I couldn't fit everything 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward had to say in my article that ran in Thursday's O.C. Register, but I can get all the extras right here on the Keep Punching blog.
Ward fights Shelby Pudwill on Sept. 12 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula on Showtime before taking on WBA super-middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler in the opening round of the Super Six World Boxing Classic on Nov. 21 on Showtime.
Here's what S.O.G. had to say:
On the Super Six World Boxing Classic:
"Basically the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament is six of the best super-middleweight fighters in the world. You have two contenders, myself and Andre Dirrell. You have a former world champion in Jermain Taylor who is trying to regain championship status. He is very hungry to get back to the top. You have a middleweight champion in Arthur Abraham, who vacated his title to move up. I think he only has one loss on his record. You have reigning world champion Mikkel Kessler with only one loss on his record to the long-time champion Joe Calzaghe. He's the favorite in this tournament and he's my first opponent in the first round. And then you have Carl Froch, a young, hungry guy, who doesn't believe he can be beat, and he's also a WBC world champion.
"So this is a power-packed lineup and there's really no weak links in this tournament. Everybody is coming in here to win. The intriguing thing about this tournament is no one can really pick a true winner. Everyone can have their opinion, but the talent is so stacked it's hard to really pick a clear-cut winner."
On this being such a unique tournament in boxing:
"This is unprecedented. This has never been done before. The closest anything like this has been done before was when Don King, I don't remember what year it was, but it was a four-man tournament with Bernard Hopkins, Felix Trinidad, Keith Holmes and William Joppy. The big differance was that was single elimination. These guys only had two fights. One fight to get to the final. Bernard Hopkins and Tito Trinidad ended up meeting in the final, and Bernard Hopkins beat Trinidad to unify all the belts.
"This is totally different in the sense that there is no single elimination. Each fighter is guaranteed three fights, win, lose or draw. And it's based on a points system. If you get a knockout, you get three points in any of those three fights. If you get a regular decision, you get two points. If you get a draw, you get one point. Obviously, for a loss you get no points. At the end of each fighters' three fights, we'll tally up the points and we'll see the top four guys and that will determine the semifinals and the finals. This has never been done before."
On his next fight against Shelby Pudwill on Sept. 12 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula on Showtime:
"My next fight is against Shelby Pudwill, but the will do a split feed to pump me and Kessler. He's going to be fighting (Gusmyl Perdomo) the same night. I believe they are going to show his fight closed circuit in the arena. I don't know if it's before or after my fight. The fans are going to get a chance to see Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler in their last fight before the big fight on Nov. 21. It's a little appetizer to wet the whistle a little bit and get them excited about our fight. It's a great idea. It really is."
On Kessler's style and abilities:
"He's got good speed. He's very determined. He's a strong fighter. He's 41-1 with 31 knockouts. I mean, the only guy I know that he's fought on his record is Joe Calzaghe. I'm not taking away anything from his other victories because he is the reigning champion. After he lost to Joe Calzaghe he came right back to win another championship. He's the real deal, but I believe that I'm going to be better than him Nov. 21. That's what it boils down to. I'm taking nothing away from him. He is on paper the best guy in this tournament. He is the top guy. This is the guy we wanted to go after and we got him in the first round just the way I wanted it."
On how the first round fights were determined:
"I have no idea. I don't know how the draw went. I wasn't privy to that. The bottom line is this, I feel like every fighter in this tournament should feel like they are going to be the last man standing. So, that being said, my mindset is such to where I'm willing to fight anybody. It really doesn't matter to me who I fight first. I don't look at it like give me Froch because he is a tad bit easier than Kessler. I'm ready for Kessler. I'm ready for Abraham. I'm ready for all the top guys. I feel like I'm the best in this tournament. You have to think like that. We all have an opportunity over the next three fights, over the next two years, to prove it. In my heart, I feel like I'm the best. That being said, I'm willing to fight any of the guys in the first round. It really doesn't matter to me."
On actually stepping up and being willing to fight anybody:
"There can be a lot of reasons. Boxing has changed in the sense that it's not as simple as me just saying, 'Hey, I want to fight this guy.' You have separate promoters that may or may not get along. You have networks that are involved. One guy might be a Showtime fighter and the other guy might be an HBO fighter. Money is a big factor these days, as it should be. You know, guys feel like they're not getting the right compensation. There's just a lot of factors involved.
"I don't blame it all on the fighters because you have to understand this is prizefighting not pride fighting. I say that to say if I take some damage in the ring physically, I can't reverse that. And nobody, none of the fans --- I appreciate the fans and love the fans --- nobody is going to go home with these fighters. Fighters have to make sure if I'm going to take this risk that I'm getting ample reward. Sometimes that halts a big fight from happening. But in this case we're all in one pot, so there is not much wiggle room. We gotta go at each other and at the end of the day see who is the last man standing.
"That's going to be a process. It's not going to be overnight. It's going to take I believe two years to get the whole tournament completed, at least 18 months to get these first three fights completed. The goal for me is to take it one fight at a time, one opponent at a time. I'm locked in right now against Pudwell on Sept. 12 because he is in the way of me fighting for a world title. And then Kessler Nov. 21. Those are the only two guys on my mind."
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The first group stage of the WBC Super Six World Boxing Classic concludes Saturday and it is up to Andre "S.O.G" Ward to avoid the American fighters from being shut out.
The second stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic continues with 2004 Olympid gold medalist Andre Ward vs. Mikkel Kessler on Saturday at 10 p.m. on Showtime.
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The Super Six World Boxing Classic gets underway on Saturday at 8 p.m. on Showtime. Former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor takes on Arthur Abraham from the o2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany, and Carl Froch pust his WBC super-middleweight title on the line against Andre Dirrell from the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England.
I caught up with 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Andre "The Matrix" Dirrell during a break in the fights on Saturday night at Staples Center.
WBA super-middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward took care of business, dispatching their tuneup opponents on a special edition of "ShoBox: The New Generation" on Saturday night on Showtime.
