Roy Jones Jr & Emanuel Steward were "On The Ropes" - NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND! 7/13

............... that takes a lot of skill, and art, and experience."

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EXCERPT:

JENNA J: Now Andre, people have been very critical of you and your performances in the Super Six. Do you think that is unfairly being put upon you?

ANDRE WARD: Well I mean some of it may be true. When people try to tag me as a dirty fighter I think that’s uncalled for. I mean if you look at the Kessler fight, I’m still a young champion. You know I’m learning to settle down in the ring. I have a lot of youth in me. That being said, when it pertains to head-butts and different things like that, I mean I don’t know how to head-butt a guy and not get cut myself. That takes a lot of skill, and art, and experience. I don’t have that. It happens and you guys have seen me on the bad end of head-butts. I don’t want to be cut having to get stitched up and stuff after fights. So it’s just things that have happened in the last few fights and it’s unfortunate. Trust me I’m learning to keep my head out of the way because I don’t want to be cut. But in terms of my performances and from a skill standpoint with different things I’m doing right and wrong, I mean hey! I’m not doing everything right. I’m open for critique and open for people to say things that they think I may need to work on. I’m cool with that part, but when people say things like I’m a dirty fighter or they try and tag me and say I can only win at home. I just think people need to do their research before they start throwing rocks and just understand that I fought a lot abroad. Still domestically, but I’ve only had four fights in Oakland. When you look at my 23 fights that means I’ve fought 19 times away from Oakland. I fought close to home in San Jose and different things like that, but it’s not the same. I just think people need to do their research before they talk about those kinds of things.

 

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EXCERPT:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Thank you. Now Andre, the way a lot of fans are talking when discussion of the Super Six comes up on boxing message boards is that a showdown between you and ‘The Cobra’ is inevitable for the Finals. Now I know you don’t want to look past Abraham, but if you could write a storybook ending for yourself and you got to pick who you would face, would you rather face ‘The Cobra’ than Glen Johnson in the Finals given the fans seem excited about that?

ANDRE WARD: Absolutely! Absolutely, I get excited when they’re excited. I get excited when the fans are excited, when the media is excited, and when the media starts to talk about a matchup or demand a matchup. That’s exciting to me, so absolutely! Obviously we both have business to take care of. We both have tall orders in front of us. So it’s definitely premature to think about that, but off the top of my head I would definitely choose ‘The Cobra’. I think Las Vegas would be a perfect venue. I think there would be plenty of Brits and plenty of Americans and I think it would be a tremendous fight for the sport of boxing, number one, but then also it would be an awesome climax to this tournament.

CIANI: I agree with you on that and I think that’s the feeling a lot of fans have. Andre, you know that Carl can be an outspoken guy and he can have a lot of things to say, but I was actually surprised the last time we had him on our show here. He gave you a great deal of respect and how you were the favorite in the tournament, and it was an uncharacteristic approach from Froch. What do you think of him and do you think he will beat Glen Johnson?

WARD: You know I can see Carl getting his hand raised, but it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough. I don’t think that Glen has ever been a pushover, and even when Bernard stopped him Bernard had to work to get that stoppage and this was obviously years ago and Glen didn’t have the experience that he has now and different things like that. That’s going to be a tough order for anybody until he hangs his gloves up. That being said, he’s going to be a tough matchup for Carl Froch. Carl should get his hand raised and obviously my goal is to be the guy on the other side of the ring fighting either Johnson or ‘The Cobra’. I’m just looking forward to it, man. I’m just excited and I’m highly motivated for these next two fights.