Boxing News Boxing News
Undefeated WBA Super Middleweight Champion and America’s last Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) addressed Bay Area media at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA today to promote the first defense of his title against world-ranked contender Allan “Sweetness” Green (29-1, 20 KOs), of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Super Six World Boxing Classic on Saturday, June 19, on Showtime.
Green participated in the media event via video conference from his training camp in Florida.
Ward, who captured the WBA belt with a convincing, 11th round technical decision over Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six World Boxing Classic opener on November 21, 2009 at Oracle, acknowledged his obsession with the hard-hitting and imposing Green as a motivating factor in the fight.
Green was uncharacteristically terse in his comments and, while impressed with Ward’s skills and his performance against Kessler, he remains his usual confident self a little more than a month from the fight.
Allan Green:
“Andre Ward is a good fighter; a good young fighter. Very skilled, very talented and I do respect his skills. But against a fighter like myself, he is going to have to bring a lot more to the table than he did against Mikkel Kessler. I did admire what he did to Kessler; no disrespect there, but at the same time, come June 19th I will be WBA Super Middleweight Champion.”
Andre Ward:
“As usual, I have another opponent talking loud and minimizing what I have done, and that’s OK. At some point in time, the world is going to have to give us our just due, but I don’t look for it right now.
“What is being said, how Allan Green feels, that is a good thing. I take it; I use it as fuel, and I am going to do what I’ve been doing for the last 12 years: prepare, come into the fight ready to win and get the win. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past 12 years. I have had opponent after opponent try to intimidate me; opponent after opponent try to minimize me; opponent after opponent try and break down my skills from the outside. But when they get inside, it’s something totally different.
“In my opinion, Allan Green is a beast. That’s what I am preparing for. That’s what I am eating, sleeping and drinking. I’m getting ready to fight a monster, that’s how I am looking at it.
“We have a date, June 19th. When you have a date and you got a dancing partner, there not much else that needs to be said. We have that, and I look forward to putting on another tremendous performance for the fans and, believe it or not, I am going for three points in this fight.
“Allan Green is absolutely right. There is going to be deep water in this fight and we are going to see who swims the best when we get to that point.”
