THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Andre "Son Of God" Ward - Faith in the Midst of Fear

Episode Date: October 3, 2018

Andre "SON OF GOD" Ward is the undefeated 32-0, 16 KO, Unified  Light Heavyweight World Champion, Two-time Super Middleweight World Champion,  Number One on the Pound-for-Pound List, Named Fighter of the Year, and Olympic Gold Medalist!    On top of that, Ward stepped in front of the camera for a completely different role in his film debut of "Creed," sharing screen time with the film's star Michael B. Jordan.    He is also a consistent, positive presence in his community and across the country, traveling to numerous schools, prisons, youth facilities and even to Capitol Hill to speak about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and motivating young boxers to chase their dreams.   Known for his strong character and integrity outside the ring and his warrior’s instinct inside it, Andre is a true definition of becoming THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF.    It is with GREAT excitement that I bring you this exclusive interview with the man dubbed "SON OF GOD" as he shares his rise to the top while exuding courage in all areas of life.   This interview is one you do not want to miss. With so much courage and inspiration, it will transform your life! WATCH/LISTEN NOW!   Please SUBSCRIBE to all platforms, by CLICKING THE LINK IN MY BIO. Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT, REPOST, and TAG SOMEONE to spread the word about the fastest growing show on earth! 

This is the Ed Milett Show. Come feet, lead and win. All together, all together, and all together. Hey, everybody, Ed Milett, I'm so excited to be back with you today with another program on the Max Out Show. We bring you people all the time that have maxed out areas of their life that are the best in the world.

And the gentleman to my left, the reason I've been after him to do this show for so long is because I think he's maxing out multiple areas of his life. The obvious area is that this is one of the greatest boxers of the last two decades. And you might even argue in the history of the sport. And so the gentleman on my left here is retired this last year to be a year ago this week

32 and 0 32 and 0 has not lost a fight since he was 14 years old and was an Olympic gold medalist when the super six turned him in and the super middleweight division and was a light heavyweight champion of the world. And so this is one of the greatest athletes, but I think one of the great men in the United States. So Andre Ward, thank you for being here today. They're saying that thanks for having me. This is going to be awesome.

So I wish, as some interviews, I wish we were recording the pre-interview because it's been so good. So thank you so much. Man, I'm happy to be here. Let's talk a little bit. We're going to go all over the places you know today. So I want to talk about you though. I want to get to know the person because, and by the way, you ladies

that just heard me say, hey, I've got one of the great boxers of all time here, just realize one thing. This conversation is going to be about faith and life and peak performance and the champion's mindset. And so this fits everybody, every background, both genders you name it are going to be riveted today as my hope. So talk about a little bit how you grew up. We were talking about earlier off camera about your mom and your dad But really your dad was like this central piece of your life. So how'd you grow up? Where'd you grow up and what was your upbringing like? Yes, I'm from the San Francisco Bay area grew up grew up a little bit

maybe 15 20 minutes outside of San Francisco in city call Hayward and then you know a bigger city Oakland and it's outside of San Francisco in a city called Hayward and then a bigger city, Oakland, California. And my dad basically raised me as a single parent. Unfortunately, my mother, she struggled with substance abuse. She was kinda in and out, and my dad played the mother role and the father role. And my brother, that was his plight as well. He and I had the same father, different mothers,

but his mother was also gone. So we related to each other, and we had the same struggle, and the same heartache, and different things like that. From my mother's standpoint, and my dad stepped up to the plate, and he was, you know, his own his own glass company. He was a glazer. And just a blue collar type of man. And he was the one that, you know, he owned his own glass company. He was a glazed it. And just a blue collar type of man. And he was the one that, you know, he's responsible

for introducing me to my faith in God. He's responsible for introducing me to the sport of boxing. Really? And really just teaching me how to be a man. Do you think, I just think, and as you said it, do you think one of the reasons you're such a strong family person is because maybe there was an absence

of a mother in your home and so like that, just something that was so important to you or they not related at all? family person is because maybe there was an absence of a mother in your home and so like that just the something It was so important to you or are they not related at all. I think I Think it's just the example my dad, you know, gave me and my brother like we didn't have everything, you know We grew up, you know middle class maybe think that's safe to say lower middle class and You know again similar to yourself. Yeah, and Again, we didn't have everything, but one thing that we did have was a lot of love.

