WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) and his promoter Dan Goosen are both open to a fight against IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) if he’s game.
Ward says he’d like to take on the younger fighters, but he’d take the fight against the 48-year-old Hopkins. His promoter Goosen thinks it would be an excellent fight and believes they could make it for pay-per-view.
Ward said via Fightnews “I don’t have a desire to call Bernard out, but I am a fighter. If it makes financial sense, I’ll step to the plate. I’m more interested in fighting guys from my era, but at the same time I don’t back down from fights.”
In the sport of boxing, the first shots of battle are often fired long before a single punch is ever thrown in the squared circle.
With under a month remaining until his highly anticipated return, WBA and Ring Magazine Super Middleweight World Champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward went back to his roots at King’s Gym in Oakland, Calif., to discuss his upcoming battle with Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez. After a 14-month layoff due to a shoulder injury, Ward will step back in to the ring on November 16 at Citizen’s Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., on HBO World Championship Boxing. He shared his thoughts about the importance of staying in shape throughout the year, the impact of the layoff and his young, hungry opponent with the Bay Area media assembled at his childhood gym.
Andrei S. (Miami Lakes, FL): Provodnikov is a countryman of mine and I was very excited to see him get the victory over Alvarado. How did you rate his performance and what do you see happening next for him?
Just off the I-10 freeway in Southern California stands an electric-powered billboard that flashes images of upcoming events, and in-between promoting an upcoming Cher concert and the inaugural game for the Ontario Reign minor league hockey team is an advertisement that simply states, ‘The Return’, with a picture of the consensus No. 2 fighter in the world, Andre Ward, and the date of November 16.
SHERMAN OAKS, CA (September 20, 2013) – Following slightly more than a year’s absence from the ring due to injury, Bay Area hero, 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist and current WBA and Ring Magazine World Super Middleweight Champion, Andre “S.O.G.” Ward makes his highly anticipated return to the ring defending his title against Edwin Rodriguez on Saturday, November 16 at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA.
WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward doesn’t see any way for the WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr/. (44-0, 26 KO’s) this Saturday night other than maybe getting lucky by landing a big shot that knocks out Mayweather. Ward doesn’t think that there’s any possibility that Canelo can out-box the much faster and much better skilled Mayweather Jr. over 12 rounds.
New York, NY (7/29/13) – Former light heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion Zsolt Erdei (33-1, 18KO’s) isn’t looking for any easy fights after suffering his first professional defeat in a razor-thin and questionable split decision loss to Denis Grachev in the first leg of the Monte-Carlo Million Dollar Super 4 Tournament. Erdei is instead offering up his services to super middleweight kingpin and ESPN.com’s pound-for-pound number two-ranked fighter in the world, Andre Ward.
Kevin H. (Cincinnatti, OH): Golovkin has impressed me more than any fighter in the sport today. I just don’t see anyone stopping this guy, but I can see him stopping whoever they put in front of him! What are your thoughts about him and who do you want to see him face?