Ward vs Dawson Video: Andre Ward Post-Fight Interview in the Ring

Andre Ward spoke with the Goossen Tutor team directly following his dominant TKO win over Chad Dawson last night in Oakland. Video's above, and here's the transcript in case you can't watch at work or whatever.

"Dre, these belts are heavy, man. You put in a lot of work to get them, though."

"We worked hard to get 'em, so I don't mind carrying them around, and carrying the weight of being a champion, inside and outside the ring. Chad Dawson, dangerous opponent. Resume speaks for itself. We had to be on our game tonight. We were. We came out on top."

"Nothing can be taken away from your performance tonight, but nothing can be taken away from Chad. He was a great opponent."

"He took a risk. I took a risk in fighting a bigger man -- he came in at 185 tonight, I came in at, like, 175. He had the height and the reach advantage, but he made the sacrifice to come down in weight. So we did it on the biggest scale, HBO boxing, in front of my hometown, in front of 10-12 thousand people. I couldn't ask for more."

"Did you know, like, after the second round, I've got this man figured out? And I've got him on his heels?"

"I was surprised that he wasn't as fast as he said he was, and that he looked on film. I saw everything coming. The big left hand. I felt pretty comfortable from the start, and Virg just kept urging me, 'Man, step it up. Turn on the beast. You've got another gear. You trained for this.' And we were able to get him out of there."

"You know, people talk about chin. I read somebody say, 'What about Dre's chin? It hasn't been tested.' Chad hit you hard a couple times and you came back with no drama."

"No drama. No wobbly legs, none of that. Hey, it's -- you gotta be able to take it on the chin. We don't wanna take too many on the chin. That's not healthy. But we took it on the chin, came right back, and that's the mark of a champion."

"No one wants to look forward, but you can relish in this one for a little bit. But you gotta say to yourself, 'Wow, I'm happy and proud,' and somebody gave you some inspiration from inside to do what you had to do tonight."

"I thank God for this. He keeps putting me on bigger and bigger stages, and as long as I stay humble, and continue to change for the better -- I'll put it like this, I asked God to rise me up, but keep me humble, and He's doing that. So once again, I always give Him the glory, for giving me that extra push. There's nothing to gloat about with Chad Dawson, man. It's just one of those fights where we put it on the line, I won. If he came out on top, he couldn't have gloated over me, because I risked something, too. It was a fight for the fans. Everybody said the fight was going to be boring, and it was anything but."

"Anything but boring. Knockdown, knockdown, aggressive behavior--"

"Was there three knockdowns?"

"Yes, there was three knockdowns."

"Oh, OK."

"You did what you had to do in here."

"I feel good. I'm satisfied. A lot of times I'm hard on myself, and I'm sure I'll find some holes in my game somewhere, but I'm happy about the performance tonight."

"Absolutely. Congratulations, Dre."

"Thank you."