Like my dad loved us. We had a very imperfect situation. My father also struggled with drug addiction. You know, his drug choice was heroin. But he was a functional addict where my mother wasn't. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So he got a work eight hours a day, 10 hours a day, then he come home,

and that monkey was on his back But yet he still you know love was a was a was a pillar in our home and Family was a pillar and I think that was the example he set and that's the example that I've taken, you know now that I'm a man Well, I didn't know that you know, you know that my dad I'd consider my dad was a functional Addic alcoholic to but functional. It's really interesting. I'm just curious, did you dad all his life struggle with that? Or is there a point where that ended up getting cleaned up? I think my father started using heroin probably 18, 19 years old or something like that and it was a, I don't want to say her name, but it was a young lady. He was dating at the time and he you know my dad

grew up in the 60s and 70s and they didn't know yeah really what they were doing I know yeah, you know they're adjusting a whole Doing all kind of stuff yeah and at that point when he broke up with that with that girl and He found out that she was cheating on him. He's viral. Mm-hmm And I think that's when he kind of picked up the needle And really meant it was something that he fought off and on for 20 plus years. Wow, that's amazing. When we were talking earlier off camera, I watched your whole state change when you brought

up your dad. There's this massive amount of respect and love that you have. You want to point that out to everybody too. As parents, you know, you could have flaws as a parent, whether it be something like that or you're, you know, some other addiction you've got or somebody doesn't mean that you can't be a wonderful parent with some of our flaws. There's no perfect parents to be. My dad's my best friend of this day, right?

But man, for a long time, it was some real anxiety in my house. So, you're growing up, dad's a centerpiece of your life, you got your brother there, although it sounds to me like there's some anxiety going on still at that same time for you. Why boxing? Like did you play other sports? I mean, you know, this is a dude, I mean remember what I said, I mean, hasn't lost since he was 14 years old, right? That's crazy to me. So why did you pick boxing? Did boxing pick you? I think, uh, it's a good question. Thank you. You know, my first love was baseball. Me too. I was a pitcher in the shortstop. And, you know, I was all in.

And I've always been like that, like no matter what I put my hands to do, even as a young kid, like I gave it a thousand percent, you know, maxing out. And then I started hearing my dad tell me these stories. These war stories about the fact that he boxing. I was like, wait, you fought? He's like, yeah, I was 15 and I was a heavyweight. And he boxing at Cresmore High School in San Bruno, California.

He was like, man, we had a boxing team. And he's just telling me all this stuff. And he's rivals. He had a rival, you know, some morning kid named Bringerst. And how they, you know, were at rival schools. And then they ended up fighting. And it was just like, I'm like, man, like, I don't want to play baseball anymore.

Like, I want a box. And my dad, he's like a no nonsense kind of guy. He'll get literally give you the shirt off his back. I've seen him do it. But yeah, he doesn't play any games. He's like, listen, if you say you want to do this, we're going to do it, we're going to stick to it. He said, dad, I want to do it.

Next day, he took me down to the gym, the gym was closed. And he kind of lifted me up. And it's like this big glass, like, window. And I looked inside and I saw the boxing ring and I was like, whoa, I fell in love that day. Came back the next day, the gym was open and he signed me up. It was nine years old and didn't start off too well. What?

Guys were happening away, kind of getting beat up, but I was still tough. I didn't quit. And my dad was like, ah, he doesn't have it. A few weeks later, your dad said ah, he doesn't have it. Yeah, my father had his way. Yeah. I probably wouldn't be sitting here with the accomplishments that I have in the sport of boxing. Okay.

Huge lesson for people to listen to right there. No facts. Huge lesson. Okay. So, kept going a couple more weeks, kept progressing, and then I ended up meeting this trainer, who ended up becoming my godfather and my lifelong trainer, Virgil Hunter. And Virgil was just kind of off to the side,

and he was kind of in between kids. You know, you train kids as a coach, and you know, they just get disinterested, and they no longer want to do it. And he was at that point. He was just kind of sitting there and he, you know, I saw my father kind of talking to him and I was hitting the bag and then I look over

and hit the bag again and look over. And basically my dad told Verge that day he said, man, I'm looking for a coach for my son, but I want my son to learn how to hit and not get hit. In Verge kind of laughed, he said, that's my specialty. That's looks like his face, by the way, you said it, too. That's my specialty.

And we've been together ever since. That's incredible. Who thinks there's so much there, like who thinks you dad lifts you up to look through that window that day, and that the little boy looking back in that window ends up being you, the gold medalist, undefeated boxer. I mean, it's crazy. So few people in the history, the sport of them, what you've done. It's crazy.

And this little boy gets held up and also love the part that you weren't just naturally dominant in the beginning, right? Because a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of young athletes watch this too. And I think they think, hey, man, if it didn't come completely easily, maybe it's not meant to be. And obviously, that's not the case. But that's the crazy part about, as much as I've been able to accomplish, I've never felt like boxing came easy to me.

Really? Like I look at the Floyd Mayweather's, I look at the Manny Pac-Gal's, I look at the Ali's and to me on the outside looking in, even though I know the sport is grueling and is tough in his heart, it looks like it comes easy to those guys. Like it's tough in his heart, it looks like it comes easy to those guys. Like, it's just natural. I always felt like I had to work more than the next guy. Oh, yes.

