By Jake Donovan

Rare is the occasion when a fighter chooses his hometown debut as the time in his career to take a dramatic step up in competition.

Even more of an anomaly these days, it seems, is that an American amateur boxer can play the system well enough to capture Olympic gold.

It’s only fitting that Andre Ward becomes the guy to merges all of those worlds together for this weekend’s homecoming, when he faces Edison Miranda at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California (Saturday, Showtime 9PM ET/PT).

His level of competition notwithstanding, Ward (18-0, 12KO) is even more of a unique figure in the sport than when he first turned pro more than five years ago. At the time of his pro debut, which aired live on HBO, he was the only member of the 2004 US Olympic boxing team as well as the first US amateur in eight years to bring home the gold.

Fast forward to 2009, where he is now the only active American boxer to have achieved such a feat. The list wasn’t very long; it was in fact cut in half from two the moment Oscar de la Hoya decided to call it a career earlier this year.

Still, that and network availability gets you a televised fight these days.

Ward has been afforded some perks since turning pro, such as turning pro on HBO and currently enjoying a healthy diet of televised dates on Showtime’s Shobox: The New Generation series.  Not bad for a fighter whose very mention of his name often raises the question, “When will he ever step up the competition?”

By his own admission, Ward is well aware that he’s not exactly on the fast track to superstardom, though it’s not to say he is disappointed with his career path to date.
 
“This is a step up,” acknowledges of his fight with Miranda this weekend, “but at the same time this is right where we need to be.”

It’s not the answer that everyone wants to hear, but there’s something to be said of fighters willing to leave early cash on the table to ensure things are done the right way. It suggests that Ward is not only looking out for his own career, but also remains a student of the game, having watched the unimpressive rise and fall of the 1996 and 2000 US Olympic squads.

Some exceptions came of the groups, most notably Floyd Mayweather Jr, who sprinted out to an early lead and remained at or near the top of the sport’s very best for the next decade. The rest have all experienced their share of highs and lows – mostly the latter – with very little mention of any actually living up to expectations.

It was in observing the aforementioned classes that not very much was expected of the Class of 2004 aside from the two Andres – Ward and Dirrell, the only members to medal. Though both remain at the top of their class and have always been regarded to have the greatest upside, their careers are still viewed with skepticism.

More often than not, a fighter would have his hometown to turn to while still trying to find himself in the pro ranks. Not the case with Ward, whose handlers have elected to wait until this weekend before letting him go where everybody knows his name.

As is the case with the choice of competition he’s been fed, Ward takes no issue with having to wait more than four years before going home.

“This is an event; this is bigger than a fight,” says Ward, whose statement is backed up by his being honored with the city of Oakland blessing him with a day in his honor on Tuesday afternoon.  “This is what my team was talking about when we were trying to figure out when was the right time to fight in Oakland and against what opponent.

“I think this is absolutely the right time and the right opponent.”

The verdict is unanimous in Edison Miranda representing the right opponent, or at least the best he’s faced to date. The Colombian slugger has enjoyed his share of the spotlight, but has fallen short in his biggest fights over the past couple of years.

Some believe it’s the losses to Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik that prompted Team Ward to select Miranda as the homecoming opponent of choice. Ward expects the glass half empty view from his legion of critics, but naturally comes at the fight from another angle altogether.

It’s not the three losses on which he focuses, but the 32 wins Miranda has collected over the year, specifically the manner in which he’s tried to intimidate his opponents long before the opening bell.

“Miranda is a bully and I don’t like when people try to bully people. He’s going to find out that I’m a whole lot tougher and a whole lot nastier inside that ring than he’s anticipating. It’s going to be a different type of fight than he’s anticipating.” 

Chief among his to-do list is to show Miranda how a fighter truly deals with adversity – that is of course, should it come to that.

“I’ve been on that canvas and I’ve gotten back up and come back to win. Whatever he wants to bring, bring it, and I’m going to be ready on May 16.”

Anything short of that and he will go from budding contender to colossal bust. Miranda’s suffered brutal knockout losses in each of the past two years, but both came against the world’s best two middleweights.

Miranda remains a tough out for any super middleweight, tough enough to where everything can either go amazingly right or disastrously wrong when Ward makes his hometown debut, a fact not lost on the 25-year old prodigy.

“Fighting in your backyard could either be a gift of a curse. I’ve never been one to get caught up in the lights, camera, action and that whole deal.”

Very few others in the game can say the same. But then, very few have been performing on the sport’s highest stage for more than half of their lives.

“I’ve been preparing for nights like this since I was nine years old. I can’t let fighting in my hometown detour me in terms of my focus.

“Trust me, there’s going to be a lot of energy in the building. I think a lot of people in Oakland are excited about this and I’m going to deliver on May 16.” 

If not, then he is well aware of what awaits him.

“To me, this fight is totally about respect.  It’s about respect from the media, respect from the entire 168-pound division and just respect in general. There’s always something to prove with each fight.”

Never more so than what awaits him at home this weekend. 

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Please feel free to contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .