Video: Sugar Ray Leonard on Andre Ward
by Scott Christ on May 9, 2011 10:01 AM EDT
in Boxing Video
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PrintRecently, Sugar Ray Leonard spoke about super middleweight star Andre Ward. Ward faces Arthur Abraham on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, live on Showtime, paired with the Pacquiao vs Mosley replay. The broadcast starts at 10pm EDT.
Leonard talks about the importance of Andre Ward's 2004 Olympic gold medal. Ward is really the last American Olympic star, and of course Leonard knows a bit about coming from the Olympic team. Leonard was a gold medalist in 1976.
Leonard: "Here's a guy who will be a superstar soon. I think that the more he wins, in the fashion that he wins, is symbolic of what the Olympics should mean. ... But Andre Ward, without question, is a winner."
Ward (on comparisons to Leonard): "That's good stuff, man. I appreciate it. I've got a lot of work to do to be in that company. I've got a lot of work to do."
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Will the Aguilera-Arreola fight be shown?
Great job on the big fight coverage last week. I caught the fight but wasn’t able to comment here much. Next week should be fun.
No, Arreola’s off TV.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on May 9, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
Nice to hear
the humble words from Ward there.
He’s right,he has got a lot to do to get into SRL territory but he’s got massive potential,imo.
Though not quite as entertaining in style as Leonard,he’s very effective and i find it hard to see anyone beating him for a good while.
While not amazing to watch he just has that look of a special figther to me.
Anyone
not German give AA a shot at pulling off the miracle here?
That would have been a strange thing to say at the start of the tournament when AA was considered the favourite,or at least one of them.
I think he can knock Ward out. You know, if he actually throws a few punches.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on May 9, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
You know, if he actually throws a few punches.
That’s the major question.
If he can’t get motivated for this one he might as well retire.
I’m hoping for a better fight than it would be fair to expect.
I wonder where / why AA lost that. He always used to be a slow starter, but then he would open up more and more and throw those deadly bombs.
He proved that he`s tough as hell in the Miranda I – battle. Maybe that one left some mental cracks deep in his mind, freezing him against tough (and tall) opponents?
My hope is that in Ward, he got a fighter who`s not that much taller than him. Maybe this gives him back some of the spirit of old.
Yeah,good point.
He’s probably noticed how much harder they hit at the higher weight too although he was struggling to get down to 160 for quite a while so you would think he would benefit from the move up.
I think the height difference has got a bit to do with it but i also think it’s more to do with the fact that he’s stepped up in class from the guys he was fighting in Germany.
I always like his fighting style before the Dirrell fight but i always said that he hadn’t really fought anyone world class.
Miranda was at his peak when they fought but was never really much more than a gatekeeper,top 10 fringe contender,imo.
Having these Super 6 fights where it’s one top guy after another might have come as a bit of a shock to him.
I would still have expected much more of a showing from him though and as you say,it’s hard to pinpoint where he lost his fighting spirit.
Sorry
i meant “why” he lost his fighting spirit.
We know “where” he lost it…….Sometime between the Dirrell and Froch fights.
I haven’t been watching boxing for decades, but the few examples I’ve seen, it seems to me that those fighters that employ that shell like defense don’t throw many punches (well, maybe Winky does – comparatively speaking)
Bob Arum would promote Lucifer himself if he could put asses in the seats.
You gotta come out the shell to do it.
That personality doesn’ t like the risk reward ratio. Every punch thrown is an exposure to danger.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
Yep, that’s what it seems like. I think Clottey summed it up in his loss to Cotto when reporters asked him why, basically, left Cotto off the hook by not throwing more and he said something like “he punches hard and I had to be cautious, I could feel his punches” (I’m paraphrasing so much, but that was the gist of it).
Bob Arum would promote Lucifer himself if he could put asses in the seats.
Maybe a Swiss Judge or two would think that AA could win and would score the fight 118-112 AA?
"The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register."
-Bob Verdi
by Waldo Rastel on May 9, 2011 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Ward is definitely one of my favorites, and I find him highly watchable. I love the way he adapts to his opponents. Ward is a TERRIBLE matchup for the one-dimensional Abraham; I expect this one to be a 120-108 type fight. After facing Bika, who is a real pain in the ass in there, Abraham is going to seem like a cakewalk for Andre.
I respect Ward a great deal (so no I’m not a “hater”),but I actually do not find him very watchable. His recent bullying style has been effective, but not all that fun to watch.
He’s interesting in that respect. He has some styles that are a little more fan friendly like he showcased in the Miranda fight and the Pudwill fight. The inside bullying style is a new one but pretty effective since there aren’t many top-level fighters who can employ that strategy.
"The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register."
-Bob Verdi
by Waldo Rastel on May 10, 2011 4:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Andre Ward is a class act any way you cut it
Being that He and I are from the same neck of the woods I’ve followed him for a long time and I have enjoyed watching his ascent. Against Abraham, Andre will pitch a shutout. Andre fights better as the stakes get higher and this one won’t even be close. Froch handled Abraham with ease and as much as I like Froch, he doesn’t have the pure boxingskills of an Andre ward.
"That was very funny about the old man basketball skills. One is lucky to escape injury when playing against those crafty, crusty sumbitches. And it’s just demoralizing when they demonstrate yet again how to use the backboard from range." - Charlie Custer
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