..." So it's jut the nature of the beast, so you deal with it. You let it motivate you
