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Andre Ward:
A different kind of Warrior
By Martin
Wade 
-Photo Courtesy of Boxrec-
We are
nearing Christmas and most of us are thinking about the people who
are important to us; people we will embrace and hold dear in just a
few short weeks. For those of us who watch the "hard game" we are
exiting a fall and early winter where men who aren't necessarily
pillars of likeability took center stage. An alleged cheater took an
alleged (in his mind) beating at the hands of Miguel Cotto and Vic
Darchinyan just ran into another matador able to shut down his
"Bull." Floyd Mayweather continued to keep his name in the news by
booking a venue and date without consulting anyone from Manny Pacquiao's camp just to keep us more irritated and confused as
ever... thanks Floyd. Across the sports landscape Nndamukong Suh just
shocked us with the worst kept secret in sports; that really large
men who eat quarterbacks might be a bit unhinged. And we don't even
want to go into the Penn State/Syracuse abuse investigations and
what that means for our young.
We're numb
to it, so much so that when a Tim Tebow comes along our response is
often defensive and cynical. We no longer equate contact sports with
being a gentleman so when a young man of bearing walks through that
door he is immediately asked, who the hell do you think you are? Or
worse, is he "tough" enough?
Say
Hello to the "Good Guy," Enter Andre Ward
American
Sports is star driven. Why else did anyone think the NBA lockout was
so contentious? There's only a handful of guys that can move the
meter and change a team's fortune and most of them have (and will)
orchestrate their futures, something small market owners wanted (and
failed) to put an end to. In boxing we have one American star that
acutely fights Latin foes that can bring large fan-bases to the
arenas. He is part genius fighter, part genius in the game of being
a modern pop culture figure because he deftly embodies everything
most D students value. Floyd Mayweather's model (See Mike Tyson) is
patterned after rappers and yet he covets the nationalistic
followings that won't forsake him if he ever loses. The African-American "celebs" who go to see Mayweather because it is chic to
align yourself with winning (and s&%t talking) won't be around if he
hangs on too long -just ask Roy Jones. Andre Ward is potentially
"the man" at 168 lbs. but he lacks the Latin foils at the weight to
propel him to Floyd's status. He must make his presence known
against Europeans, something elusive to Americans. Ward also enters
a universe where dignity is no longer celebrated in young black men.
Hip Hop changed that paradigm to the anti-hero hell-bent on "gettin
money" and letting everybody know about it. When you're Christian,
married and use Skype to stay in touch with your wife and kids as
opposed to using the medium for racist/homophobic rants, how do you
get attention?
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"I see how
guys make a buffoon of themselves to sell a few more tickets, they
create this image and when it's all said and done everything is
pulled out from under them. They have no stability; I never wanted
to be one of those guys." |
Carl Froch
is a world class fighter with an all-time chin who believes he can
render Ward unconscious. But Ward is no shrinking violet in the
ring, because you can't threaten a man and then hint that he may be
a "dirty" fighter. The problem presented by the "Son of God" is that
he's also an SOB (as called by Froch) in the squared circle; a
grinder with elite athleticism. Most geniuses are in the art of
stealing from previous success and God's "son" is baptized in the
book of Hopkins as well the parables of Leonard. In 1980 promoting
him would have been a breeze because back then a good looking, well
spoken (as in no Ebonics) African-American who can fight could be
exposed (and sold) on Network TV. The nation was about to be
transfixed with Cosby and Michael Jackson while Sugar Ray Leonard
was already bigger than De La Hoya's highest water mark. Ali
was the standard for Vanity and self-promotion and this thing called
"rap" was still but a NY underground phenomena. There was no
pressure for black males to project themselves as borderline
criminals to make a buck; and there certainly wasn't the idiotic
belief that such behavior was "keeping it real." In 2011 with Boxing
a niche sport and Hip Hop culture dominating the public perception
of what it "is" to be a Black male, guys like Andre Ward seem lost
and out of place.
Buffoonery
is now "swagger" and Andre Ward is low on swagger; he isn't
amusingly obnoxious (walking around with 400 lb. behemoths) nor is
he into discrediting opponents. Trust me when Hopkins uses the
"teacher/student" metaphor to rationalize not fighting the Olympian,
what he's really trying to say is this kid is talented and too tough
mentally to run game on.
At 27
Ward is already stacking up historically...
I'm a firm
believer in getting legacy "done" in the prime of your career, that
if Ward is around 5 yrs. from now he'll be deservedly "stacking
chips" based on what he's doing now. At 25, and thanks to the Super Six
format he was able to defeat a seasoned Champion in Mikkel Kessler,
putting his stamp on a division established the year he was born. By
this stage an extra-terrestrial Roy Jones was able to get an
unfinished version of Bernard Hopkins on his ledger and we all know
how that turned out. By Saturday night Ward may be pulling off the
greatest win in his career and Super Middleweight history;
even Roy Jones came short of establishing complete dominion
at the weight. Roy Jones avoided a tournament format and knocked off
future legend James Toney but Ward will exit the division with no
whispers about his vulnerability to a particular style; after Bute he
will have faced it all. He won't carry the burden of most Olympians;
that he was somehow "moved" into a position of prominence without
taking the rough "side streets" -and men like Carl Froch are as
rough as it gets. Even Ward himself is insistent on the rough road
calling Saturday's culmination a "no excuses" bout. He isn't afraid
to travel like Joe Calzaghe who waited until the money was stacked
too high and the opponents too old, only coming to the US as an exit
strategy. He isn't going to let Lucian Bute loom over him like the
tall southpaw's cynics whispered about that eventually caught up to
a weight drained Roy Jones. Andre Ward, the "good" guy is a fighter
and there have been far tougher "acting" fighters who have finessed
their way out of dealing with the challenges required of a man in
his prime.
Maybe the
good guy walks into a tough room committed to being "good" with an
ace up his sleeve. He knows at the end of all the talk and all the
hype the same thing that makes him "good" also makes him a hard man
to deal with in a confrontation, it's called CHARACTER.
And
Speaking of Good Dudes in a Bad Business
Congrats to
Lamont Peterson for "sort of" doing what he had to do to beat Amir Khan
last Saturday night -but the referee Joseph Cooper did more. Even
with the bogus point deductions I had him behind by 2 points after
losing round 11. Stylistically, had he jumped on Khan earlier by
getting close, I could have seen him winning but that isn't what
transpired. I would be fine with a rematch but not until Peterson
explored his options as Khan would have if he'd won a disputed bout.
Make no mistake if the shoe was on the other foot Khan would be on
track for a gold plated ass whooping courtesy Mr. Mayweather in 2012
and nobody would blame him. Golden Boy "heavy" Richard Schaeffer is
hinting at May 21 at Staples Center next year but here's a question
Petersons people should ask; do you mean in Los Angeles? The
Staples Center/AEG are the same people who put a statue of De la
Hoya in front of the joint commemorating his... what? Losses in big
fights? This, while Kareem Abdul Jabbar with 5 Championship Rings
can't get the same courtesy in front of the LAKERS home arena! If
the number one suit at GBP has his way the Peterson victory will be
overturned and they don't have to pay the DC native for a "do over."
I'm not a fan of "hometown decisions" but if somebody "had" to get
one it couldn't have happened to a better man. I sincerely hope Mr.
Peterson, who was wise enough to turn Khan down in 2010, is smart
enough to know he won't win a close fight in De La Hoya's backyard.
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