{"id":3201,"date":"2010-06-17T13:56:48","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T17:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=3201"},"modified":"2010-06-17T13:58:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-17T17:58:55","slug":"andre-ward-allan-green-face-to-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=3201","title":{"rendered":"Andre Ward & Allan Green Face to Face"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Showtime Press Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andre Ward and Allan Green met face-to-face at today\u2019s final press conference in advance of their Super Six World Boxing Classic and WBA World Title tilt on Saturday, June 19\u2014live on SHOWTIME, 10p ET\/PT\u2014from Oakland\u2019s Oracle Arena. The event is promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, TNT Boxing and Dibella Entertainment and sponsored by Corona, Oakland Tribune and River Rock Casino. While both men were respectful of one another, the tension in the room was nearly tangible. What\u2019s at stake in the final Group Stage 2 bout:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2013 The undefeated Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) is making his first world title defense (WBA 168-pounds).<\/p>\n

\u2013 Green (29-1, 20 KOs) is getting his first world title shot and his first Super Six bout (replacing Jermain Taylor).<\/p>\n

\u2013 Both are seeking one of four coveted berths in the Super Six World Boxing Classic Semi-Finals.<\/p>\n

\u2013 With a victory, Ward would clinch a spot in the Semis prior to his Group Stage 3 bout vs. Andre Dirrell; Green would still have a chance in Group Stage 3 against Mikkel Kessler.<\/p>\n

\u2013 If Green is victorious, all six fighters would be virtually deadlocked going into the final and decisive Group Stage 3 matchups.<\/p>\n

What the fighters had to say:<\/p>\n

Andre Ward: Well this is my favorite part of it right here\u2026 fight week baby. The hard work is basically over. All the interviews are basically over and it\u2019s time to go to work. This is what I do best. To quote John Wooden, you know I don\u2019t let the praises of the people or the criticism get to me. Because it\u2019s a weakness to get caught up in either one. I appreciate the praises of the people, I honor that, I thank them for that. And those who\u2026 people who have a lot of negative things to say about me, even my opponent, his coach, his team, that\u2019s fine. But I\u2019m locked in on what I have to do. Fight in and fight out. I\u2019ve sacrificed a lot for this moment. I\u2019ve sacrificed my wife, my kids and they\u2019ve sacrificed a lot, too\u2026.. I don\u2019t think people realize what\u2019s inside of me and what kind of focus I have. They think when you get this belt that it\u2019s time to relax. They think that I\u2019m the one that\u2019s being hunted and to a degree I am, but I have a lot of desire in me, man. And I got a lot of passion in me. I don\u2019t know if he wants this belt as bad as I want to keep it, but if he does, then it\u2019s going to be a whole lot of fun on Saturday night. We\u2019re going to have a good show.<\/p>\n

I have nothing negative to say about my opponent or his team. I\u2019ve listened to what they\u2019ve said; the disrespectful things, even the compliments, and I take it all to heart. I take them for their words and it\u2019s pushed me and it\u2019s driven me. Like I said at the first press conference we had, I train like I\u2019m fighting a monster, period. So, that way mentally and physically that\u2019s what I\u2019m prepared for. It\u2019s his time to show up. He\u2019s done a lot of talking but it\u2019s time to show up. It\u2019s my time to show up and I will give the fans a tremendous performance come Saturday night.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to tell you guys how great I am, how great I\u2019m going to be. I\u2019ve got to continue to show you. I\u2019ve been in this game a long time and I understand it\u2019s about putting in the work and showing people. It\u2019s not about these press conferences. It\u2019s not about the interviews. It\u2019s about putting in the work and when it\u2019s time to show up, show up. And that\u2019s what I plan on doing. So, I thank everybody that\u2019s involved with this event, SHOWTIME, Oakland, we are getting ready to do it again. Thank you.<\/p>\n

Allan Green: Andre Ward is a good young fighter. He hasn\u2019t lost since he was twelve or thirteen years old. We understand that. We\u2019re not minimizing him or undermining him in any way. There\u2019s no need for me to get chuckling here today. I see children here. I see people here having a good time, but Saturday night I will be the WBA super middleweight champion. That\u2019s what I came here for. I know what I can do.<\/p>\n

To dissect me you\u2019ve got to have a hell of a scalpel\u2026 to dissect Allan Green, a hell of a scalpel. Because a lot of people tend to think, they want to label me as a puncher. True, I am a puncher, but at the same time a lot of people fail to realize I\u2019m a pure boxer. I do know how to box. I do know how to think. So if anybody\u2019s got it in there mind thinking that I\u2019m just coming to walk this young kid down and blast him out and blow him out the water like Kessler did\u2026 Like I said, here\u2019s the problem. Mikkel Kessler is from Denmark. He speaks English. Ward speaks English. Kessler understands English. Kessler doesn\u2019t understand jive, that\u2019s why he couldn\u2019t deal with Andre Ward. I speak jive very well and will Saturday night.<\/p>\n

John David Jackson (Green\u2019s Trainer): Everybody\u2019s pretty much picked Andre Ward to win. I don\u2019t know why we even showed up. James Prince said he\u2019s ready to go to war, but one thing you got to remember when you go to war, you leave your head open for punches. And this brother (Allan Green) right here, he\u2019s got dynamite in both hands. So, if Andre Ward comes to go to war, that\u2019s exactly what we want. And if he does that, he won\u2019t be champ anymore.<\/p>\n

Virgil Hunter (Ward\u2019s Trainer): The talk is over and we can get down to the grit of it. In my opinion you\u2019re not the champ until you retire the champ. You have to be able to hold on to the title and that\u2019s where our mind set is. Allan Green is not taken lightly. His flaws, we\u2019ve identified them. His strengths we have identified them too. A lot has been said about what comes out of his hands, but if you look at his record, we have the better knockout percentage. Judging from the fighter\u2019s and competition he\u2019s faced, this is the first time that he\u2019s really going to get hit. This is the first time he\u2019s going to find out how violent Andre really is. Everything we do, we do with speed. If he stays where he is in the speed zone, he\u2019s going to get chewed up. We are going to find out who has the dynamite in the fists. We are going to do what we always do. We are going to shock your mind, take your heart and we are going to dissect you down and constrict you and then we are going to give you a venomous bite.<\/p>\n

Dan Goossen (Ward\u2019s promoter): This is the first time in history that the Bay Area has ever hosted two back-to-back championship fights within a twelve month period. First and foremost I want to thank the fans for coming out to Oakland and supporting their hometown hero. When this thing is all said and done, you\u2019re going to see your Oakland fighter, you\u2019re Bay Area fighter, become a pay-per-view star.<\/p>\n

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Showtime Press Release Andre Ward and Allan Green met face-to-face at today\u2019s final press conference in advance of their Super Six World Boxing Classic and WBA World Title tilt on Saturday, June 19\u2014live on SHOWTIME, 10p ET\/PT\u2014from Oakland\u2019s Oracle Arena. The event is promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, TNT Boxing and Dibella Entertainment and sponsored […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45,57,659,1086],"class_list":["post-3201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-allan-green","tag-andre-ward","tag-showtime","tag-wba-super-middleweight-title"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3201"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}