By Rick Reeno
MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Former super middleweight king Andre Ward (30-0, 15KOs) is only days away from what he feels is the biggest fight of his career - an HBO pay-per-view showdown with IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight king Sergey Kovalev (30-0, 26KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena.
When the fight first got signed, one of the biggest critics of the matchup was Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather aired his thoughts in multiple interviews - where he outlined what he felt was a conspiracy to get Ward beat.
In the opinion of Mayweather, there were political forces - which he more or less hinted were at the top of HBO Sports - that were protecting Gennady Golovkin from a potential fight with Ward. His feeling was, that Ward was being steered in the direction of Kovalev for two reasons - to distance him from a fight with Golovkin and to position him for a potential loss.
Ward is no stranger to Mayweather's comments on the fight. However, he doesn't understand why Mayweather would voice his concerns in public - rather than contacting him directly to discuss the matter in private.
"I will say this about that. I want to say it the right way. My thing is, if you're a veteran in this sport and you have something to say, you know, and you think that you might have some advice that you might give to a young fighter, like myself - we know a lot of the same people - just pick up the phone," Ward said.
"Personally, I don't air stuff like that out in front of camera, because then you have to ask the question - what's the motive? You want to be the first to say, if you happen to be right, that you said it? What's the motive behind [Mayweather airing that out there]? We used to have the same manager in James Prince. I'm not hard to get in contact with."
"I've talked to Floyd several times before, so if you really feel like it's something from a business standpoint that I should make some different moves or maybe I shouldn't do something - if you really cared and if it was really an issue - pick up the phone and call. Being that he didn't - that's his opinion."
"And let me say this, he may be right. This could be some kind of a setup to get beat - that doesn't mean it's gonna work. You gotta realize, I didn't get invited to the Super Six. Myself, Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor - we didn't get invited to the Super Six because they thought we were these great fighters. We made it interesting. It was about Arthur Abraham. It was about Carl Froch. It was about those guys. It was about Mikkel Kessler. And as the tournament went on - people kind of turned on them and said they were European fighters and one-dimensional - but that's not what they said in the beginning.
"So, the fix has been in. The traps have been there. I just stay focused, I got a great team around me. I have a relationship with God that I hold dear to me. I hit my knees and I pray about the stuff like this - what should I do. And, believe it or not - I feel led to make certain decisions and I feel led not to make certain decisions. Sometimes God will send you in, with what looks like a trap, because God wants to show up and show out. Mayweather may be right -we're gonna see Saturday night. But at the end of the day, if you have something to say to me - pick up the phone bro - it's 2016. You can get a hold of me like that."