Froch awaits Ward after he beats Pavlik on 1/26

09/14/201611/23/2012 ESB

Froch awaits Ward after he beats Pavlik on 1/26 By Michael Collins: A well paying rematch with IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch is what WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) has to look forward to after he takes care of business against former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) on January 26th at the Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

There’s little doubt that Ward will take care of the slow moving, slow punching Pavlik without any problems just as Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez did. Ward wants to fight Froch again to shut him up, and prove that his win over him last December in the Super Six tournament finals wasn’t just a fluke thing. Oddly enough, two of the judges scored it a close fight by the scores of 115-113, and this has given Froch the belief that he almost beat Ward.

Froch says he knows how to beat Ward now, and wants to get him over to Europe to face him in his home city of Nottingham. Ward is amused by this, and he hasn’t said no to the idea.

Andre Ward not interested in Froch’s fight with Mack

09/15/201611/17/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Having beaten Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s) soundly in the Super Six finals last December, WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) says he has absolutely zero interest in following Froch’s fight tonight against American light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) in Nottingham, England.

Ward said on his twitter: “Cobra fans seem a bit upset that I’m not watching. Sorry folks…NOT INTERESTED! I’m not watching Froch vs Mack. You guys can tell me what happens. Honestly, really not interested in the fight. Looking forward to the HBO fights tonight!! I’m picking [Adrien] Broner and [Seth] Mitchell. They both should be good fights. Froch fans keep saying it wasn’t him in the ring the night we fought…then who was it…his twin brother??!! Froch Fans: Ride with your guy, but the things you say have to make since…ok??!! Froch said he wasn’t himself when we fought, because he was HOME SICK. Question: Why do I HAVE TO rematch Froch in the UK?? #IWonTheFirstOne Talk to me UK!!”

Ward takes issue with the excuses that Froch has made about his loss to him last December in which Froch said he wasn’t at his best in that fight and that if he had fought the way he had in his win over IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute then he would have beaten Ward.

ESB Exclusive Interview with boxing trainer Virgil Hunter

09/15/201609/14/2012 Geoffrey Ciani

“But as far as my personal opinion, and I think that I’m entitled to have my personal opinion like Steve Bunce or anybody else who’s a Joe Calzaghe fan—in my opinion we would have chewed him up!”—Virgil Hunter

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – Yesterday afternoon I was afforded the opportunity to speak with boxing trainer Virgil Hunter, who recently helped prepare and guide Andre Ward to his tremendous victory last weekend against ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson. Hunter shared his views on training and preparations for that fight, the action that unfolded in the match itself, and future plans for him and Ward. He also provided his unique insight for the upcoming middleweight showdown this Saturday night between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Junior. Here is a complete transcript from that interview.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello everyone. This is Geoffrey Ciani from East Side Boxing and I am joined here today by head trainer Virgil Hunter, who recently helped lead Andre Ward to his spectacular victory against Chad Dawson last weekend. How’s everything going, Virgil?

VIRGIL HUNTER: Everything’s going good today. How are you today?

CIANI: I’m doing very well, thank you. And I have to say Virgil, I was very impressed with Andre’s performance, and the thing that impressed me the most was the way he was able to neutralize Chad’s jab right from the get-go through footwork and upper body movement. I’m wondering is that something you specifically worked on in camp to take away Chad’s jab?

HUNTER: Well that’s one of the specifics that we worked on to take away his jab. Actually the position of his eyes in an area of Chad was the most important thing. If we had the eyes positioned in the right place we knew that his body would be positioned in the right place and that he could maneuver Chad. We wanted to maneuver his jab. We wanted to give him the target that we wanted to give him, so it was very important that the positions were adhered to. So his eyes were the most important thing in that situation, and we worked on that, and once we got the hang of where the eyes were supposed to be, and the position his eyes were supposed to be in and centered on, the rest was pretty easy.

How would Sergio Martinez or Chavez Jr. fair against Andre Ward?

09/14/201609/12/2012 ESB

By Robert Jackson: Now that we’ve gotten Ward/Dawson out of the way, what’s up next is the Martinez/Chavez Jr fight! The winner of this fight could rightfully be in line for a BIG money PPV match-up against the undefeated Andre Ward. An undefeated Chavez Jr facing and undefeated Ward would be the better match-up unless…Martinez puts on a virtuoso performance while beating Chavez Jr.

