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By Jake Donovan - Andre Ward had just won the biggest fight of his career in scoring a unanimous decision win over Carl Froch in the Super Six finals last December, capping off the biggest year he’s enjoyed as a fighter since capturing a Gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics. The win came at a price, as he entered with a left hand bruised and fractured in one place, only to suffer an additional fracture midway through the fight.
All of this came following a 26-month tour of facing the best super middleweights in the world during the Super Six World Boxing Classic round-robin tournament.
Between the elevated level of competition, a career-best win capping a career year, the accolades to follow and the injuries suffered both before and during the bout, you’d think that Ward would have been given at least a moment to take it all in and spend the last two weeks of 2011 enjoying some much needed R&R.
Not in today’s demanding society. Instead came questions of when he would step into the ring with Lucian Bute, arguably the world’s best super middleweight that didn’t participate in the Super Six.
“That’s just part of boxing,” Ward says ever so slightly of the situation. “Everyone was demanding a Bute fight 10 minutes after I beat Carl Froch. I made it clear how I feel about him. I don’t feel like I have to prove that I’m willing to fight him. We proved that over the past two years that I’m willing to take on all comers.”
It’s really something that Ward (25-0, 13KO) has proven ever since putting on his first pair of boxing gloves some 18 years ago. The plan was always set in place for the Oakland native to make his run at the right time in his career, which happened to coincide with the start of the Super Six tournament. [Click Here To Read More]
All of this came following a 26-month tour of facing the best super middleweights in the world during the Super Six World Boxing Classic round-robin tournament.
Between the elevated level of competition, a career-best win capping a career year, the accolades to follow and the injuries suffered both before and during the bout, you’d think that Ward would have been given at least a moment to take it all in and spend the last two weeks of 2011 enjoying some much needed R&R.
Not in today’s demanding society. Instead came questions of when he would step into the ring with Lucian Bute, arguably the world’s best super middleweight that didn’t participate in the Super Six.
“That’s just part of boxing,” Ward says ever so slightly of the situation. “Everyone was demanding a Bute fight 10 minutes after I beat Carl Froch. I made it clear how I feel about him. I don’t feel like I have to prove that I’m willing to fight him. We proved that over the past two years that I’m willing to take on all comers.”
It’s really something that Ward (25-0, 13KO) has proven ever since putting on his first pair of boxing gloves some 18 years ago. The plan was always set in place for the Oakland native to make his run at the right time in his career, which happened to coincide with the start of the Super Six tournament. [Click Here To Read More]
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