Andre Ward knows the score

By Robert Hough
Photos: Alma Montiel

It’s a numbers game for Andre Ward — winning the Super Six, a second belt, a slew of fighter-of-the-year awards, three kids with another on the way and a wife to provide for, retirement when he has a certain amount of money, taking dozens of blows to his head every time he fights.

So much is unknown, the WBA and WBC super middleweight champion said recently: Why are some athletes severely affected by getting hit in the head and not others? Why are some people who aren’t athletes mentally sharp at 90 and beyond and some are severely impaired when they’re decades younger?

“It’s a concern,” Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) said after a press conference in San Francisco with one of his sons at his side, holding on to his leg. “It’s definitely a concern. I have a family.”

Ward, a student of the sport who pays attention to what goes on outside the ring, has amassed considerable knowledge about the threat of head injuries.

“I’m aware of the latest research with concussions,” he said a few days after he dominated Carl Froch (28-2, 20KOs) to win the Super Six World Boxing Classic and take the Englishman’s WBC belt. “I am aware of things not showing up now, but showing up later.”

The thinking is both spiritual and pragmatic.

“I don’t feel like God has allowed me to be in this sport to be hurt or ever seriously hurt anybody,” said Ward, an outspoken Christian. “That’s my belief. I feel like I’ve been blessed and I feel like the door has been opened, but I have to do my part to make the best decisions I can from a financial standpoint in terms of my earning power and once we’ve made that money, to make the right decisions with it. I’m thinking about my kids going to college, thinking about setting them up. I’ve got my number, what it’s going to take to retire.”

Ward believes, though, that it may not be God’s plan.

“I could end up in a position where I can only fight for one more year or even one more fight,” he said. “If there’s any problem, you better believe I’ll play it safe. If I end up so I’m done with this in a year or sooner, two more fights, one more fight because of a health issue, my family and the rest of my life are worth it. No question about it.”

Ward is a fighter, though, intensely competitive. He’s intrigued by the thought of encountering an opponent who pushes him.

“I know people want to see close, exciting fights and rematches like Pacquiao and Marquez or the great fights in the days of Ray Leonard, Hearns, Duran and all those guys,” he said. “Part of me wants to face somebody who really challenges me and have fights fans — and I’m as much a boxing fan as anyone—talk about for a long time, but I don’t want to go through what Ali and Frazier went through, to be honest.”

Oh by the way, there have been some fighters who were expected to give Ward a damn hard time, he pointed out.

“People said Kessler would be really tough to beat and a lot of people picked him to win,” Ward said. “Then they said, ‘Carl Froch is going to give him everything he can handle if not more.’”

In clearly winning those fights and others, Ward left some fans and observers wanting explosive, electrifying knockouts. The mixed-martial-arts era has led some people to expect blood and savagery in boxing, believes Virgil Hunter, Ward’s trainer.

“People don’t care about the science of it,” he said recently. “To a lot of people, it’s not the Sweet Science. People don’t want to see that; they want to see blood and people knocking each other’s teeth out, but you’ll end up with fans remembering fighters and the fighters don’t remember themselves. Andre’s not going to be like that.”

People should understand that dominating performances take a toll, said Ward, who has long related that he doesn’t want to be in the fight of the year, he wants to be the fighter of the year.

“Nobody’s with you two or three days after a fight,” he said. “You’re physically and mentally worn out and your body’s processing all the lactic acid. My 3-year-old daughter’s asking me, ‘Daddy, are you feeling better? Are you okay?’ That’s the reality.”

That and what could be far worse are of no concern to some fans and commentators, Ward thinks.

“To some people, if it’s not blood and guts, it’s a bad fight and that’s not fair to the fighters,” he said slowly, quietly. “It’s not right.”

Wild battles and knockouts excite fans, but it’s important to remember where Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were when they were 27, said Dan Goossen, Ward’s promoter.

“Go back seven or eight years and look at where they were,” he said at the event in downtown San Francisco. “They had nowhere near the popularity they’ve had starting in the last few years. Andre Ward has had 25 fights and he’s only been fighting top-level guys for the last two years. He made his name in this tournament, but things are just beginning.”

Big possibilities are appealing and at the same time, not a focus, said Ward, who expects to fight in April or May.

“You want to break records in pay-per-view, but I’m not looking and saying, ‘Oh man, I gotta beat Floyd Mayweather’s record one day.’ I don’t focus on that stuff. That’s for Dan and those guys to focus on. I have to tune it out. I can’t get caught up in the trick bag, so to speak. I’m enjoying my family or I’m somewhere working.”

What will satisfy the Dublin, Calif, resident who grew up in nearby Oakland is simple.

“As long as I don’t cut corners in preparation, as long as I know that I give it my all, whatever at the end of the day my career turns out to be, I can live with that,” Ward said.

What keeps him motivated is equally simple.

“I’m excited about the prospect of getting better,” he said. “There’s a whole lot more inside of me. I’m 27. I want to see the 28-year-old Andre Ward, 29, 30, even 31, if I’m blessed to be able to be able to do it and want to do it in four years.”

Whatever lies ahead, Ward said his body lets him know he’s not 19.

“It’s kinda scary getting old,” he said, raising eyebrows from people nearby on the dark side of 40. “I’m getting older as a fighter! I have to warm up longer. Virg yells at me all the time, ‘You can’t just go in the gym throwing punches. You have to take your time.’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t have to think about this stuff a while ago and now I have to.’”

When it’s time to be done, Ward wants to take Lennox Lewis’s approach; the British heavyweight stepped away from boxing after a close, intense fight with Vitali Klitschko.

“I put myself in Lennox’s shoes,” he said. “I try to, at least. He retired and they offered all that money to fight Vitali and he didn’t and I admire that. Of course fans were saying, ‘You’re scared,’ and the first fight was close, but he tuned it out. He tuned it out. He did what was best for him and that’s what I need to do. I owe more to my family than I do to the sport.”

Things have been changing on physical and professional levels, and with his family, Ward said. In addition to having a son or daughter on the way, his relationship with his mother has changed for the better.

A Showtime commentator said during the Froch fight that Ward’s mother was sitting next to his wife, but the woman they showed was his mother-in-law, he said. Ward has spoken at great length about his late father’s positive influence, hinted in years past that his relationship with his mother was less than ideal.

“My mother was in the building for the fight,” Ward said. “My dad raised me, but my mother is in my life now and she’s doing fine. She’s doing great. She lives close to us and she’s married and my kids are able to see her. I’m happy about that. She’s able to come to my fights now. Things with my mom are a lot better.”

Things across the board are extraordinarily good right now and the further things go in boxing, the more there is to think about, said Ward, who recognizes the need to balance family responsibilities, boxing’s realities and what’s in his heart.

“I’m just a competitor,” he said. “I love to win.”

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January 17th, 2012

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