Looking at the case for either man facing Ward next you first have Chavez Jr who at 26 is outgrowing the 160lb division, while the 37 year old Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez is counting down to the twilight of his career. The BIGGER interest and promotion would be for Chavez Jr to face Ward, he has a bigger name and following. He fights in the rough-tough Mexican style even though Freddie Roach has added a few wrinkles to his style, and he would bring the fight to Ward.

Martinez a technician just like Ward starts slowly making adjustments along the way to even out a fight and makes more adjustments as a fight moves forwards to pull ahead. Late in recent fights Maravilla has gotten KO’s, after slow starts. He’ll do the same against Chavez Jr in their upcoming fight. Doing this against Ward could result in a chess match with 2 thoughtful fighters trying to out-think each other, a possibly low punch output, less action affair. Fans may anticipate a snoozer of a fight which would make this fight the least desirable one.

Dawson Outclassed

09/14/201609/10/2012 ESB

By Emilio Camacho Esq. – As I predicted, Andre Ward outclassed Chad Dawson; however, there was several misses in my prediction.

First, I predicted that the first round would be uneventful and that Ward would win it. Although round 1 was indeed uneventful, surprisingly, Dawson looked sharp and strong thereby winning the round (at least in my view). Hence, I was only partially correct in my thoughts.

Second, I predicted that Dawson would win rounds 2 – 4. I was wrong. In rounds two and three, Ward unveiled his left hook droping Dawson to the canvas. Dawson had no hope after that and you could see it on his face. This is when we get to what I was talking about and the main argument of my previous article.

First, I stated that Ward would show us something we had not seen before and he did just that. Ward made the guy who defeated Tarver, Johnson, Hopkins, and Adamek, among others, quit in round ten after dropping him again. Dawson said he was “done.” In reality, almost no one expected a stoppage. I did not think the stoppage would come but I did think that Ward would be stronger and would show it in an extraordinary way. Well, he did.

Ward vs Dawson: It was the WEIGHT!

04/05/202409/10/2012 ESB

by Robert Jackson: Well actually it wasn’t…totally, but as Miguel Cotto famously said following his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I tried to hit him, but I couldn’t”; Chad Dawson was also heard saying afterwards “he’s a lot faster and a lot stronger than I thought”. Also uttered by the 175lb champion were the buzzwords “I couldn’t get off tonight”; words usually associated with overtraining, making weight or the old boxing adage of a fighter having ‘left his fight in the gym’. Similar post-fight sentiments were put forth by Carl Froch after the Super 6 final where Ward unceremoniously, outfought and outhustled the British fighter to win the tournament. Froch had minimized Ward’s punching power and boxing ability prefight.

Ward-Dawson: Andre Ward cements his place as a modern great

09/14/201609/09/2012 ESB

By Peter Wells: Maybe it’s about time we stopped the Mayweather, Pacquiao, who’s the best in the world argument. Andre Ward may just have trumped them both with another completely dominate display. Ward has already cleared out the Super Middleweight division, and Chad Dawson the best Light Heavyweight in the world, and a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter himself didn’t even come close to ending Ward’s unbeaten run that’s stretches back to when he was 12. When you look at Mayweather’s and Manny’s fights the last few years, they haven’t won each fight as clearly as Ward has. Andre has fought the best in his division and the best fighter in the division above, Mayweather and Pacquiao haven’t fought one another meaning they haven’t fought the best in their division.

Enough of that, this isn’t an article to argue who is the best in the world. Last night was Ward’s night as he was simply awesome in dominating the ultra talented WBC Light Heavyweight champion. In the build up many worried if Dawson could make the weight well, but looked good at the weigh in and weighed almost 10lbs heavier than Ward on fight night. Dawson enjoys fighting at his own pace, using his jab to control rounds. ‘S.O.G’ took away Dawson’s jab from the very start and after a slow first upped the pace to suit himself.

Ward’s footwork is something to admire. Any youngster starting boxing should definitely watch the way Ward uses his feet to set himself up to land shots and avoid shots coming back. Ward is also a great thinker and may well have won this fight using his brain, seeing shots that others wouldn’t notice if they stood their for 5 minutes let alone in a split second.

Larry Merchant throws best jab of the night

09/09/201209/09/2012 ESB

by Paul Strauss: (Vitali stops Charr in 4th on bad cut), DeMarco vs Molina – Junior sits it out, Ward vs Dawson – Andre makes another one look easy

To start off the night’s festivities, HBO showed a replay of forty-one year old Vitali Klitschko’s 4th round TKO destruction of Manuel Charr at the Olimpiyskia in Moscow, Russia. After the fight, announcer Jim Lampley asked Larry about the possibility of David Haye remaining a thorn in the side of the Klitschko brothers. Larry reminded Jim about Haye’s “Loser’s Limp” display done after his fight with Wladimir when he removed his shoe to show everyone his injured little toe. The implication was that was the reason for his loss. In Larry’s deliberate manner, he said Haye should have removed his shorts, which would have revealed the the real reason for his loss. It was obvious Larry meant we wouldn’t be seeing any Fruit of the Looms.

