Andre Ward ''I've Earned The Right To Fight At Home''

by Geoffrey Ciani - This week’s 102nd edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (23-0, 13 KOs), who is just coming off a successful title defense against Sakio Bika (28-5-2, 19 KOs). Although this fight was outside of the Super Six, Ward still remains on top of the leader board and is scheduled to square off against “King” Arthur Abraham in the semi-finals of the tournament. Ward provided opinions and insight into both the tournament and his career. Here is some of what he had to say: His evaluation of his performance in his unanimous decision victory against Sakio Bika: “I wasn’t pleased. Honestly for my standards, I think that kind of performance is unacceptable, but at the same time I am pleased with the fact that as a champion I did what I had to do retain my title. I think sometimes you can get spoiled. People in general can get spoiled with dominating performances and it’s not always going to happen like that, but at the end of the day can you get it done? Can you find a way to win? And we found a way to win in this fight.” On what it was like adjusting to Bika’s tough, awkward, rough house style: “I think just trying to adjust was the main thing for me. I wasn’t pleased with my work rate and what I was doing early in the fight, but you got to understand like you just mentioned and I think you do understand, is he’s a very awkward guy. He’s throwing from a lot of different angles. I could have probably fought him—Bute fought him from the outside and maybe made it an easier night, but I chose to stay more in the pocket and stay closer to him. It’s just kind of how the fight turned out to be, but he’s very, very awkward and he’s a very strong guy, but at the same time I expected that kind of fight. I mean I watched Bika for many, many years, and he fights one way and I knew it was going to be that kind of fight. So mentally I was prepared for it. I wasn’t caught off guard, but that being said, just because we knew what he was going to bring that it was going to be any easier in there. At the same time I feel like I got his respect as well. People talked about his toughness and his grit. I think we showed the same thing in this fight.” On when he believes he started effectively making the necessary adjustments with Bika: “I think just probably midway, maybe the 6th or 7th round. I could tell he was breathing in there but he’s an old veteran, so he’s not going to quit and give-up just because he’s tired. I felt like my conditioning was stronger than his. He is a strong guy, but I actually felt like I was physically stronger than Bika. I was able to push him back. Not once did he just have his way with me on any of the clinches or anything like that. I think midway was when I just slowly started pulling away and in the last three or four rounds especially. Again, I retained my title and that’s what it’s about, and these kinds of fights are good. It’s not always a good thing to dominate. It’s good to have these kind of fights because it keeps you hungry and it keeps you going back to the drawing board just looking for ways to get better.” His views on whether his victory over Bika is receiving the respect it deserves because of Bika’s ranking prior to the fight: “You know I’ve learned and I’m learning in this boxing game that I put on a strong performance against Edison Miranda. I had some people who understood that was a key fight for me. It was a breakout moment for me to fight a tough contender like that and maybe I was ready for championship level fighting, but then you had those who said the guy was washed up. He should have never been in there in the first place. I came right back and after the tune-up fight and fought Kessler. I thought I put on a great performance. Some people gave me just dues and others tore it down. I’m just realizing that you’re not going to please everybody. You’re at the mercy of the laptops, and their computers, and what they have to say, and what they think. Like I always say, I listen to enough of the negatives to fuel me and to keep me motivated. I appreciate all the positive stuff, but it’s just part of the game and in this game you have thick skin and whether people give you your credit or not, you got to stay driven until the day you hang those gloves up and that’s what I want to do.” His views on whether he will be able to defend his title in March against Arthur Abraham: “Well I feel fine with the exception of just being sore like you should be after a twelve round fight. I feel fine. With all of the fouls that were in the fight I sustained a few cuts. None of them were significant enough for stitches. The one on my left eye I just had to get it glued shut. So those shouldn’t be a problem. I’m actually on my way right now to the hospital to get my left hand, my knuckle on my forefinger x-rayed. You know I hurt that hand in training camp probably two weeks before the fight and it was extremely swollen and very painful and it almost felt like there was a ligament or a bone floating around in the front of my knuckle. So we just tried to tough it out and just tape it up good, and keep working it. Jacob “Stitch” Duran, he did a great job the night of the fight to protect my hand the best he could, but I’m just going to get it x-rayed right now and hopefully everything comes back positive and there’s nothing serious going on and we should be ready to go whenever the date is set.” On what he expects from Arthur Abraham in their Super Six Semi-Finals match-up: “I think desire-wise, I think he’ll still be hungry. I mean he’s getting another title shot. That’s the irony of the Super Six. Skill-wise and tactical adjustments, I don’t think he’s going to make them. If he was going to make them he would have made them in the Carl Froch fight. I think it’s going to be the same old Arthur Abraham. He spoke about stepping his work rate up. I haven’t watched his fight. I heard about the fight and I think he tried in the first round or maybe the second round, but he went back to his old ways. I just think it’s too late to teach this old dog some new tricks. He’s had success. He hasn’t at much success at 168, but he’s had success at middleweight for many, many years. I guess he and his coach felt like there was no need for changes and I think it might be just a little late to make some changes right now.”