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.
ANDRE WARD, WBA AND RING MAGAZINE SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION – “I’ve always tried to respect this sport, I’m not a guy that always says this is my best training camp ever. Every training camp is my best training camp because I’ve always approached it the right way.”
With the Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios fight approaching, boxing fans are starting to tune themselves to the topic of discussing whether Manny is still capable of performing on a similar level as he did a few years back. We all know that time happens to be one of the main enemies of athletes, but some are able to avoid its effects for longer than others.
(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) LONDON (24 Oct) – Boxing’s oldest ever world champion Bernard Hopkins has his eyes on a superfight with pound-for-pound ace Floyd Mayweather should he get past Karo Murat this Saturday night live on BoxNation.
European Heavyweight Champion Dereck Chisora gets to do an Italian job on unbeaten Italian challenger Matteo Modugno at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday 30th November.
Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins, IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion
Boxing has a very diverse collection of characters willing to speak their mind, letting the boxing fans as well as the media know exactly what they think about the state of affairs around them. Brandon Rios has dedicated his time and efforts to progress in the sport of boxing, and he sure has gone far. With an impressive record of (31-1-1) with a 70% knockout rate, his only loss came in March of this year, when Rios had lost a close unanimous decision to Mike Alvarado.
British fighter Tony Bellew (20-1-1, 12 KO’s) is going to need a miracle knockout to beat WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (22-1, 19 KO’s) on November 30th because he’s out of his league in every way you can imagine in this one. Bellew has wanted this fight for ages, and now that he’s got it he doesn’t look nearly ready.