Well, Dr. Iron Fist had his boxer shorts on while showing a total disregard for anything Charr might try to do. Vitali kept both hands low, inviting Charr to try something. Charr’s strategy seemed to be to tire out Vitali by letting him tee off on him? Well, let that be a lesson to fledging boxers. If you simply hold up what you hope is a tight guard, but don’t punch back, your opponent is going to find a way to penetrate your defense, as did Vitali. Soon he was getting through with a variety of shots, and by the third round a cut had developed over Charr’s right eyelid. In the fourth, Referee Guido Callverli stopped the action long enough for the ringside physician to take a look. After twice wiping away a considerable amount of blood, the doctor said no go, and the fight was stopped. Larry and Max Kellerman thought it might have been a little premature. They alluded to Moscow’s lack of experience with world title fights. Lampley pointed out the physician seemed to have a German sounding name and not a Russian one, for all that’s worth.

Andre Ward: Snapping At Mayweather’s Heels Pound-For-Pound!

09/14/201609/09/2012 ESB

By James Slater – “Chad Dawson is a monster in there,” Andre Ward

Last night, in taming “monster” Chad Dawson, the reigning light-heavyweight ruler, unbeaten master (yes, master) Andre Ward put on his best display so far in his naturally blessed career. Okay, Dawson had to shed eight-pounds in dropping down to super-middleweight, possibly weakening himself and affecting his punch resistance, but it really is tough to find any other fault with “S.O.G’s”, well, faultless performance.

The dominant force at the in-fighting, at the long range stuff and the harder, more accurate, more spiteful puncher, the 28-year-old from Oakland delighted both his hometown fans and the boxing purists. Indeed, fellow masters such as Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather Junior (two greats Ward has surely studied on tape and has learnt a trick or two from) will have enjoyed, even marvelled over Ward’s 10th-round TKO master class.

How would tonight’s Andre Ward match up against the Joe Calzaghe who beat Mikkel Kessler?

06/22/202009/09/2012 Geoffrey Ciani

by Geoffrey Ciani – Yes! It has already reached that point. Andre Ward is so good we are forced to look into the past in order to find a competitor worthy of his attention. That is the unique distinction Ward has earned with his total domination of ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson. Andre now finds himself in a similar situation as the Klitschko brothers. They are so dominant, that debating how they would fare against current contenders has become all too predictable. Creating hypothetical match-ups where the Klitschkos are pitted against former heavyweight greats is far more interesting than discussing the length of time it would take Wladimir or Vitali to dispose of someone like Alexander Povetkin. Unfortunately for Andre Ward, super middleweight history does not run as rich or deep as boxing’s most prestigious weight class. Therefore we are forced to look back on guys like Joe Calzaghe or Roy Jones Junior circa 1994 in order to actually find someone who may pose as a perceived challenge to Ward’s still growing talent (no disrespect to Andre Dirrell and Edwin Rodriguez).

Yes! Chad Dawson was weight drained. And yes! Andre Ward probably should have taken the fight at the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds, but based on what we witnessed tonight, I do not believe it would have mattered whether they fought at 168, 170, 175, or hell, even 190! Ward simply proved to be a cut above Dawson. If the fight took place at light heavyweight Chad may well have possibly avoided the three knockdowns and made it to the final bell, but tactically speaking he had no answers for Ward. Everything Andre did was like a perfectly synchronized harmony. His movement, from head-to-toe, created a remarkable degree of elusiveness that Chad found impenetrable. This was abundantly clear right from the onset when Dawson could not find opportunities to even commit to his best weapon, his jab. Ward easily neutralized it from the get go, no adjustments necessary. Ward seized complete command of the action and dictated the fighting range to his liking throughout the one-sided contest. There was no one thing in particular that troubled Chad. Each and every thing Ward did worked, whether he was jabbing, throwing lead hooks, working the body with both hands, shifting Chad into position, owning the infighting, landing crisp blistering rights, slipping out of harm’s way, tearing brilliant uppercuts, or simply just keeping Chad wherever he wanted him to be. It was complete mastery of his opponent by Ward, and it all stemmed from his footwork and upper body movement, which were enough to neutralize Chad’s jab. Game over.