Post-Fight Interview: Andre Ward

By G. Leon

11/02/2005

Post-Fight Interview: Andre Ward

GL: What's good Dre? Can you tell us what you think about your performance? "It's all good! I'm happy with my performance, he caught me with a good shot in the first round and I just saw the replay and he made me do a little dance but now I had to get back to work. He was a light heavyweight and I came in at 164, so once again I had to prevail against the bigger man and someone who was a little bit stronger than myself and by the Grace of God I was able to come through."

GL: How surprised were you when you got caught? And what was going through your head after he appeared to hurt you?

Andre Ward: "I just didn't see it coming. He was looking so good to me and it was coming easy to me, and I fell asleep in there for a minute. It was a left hook on top of my head, he caught me, I did a little dance, but then I got back to work. A lot of young fighters get a early KO's but don't know what to do when they get caught. I showed tonight that I have a lot of grit and a lot of determination.

"If you really think about it, this was my first fight. The first one only went a round and a half and I came right back against an 8-0 fighter, I went the six rounds, I took his best shot and I came back to dominate. I'm very happy about that, and I know all the media is going to talk about is him catching me, but that's cool too because it keeps me motivated.

GL: I was speaking with your manager James Prince. He mentioned the possibility of you moving all the way down to middleweight. Is that something you're comfortable with?

AW: "Yeah, we're going to be fighting around 162, 163, but when it's my time to get a title the plan is to fight at middleweight."

GL: You won Gold at light heavyweight, but do you feel as a professional you have to grow into a super middleweight frame, let alone light heavyweight?

AW: "To be real about it...I think so. When I turn 21, 22 and 23 you're going to see that man strength come around. I'm still a baby in this game. I'm very strong but I got a lot of strength that's going to come to me naturally. Right now I think I'm going to be at my best at middleweight."

GL: Winning the Gold Medal puts a bulls-eye on your back to begin with, now that everyone saw you get hurt in your second fight, will that put another bulls-eye on your chin? Do you expect your opponents to come at you even stronger now?

AW: "Yeah, but that's where they're going to go wrong. That was my Doug Jones. Ali had Doug Jones and so I have, it just happened in my second fight. In time people will see the men seperated from the boys and everyone's going to know who's real and who's fake. This guy came in tonight in a win-win and I'm sure he's going to go home proud of himself for hitting me once, but I'd rather get caught with a good shot than go home looking like he did any day of the week."

GL: When might your next fight take place?

AW: "We're looking at eight weeks from now. I don't know exactly when but I think it'll be on TV. You got to talk with J and my promoters about that."

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