Ward vs. Rodriguez: Will ring rust make this fight more competitive?

419 It will have been just over 14 months since the last time Andre Ward graced the HBO airwaves as a fighter when he enters the ring this Saturday to face unbeaten Edwin Rodriguez.

Sidelined with a shoulder injury much has been said and written about Andre Ward.
Some of it was said using facts.

While other articles, tweets, and forum posts clearly had biasness oozing out of it, whether directed at Ward personally or at the way in which he was taught to fight.

The style of fighters and fans vigorously debating over the topic is nothing new.

I will never forget some of the arguments that my grandfather, the man that introduced me to the sport, and I had over who was better fighter and why between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard.

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Andre Ward Fight Week Quotes

415 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – November 14, 2013 – WBA and Ring Magazine Super Middleweight World Champion Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (Oakland, Calif.) is just 48 hours away from his return to the ring, and he’s locked and loaded for his first fight of 2013. Ward will face off with undefeated contender Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez in a super middleweight title bout on Saturday night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., and live on HBO World Championship Boxing.

The 29-year-old is excited to finally return to the ring after a 14-month layoff and he shared his thoughts on a variety of subjects over the past couple of days as he finalizes preparation for Saturday’s showdown.

On his 16-year winning streak: “I love to compete. I love to win and it’s just as simple as that. There are no simple formulas. God blessed me with the talent. I take my job very seriously and I think that’s a major thing that’s benefited me in the ring. When I get in there, I just love to compete.”

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Prizefighter Heavyweights Results: Sprott beats an injured Gavern

In a tournament between pretty much 2nd tier heavyweights, Britain’s Michael Sprott (40-21, 17 KO’s) was able to bat an injured American journeyman Jason Gavern (24-17-3, 11 KO’s) by a 3 round unanimous decision to win the Prizefighter tourney tonight at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, in London, United Kingdom.

The fact that Sprott won the fight is not in doubt, but the terrible scores by two of the judges makes you shake your head in sadness for the sport. The judges scored it 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. There was no way that Sprott won all three rounds of the fight unless you ignored completely how Gavern was lighting him up in the 2nd round and had Sprott hurt.

Sprott may have won the fight, but it was hardly as lopsided as the two judges that scored the fight 30-27. That was some terrible scoring, and it kind of cheapened his win. In the 3rd round, Gavern hurt his right elbow in the opening seconds of the round, and from that point on he was in a defensive shell throwing next to no punches.

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Devon Alexander, Austin Trout, Porter and Lara Interview Transcript

lara5 Erislandy Lara – Hi everyone. I’m working very hard in the gym. Thank God that everything is going great. Just waiting for the date of the fight, but everything is going very, very good moving forward.

Austin Trout – Well, I want to thank God for the opportunity to get right back to the position where I left, where I felt I belonged. A fighter like Lara is right there in my resume to be fighting the best and being the best.

Q – Hi, guys. Thanks for taking the time to do the call. First question is for Mr. Trout. Austin, I’d like your assessment of Erislandy Lara. What does he bring to the table? What do you think of him technically and how do you plan to beat him?

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If James Toney wins “Prizefighter” – what then?

With just hours to go until tonight’s intriguing edition of “Prizefighter: UK Vs. USA” gets underway – and with the debate continuing as to whether or not former multi-weight ruler James Toney should even be participating – the betting odds have shifted in the 45-year-old’s favour.

Toney, a veteran of 88 pro outings dating back to the tail end of the 1980s when his marvellous career began, has surprised many by getting himself in good physical shape (at least Toney looks to be in good shape, having dropped something like 50-pounds) and tipping-in at a lowly (for him) 217-pounds. This, and the fact that Toney has been matched with relative novice Matt Legg (who has just 7 pro bouts to his name) in his first fight, must be what has influenced the bookmakers.

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James DeGale Won’t Fail Punters

Pro-Boxer Frankie Monkhouse Previews this Weekend’s Boxing Action: Big time boxing returns to terrestrial TV this weekend as channel five bring us all of the action from Bluewater’s Glow in Kent, starting at 10pm. Heavyweight sensation Hughie Fury gets his latest run out but all eyes will be on James DeGale as the 27-year-old Londoner aims to defend his WBC Silver strap and move a step closer to a clash with Australian Sakio Bika who owns the WBC proper.

Old rival George Groves may be the talk of the town at the minute but James “Chunky” DeGale will go some way to confirming his reputation as a genuine title challenger if he can deal with opponent Dyah Davis in an impressive fashion. The American challenger has lost only three of 26 fights to date, one against Bika, a 10th round stoppage in June, but if the Englishman can do things a tad more convincingly, it would shoot him up the rankings and into the picture for major honours. The 6ft southpaw boxer brings a CV of 16 wins against that one famous reverse to city rival Groves back in 2011 and has halted each of his last two before the end of the fourth round.

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David Tua vs Alexander Ustinov on Nov 16

David Tua ( 52-4-2) and world ranked Alexander Ustinov (28-1) clash on Saturday 16th November at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, New Zealand.

David Tua whose latter career has been punctuated with weight problems had reportedly blown out to 348 pounds before starting to train for this fight.

Originally the pair were meant to meet on August 31st but a grade one calf tear sustained by Tua in training caused promoters to amend the fight to its current date.

The extra training time has served Tua well. Tua’s appearance in August is remarkably different to the physical constitution he is sporting in the lead up to this weekend’s fight.

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Freddie Roach Interview Transcript from Pacquiao’s Training Camp

roach1 Good morning America and good evening to World-Famous Freddie Roach because it is 11 PM in General Santos City in the Philippines. It is very gracious of him to join us – he has a 4:30 AM run with Manny Thursday morning.

We are just 10 days from Macau – Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios in a 12-round welterweight battle which will be headlining a live five-bout pay-per-view card on November 23 beginning at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. Also joining us on the call is Hall of Fame Promoter Bob Arum who is in Las Vegas.

BOB AUM: I just got up, but listen, I’m in better shape than Freddie because he is ready to go to bed – he has to get up early in the morning. So I am not going to waste any time – I’ll give it back to you.

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Brandon Rios Lands in Macau. “Victory Will Be Mine!”

Former world champion BRANDON “Bam Bam” RIOS and his team, headed up by Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia, arrived at The Venetian Macao® earlier today with one mission on their minds — BEAT MANNY PACQUIAO!

“I’m in China baby!” exclaimed Rios as he was greeted at the resort’s VIP Entrance. “I worked hard in camp, have a great team, Robert Garcia will be in my corner on the night of my fight. I’m totally prepared and I will win.”

Rios (31-1-1, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., will train daily at The Venetian Macao’s gym beginning Thursday morning.

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Ronnie Shields: “Edwin ‘La Bomba’ Rodrgiuez is cut from the same cloth as Holyfield, Tyson, and Whitaker”

Video by Carlos Sacriste – On November 16th, at the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California, undefeated Super Middleweight contender Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KOs) will take his first step in achieving boxing immortality when he challenges incumbent title holder Andre “S.O.G.” Ward (for his Super WBA 168 pound championship.

In this revealing and intimate video featurette, Edwin Rodriguez, legendary trainer Ronnie Shields, and expert conditioning coach Danny Arnold discuss the Super Middleweight title challenger’s preparation for the highly anticipated championship contest.

While most fight fans and boxing writers are heavily favoring the reigning title holder on November 16th, Edwin’s prolific trainer truly believes that his fighter is unlike anything Ward has ever seen in the ring.

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