Hearn: Groves feels that Andre Ward is the only fighter he can’t beat yet at 168

04/04/201304/03/2013 Michael Collins

groves4534 Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (18-0, 14 KO’s) feels that WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward is the only guy that Groves feels he can’t handle at 168.

Hearn said to ESPN “The only person he says he can’t beat yet is Andre Ward. That’s the only one that George says, ‘At the moment I wouldn’t challenge Ward but I’ll beat the rest of them.’ I keep saying, ‘Alright, George, let’s work on this, let’s keep work on this.’”

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Andre Ward hoping to fight Chavez Jr.

04/01/2013 Rob Smith

WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) says former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) is high on his list for a big fight in 2013. Ward just destroyed WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson last September in a 10th round TKO when Dawson made the mistake of moving down in weight to face him at 168. Now, Ward is hoping that Chavez Jr., a huge fighter for the 160 pound division, will move up in weight and face him at 168. Ward thinks it’s a fight that boxing fans will want to see.

Ward said to RingTV “A fight between me and Chavez Jr. is more interesting. I think it’s what fans what to see more than [Sergio] Martinez now.”

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Ward: Froch and Kessler are just using my name to get attention

01/26/201301/26/2013 ESB

ward643 By Michael Collins: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward thinks both Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch have been just using his name to help promote themselves and put themselves on same level as him. Ward beat both Kessler and Froch in the Super Six tournament in fights that left no question who the better fighter was.

Ward hasn’t cared for the comments that both fighters have made since he beat them, and he feels that they’ve made excuses for their losses instead of giving him the credit he deserves for schooling them.

Ward said in an interview with esnewsreporting.com “I’ve lost all respect for Mikkel Kessler and I’ve lost all respect for Carl Froch. Neither one of those guys want to fight [me]. They’re just using my name to keep their name up. If I fight either one of those guys, I don’t care which country it’s in, it’s not going to go the distance. I don’t have to go to Denmark to become a star; they have to come to the U.S if they want to become an all-time great.”

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Andre Ward will need shoulder surgery, fight with Kelly Pavlik off

12/28/201212/27/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) will reportedly require shoulder surgery on his right shoulder to fix a problem that occurred in late November while sparring to get ready for his fight with Kelly Pavlik.

It was originally thought that Ward’s injured shoulder would heal with rest, but unfortunately it’s not healing the way they thought it would and he’ll need surgery. Ward’s scheduled fight with Pavlik on February 23rd has been cancelled, and Pavlik’s manager Cameron Dunkin is reportedly looking in another direction. Steve Kim is reporting that Pavlik could face former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in March, although nothing was said about that from ESPN.

Pavlik should consider this a good thing that his fight with Ward is off, because he really didn’t have much of a chance to win the fight. It would have been bad for him unless he were to come up with a knockout to somehow negate Ward’s superior skills.

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Andre Ward suffers shoulder injury, fight with Pavlik to be postponed

12/07/201212/06/2012 ESB

By Steve Mabbott: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward injured his right shoulder while working out to get ready for his now cancelled January 26th clash against former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The good news is that the 28-year-old Ward didn’t suffer any tears of his shoulder and won’t need surgery.

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Froch awaits Ward after he beats Pavlik on 1/26

09/14/201611/23/2012 ESB

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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