In Andre Ward?s match Saturday with height-challenged slugger Arthur Abraham, you might suppose Ward will be a cutie this time after a couple of bouts fought at close quarters.
That?s a fallacy, says trainer Virgil Hunter, who asked a pointed question about Abraham?s modus operandi: ?When?d you see him hit somebody in close?? Hunter demanded. ?He needs the space.?
So Ward will crowd Abraham. And yet Hunter expects Ward to dazzle us more in this fight than he did in his 2010 bouts against Allan Green and Sakio Bika.
Will Andre be aggressive from the outset? ?I?m not going to say definitely aggressive, but create doubt,? Hunter said.
So don?t expect a two-round demolition, but do expect a demolition.
Abraham, of course, says he?ll be doing the demolishing, and his record before 2010 suggested he could do it, ending with his Super Six knockout win over Jermain Taylor.
?He believes in his punching power,? Ward says, and he?s not alone, but ?if he lands a shot on me, I believe I can take it.?
Abraham (32-2, 26 knockouts) was outclassed against Andre Dirrell and even Carl Froch in his 2010 Super Six matches, so perhaps it?s his opponent who bears watching.
?It gets to the point that it?s not about what he?s going to do, it?s about what I?m going to do,? says Ward (23-0, 13 knockouts) the 2004 Olympic gold medalist from Oakland whose past four bouts have included a convincing win over slugger Edison Miranda, one-sided Super Six victories over Michel Kessler and Allan Green, and a WBA title defense against Sakio Bika, all in Oakland. The title is at stake Saturday.
Although Ward isn?t exactly fighting in a foreign country by venturing to the Los Angeles area to fight Abraham, the challenger?s Armenian ethnicity will draw him at least as many supporters at the Home Depot arena in Carson. But Ward?s ring generalship is expected to be his biggest advantage. Advertisement
My style is adapting and doing what the other opponent doesn’t believe that I am going to do,? Ward says. ?We don’t have a fear factor in our camp where we’re going to be running away from Arthur Abraham. He’s a 168-pound man, and so am I.?
Ward doesn?t know what he?ll do either. ?I?m not really a game-plan type of guy,? Ward said, meaning he likes to concoct strategy in the heat of battle.
?You would think I?m a young fighter, based on the tone of our preparation,? Ward says, meaning Hunter still trains him like it?s boot camp. But Hunter is almost deferential during the fights. ?Virgil lets me make those kinds of decisions.?
It?s pretty obvious Ward knows what he?s doing.
FIGHT TIME: Showtime will air the bout live in the East but on a three-hour delay here beginning at 10 p.m. It will air a repeat of the last Saturday?s Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout before showing Ward-Abraham, which means the Super Six bout probably will begin around 11 p.m.
