With the promotional issues that have kept him out of the ring for more than a year now behind him, super middleweight champion Andre Ward is ready to begin the second act of his career.
Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) recently parted ways with Goossen Promotions before signing on to become the face of Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports. Despite fighting just twice in three years, Ward expects to return to the ring this spring and reclaim his status among the very best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.
The 30-year-old Ward appeared on ESPN.com's "Making The Rounds" this week to go in depth about his Roc Nation deal, working with Jay Z, and his plans for 2015:
What does this new deal mean to you?
It's a new chapter, a new stage in my career and a new stage in my life. I had a rough year and a half or two years, and I'm just excited about the move that I made with Roc Nation. It's something new, it's something fresh, and I'm excited about it. I don't know how else to describe it. I know that a company as big and as powerful as Roc Nation might not only have a vision for my career, but they have the power to carry that vision out. I know I am going to give Roc Nation everything that I have, so I think it's going to be everything we think it's going to be, which is a great deal.
You said you would like to return in March or April. Have any names been mentioned for a possible fight yet?
Not yet, not yet. We just wanted to get through with the announcement, which we've done. And this week we're going to dig into dates, locations and opponents. I've had two fights in three years, but believe it or not, my stock has risen in my opinion, and if I didn't feel like that, I wouldn't say it. There's such a buzz and excitement. So many people are just waiting for my return. I take that very seriously, and I don't take that haphazardly. It's just more motivation. If you get to a certain point in your career and you've won belts, you've accomplished a lot. But you have to find things to motivate you, and you have to find things to some way just keep that edge about you. When I see that kind of thing, it just fuels me. The flipside is, even though the rest and layoff is not ideal, it's good. I've been boxing for almost 20 years. All of the miles I have ran on the road, I have sparred many rounds and fought many rounds. And you look at [Floyd] Mayweather, who took a two-year layoff and a couple of one-year hiatuses. He has been on a nice run since then, and I don't know if he would have been on that run if he didn't take that time off. It's a good rest -- an involuntary rest, but a good rest -- and I'm excited to be back.
What should your fans expect to see from a physical and mental standpoint when the bell sounds before your next fight?
I think everything that they have always seen and more because if you know anything about my game, a lot of my game is mental. Even though I wasn't in a boxing ring in front of the public, I'm always taking mental notes of things that are being said and certain movements in the game. I've got my bulletin material and no shortage of motivation.
You posted a picture of signing your contract alongside Jay Z. How hands-on do you expect him to be with your career moving ahead?
Surprisingly very, very hands on, and I say surprisingly because Jay Z is a very, very busy man. He has so many different things, and boxing is just one leg of what he does. But I've seen a lot more of Jay Z and heard a lot from him in a short period of time. You can kind of tell when somebody is just the face of something or their name is stamped on it but they are really not interested. It's the furthest thing from the truth with Jay Z. He's very insightful. He comes into meetings and he talks. I'm very excited from his involvement and very excited to learn a lot from him from a business standpoint. Numbers and business and how it works and how to continue to build my brand and also continue to set my family up for life is something that is very important to me, and he's a guy who has already done that. Those kind of conversations is what I am really looking forward to.
Many people, including myself, believe you might be the one fighter between 154 and 168 pounds with the right combination of kryptonite to give Gennady Golovkin trouble. How deserving is he in your eyes of the large amount of hype that has followed him over the past year?
It's tough to say. People ask me all the time if he is a hype job, and I think you have to clarify that. I don't think he's a hype job from the standpoint of not having the goods or not being gifted and talented. That's clear to see no matter what level of competition that he has fought. I believe he was a silver medalist at the 2004 [Olympic] Games. You don't get that far at the world level as an amateur not having that kind of pedigree. So he's a real fighter, and I give him that. But I think in some respects, he is held to a different standard where other guys won't get that kind of pass. For example, I don't know if he has fought a top, top competitor. And that's the reality of the situation, and I just don't think that certain guys will get away with that kind of stuff without hearing it from the media on a consistent basis. But that's his role, and if they are happy with that and feel that he is developing the way he is supposed to, then that's on them.
Considering Golovkin's rise and the fact that business has picked up at light heavyweight over the past year, how much longer do you want to stay at 168 pounds?
Well it's tough because Virgil [Hunter], my coach, has always told me to stay in my weight class as long as possible. And part of doing that is staying disciplined outside of the ring when you don't have a fight coming up and staying disciplined with your diet. And I have done that because I try to respect the sport of boxing. Bad things happen when you don't treat it with the reverence that it deserves. My weight stays at a certain level and doesn't balloon, and right now I'm not a light heavyweight. I feel like at the super middleweight division, there's still a lot of competition. A lot of these guys don't want to step up, and I've seen a lot of excuses over the last year and a half that I could easily poke holes in. Sometimes these guys think just because myself or my team doesn't respond to some of the things they are saying doesn't mean we can't poke holes in them. We just don't operate like that. I'm not going to go back and forth with these guys on these websites every time they say something. When we speak, we want it to mean something. Those guys should want what I have. I've followed this sport since I started at 9 years old, and if you look at the rankings in the '80s and '90s, there was no super middleweight division. There was light heavyweight and there was a middleweight division, and it was like murderer's row. All of those guys, they fought once, twice and three times. You shouldn't be able to sit at the top and be considered the best in the division without everybody underneath you trying to come for what you have. The fact that some of the super middleweights are not trying to fight me is mind-boggling. But I can't make them fight, and all I can do is continue to do what I'm doing.