Home Boxing News Andre Ward on the possibility of the Carl Froch rematch in the...

Andre Ward on the possibility of the Carl Froch rematch in the UK

Jenna J: You believe that Carl Froch doesn’t want to fight you, I obviously watched the fight that he had on HBO against Mikkel Kessler – He didn’t actually seem so keen on a rematch with you right away. In regards to that fight, do you want that fight more than he wants it – even though you’ve beaten him?
 
Andre Ward: I mean, not really. At the end of the day I don’t even know why were talking about a fight with this guy, he keeps talking. People have to understand that’s what fighters do. A fighter like Froch, who is arrogant as he is, his saying, not an American saying, but UK fans push him and pressure him, in person or on Twitter, you name it. They say hey man, what about Ward, so he has to come out and say something like Ill fight Ward any time. He has to defend that tough guy mentality ad reputation that he has given himself. Like I told everybody that once I left the UK it was gonna happen, they were gonna talk in front of the cameras they were gonna talk on the websites and on the radio shows – they are gonna say one thing, but behind close doors they don’t want the fight. I heard and I don’t know for sure, I think Eddie Hearn may have reached out today, but here is the deal – If a fighter wants a fight, they are gonna make it happen. He wants to do whatever he can to avoid it, and close out his career on a high and I don’t blame the guy. But just stop saying my name just be honest with yourself and say I don’t want to fight the guy no more. I’m not the kind of fighter to chase the guy, if he declares that he doesn’t want to fight, but when my name keeps coming up well I will say lets fight if you wanna fight and then we find out that he doesn’t wanna fight.  Those are just the games that are played in front of the fans, they get involved an they get excited and riled up, but really a lot of the time its just talk. All this stuff about being boring and being this, just turn the tape off. Froch is this warrior and this tough guy, you didn’t see Andre Ward running. I don’t run in fights, I’m still right there right where he thought he wanted me but it was a lot different than he expected. I was injured and hurt going into the fight and I’m not chasing or looking for this fight but if it happens its gonna be a whole other story, fully healthy coming in there against Froch if we fight again. 
 
Jenna J: I recently spoke to Carl Froch not too long ago, and he said that he wanted the fight with you because he wanted to avenge the loss, but he would only take it if you were willing to go over to the UK. He believes that you coming over to the UK it will throw you out of your comfort zone and have the fans against you for the first time in your career. What do you think of the perception Carl has on taking that fight with you? 
 
Andre Ward: At the end of the day he’s in no position to call shots. I’ve been perfectly clear in America through the American media and on some of the UK’s biggest networks and radio you know, the BBC, Sky Sports, you name it. I have no problem talking about it, I’m not ruling out going to the UK and its not to accommodate Froch, its more or less for the fans. You have to understand that I have a huge fan base in the UK and It will be more of a thank you to them to come and fight there because they keep asking me to come fight there. Its not gonna be cheap to get me to the UK, I don’t have to fight and I don’t have to come to the UK. Its not something that I have to do, I’m not chasing him and trying to avenge the loss to him, so that’s a misconception that fans start to believe the stuff that’s being said sometimes if somebody doesn’t correct them so listen we can talk about it an we can see what the numbers are and see if it makes sense but I thrive of it, I’ve been fighting on the road my whole career. People have this misconception that I’ve fought in Oakland my whole career, just go to Boxrec, that’s why I love Boxrec, look at the amount of times I’ve fought in Oakland, five times, you can count them on one hand, and then count the number of times he’s fought in Nottingham. Its almost exclusively throughout his whole career. So tell me who’s been fighting at home and who hasn’t. These are the things that people have got to dig a little bit, don’t just read the article and believe what you hear, do your research.

Jenna J: Do you have any fear going over to the UK because of the last fight even though you clearly won it. I scored it nine rounds to three for you. It was officially on the scorecards as seven rounds to five. They had it as a close fight. Do you think that if you go over to the UK that there’s a chance that if it is close, there is a chance you could potentially get robbed. Is that a risk to you going over there?

Andre Ward: Yeah, two out of the three judges had it seven rounds to five but the UK judge had it the right way. That was the third judge, the UK judge had it the way it was supposed to be 118-110. That’s the way the fight should have been scored. I think what happened is that he made such a fuss about giving a fair shake that I think that maybe those judges, and I don’t know those judges personally, but I think they overcompensated an made sure that he had a fair shake and they over compensated. That being said, of course they are going to try and give him anything close and allow Froch to ride off into the sunset as the hero if i go over there. My job is not the decision I chose to go over there, is to not make it close from round one to round twelve and its gonna be a totally different fight than it was the first time. I think I put on a good performance the first fight given the circumstances but second time around its gonna be a whole other ball game. My job is to not make it close but you had better believe they are gonna try and find any reason they can to try and give him the fight – that’s the whole point of him trying to get me to the UK.  

Jenna J: Speaking of Carl Froch he actually has a fight coming up on November 23rd against the undefeated George Groves. Do you see George Groves posing any kind of threat to Carl?

Andre Ward: Well he’s got two hands so of course he’s gonna be a threat to Froch. I’ve actually only seen Groves fight one time which was when I was in the UK on the under-card calling the fight for Froch’s fight with Kessler and I think he;’s a good fighter, I like his attitude, he’s not an arrogant kid but he’s confident and you’ve gotta be confident in the sport. He’s been calling for Froch probably for the last year and a half. I know they have sparred together and I don’t know how those sessions went but I think you have to give him a shot. I think Froch has more edge, more championship experience and he knows how to go the rounds at a high level, but these fights can be tricky. You’ve got a kid like George Groves who’s hungry, he hasn’t lost and he’s been in the ring with Froch before so at least he has an idea what hits you with the big gloves and what Froch brings to the table, what his temperament is what his conditioning is and he doesn’t seem to be intimated by whatever happened in those sparring sessions because he’s been calling for the fight so you gotta give the small edge to Froch with the experience but this is one of those fights where there can be an upset, there’s no guarantee that Froch is gonna get his hand raised.