Don't get me wrong. I know I have talent, I know I have skill, but I never felt like it came easy. Wow. And that, up until my last fight, you know, over a year ago, and that helped me, though. I felt like I gave me enough but he didn't give me an over abundance where I could get lazy like my work ethic is what separated me from the

rest of the pack. Oh, fired up right there. So how, brother, you just blow my mind. Like, you have a guy sitting here who's like, there's really two to me in the last fifteen twenty years there's a couple of the guys but there's like fluid and you right to want to feed a guy's and obviously a personality is a completely different right and then there's one reason also want to feature to a non-boxing audience to as i want them to understand

what a world-class mindsets like and also what where a good man a god a humble man a family man can still win in these other areas of his life which you've done so it's amazing to meet the think like and also where a good man, a God, a humble man, a family man can still win in these other areas of his life, which you've done. So it's amazing to me to think that something you were so dominant at. I mean, there's people that are great at something, then there's, you know, outstay. But then there's like the one millionth of one percentile, which is what you've been in in this sport.

And to hear of it, it doesn't come naturally to you. Just blows my mind. Talk just for a second. I'm just curious, because I didn't know I'd go there. Virgil, did he play a role in your life in any other way other than boxing? In terms of your confidence or any other stuff? Even your demeanor to some extent.

And watching him in interviews, he's got sort of, I'm sure he burns rages on the inside, but he's got kind of a cool calm exterior about him that I see in you too. Go ahead and speak to that. No, I mean, I have a lot of my father and me, and I also have a lot of a lot of virginity. It's hard not to have their imprint on me. You know, when I've been around them, it's been so much time, you know, we spend so much time together. And that, again, that's probably something throughout the course of my life as a fighter

and just as a man that has separated me is like, they came, you know, Virgil, my dad came from old school. Like, they didn't come in the social media area where, you know, a lot of athletes today, they'll show you the hard work and you really don't know how much work they're put really putting in behind the scenes. Like, we really got it the hard way. And one thing that they always, like, we didn't just go to the gym and work the body, they always were working my mind.

Whether I was on my way to a room that morning and didn't really wanna be there and was dragging, getting ready, as a 11, 12 year old kid, or going to a big tournament where I wasn't touted to really doing anything. Like the mental reps, him being in my ear, year after year, day after day, telling me,

listen son, you're meant to be here. I'll give you an example. Athens, Greece, in 2004, had not fought the upper echelon of international competition. Had fought Puerto Rico, Mexico, but never the Cubans, never the Russians. Those were the countries that dominated boxing. They were really professional boxers in the amateur rank. They were professional.

They do it full time. And most of the time, unless they come over to America, they don't turn pro. A smaller guy, I fought at 178 pounds. Should have been at the lower weight class of 165 pounds, but I had a cousin that during the Olympic trials was trying to make it. I said, okay, I don't want us to fight. I think I'm going to grow anyway. So let me go up. Are you kidding me? You took a different make it. I said, okay, I don't want us to fight. I think I'm gonna grow anyway. So let me go up.

Are you kidding me? You took a different weight class? I didn't grow like I thought I was. Okay. So I'm weighing in every morning at 170, 171, maybe 72 on a good day. I'm drinking waters and gay rays of the end. Power is just to be respectable when I get on the scales.

In the weight master, they were looking inside your little, your smile should be lower. And I just kind of point to the sky. I had a burner phone that they gave us. And Virge had a burner phone. And he would just call me and he'd stay in my ear. Looks like you're here for a reason. God didn't bring you this far for nothing.

And those types of words, like, would just, like, just cause me to be emboldened. You know, when we first got the draw, and I found out what bracket I was in, I got the toughest bracket. If you get any Mac and Renco, the two-time world champion from Russia was gonna be my second fight,

if I won my first fight. And everybody's kind of like, you know, everybody on the US team was like, oh my God, you know, that's like it was a death. Like, man, Drake, I got a tough draw and missing that adversity. That's the way it's supposed to be. That mentality that he had,

that those types of words, that type of faith and belief has been something that has been ingrained in me and still didn't be drilled in me since I've been a kid. Well, the couple of gold things, one is just having somebody in your life that you can find and seek out that's feeding you all of these beliefs, this confidence you have, finding that mentor in your life.

And then also, the part that you shared earlier, I just want to reiterate too, about if your dad had it his way in the very beginning, you probably wouldn't have even known what he was doing. And that's true for me and my career. I think if my family had it their way in the very beginning, I'd have been working at some employee job me and my career. I think if my family had it their way in the very beginning, I'd have been working at some employee job and paying my bills. And so many of you out there listen to these voices

you have in your family. These people who love you, but they don't necessarily have the vision or the wisdom to know exactly where you're supposed to go in your life. Thank God that you got Virgil in your own beliefs in yourself too. But so I just curious because I've never won one. And almost everybody out here's never won one.

And I did not know that you were under size I think that makes it even more incredible and that you'd not fought on that level really prior to it some of these guys Well, what is it like to win a gold medal? I mean take us through that just for a second I want to know what that's like like you win a gold medal and they raise the country and you you I mean my god. What does it feel like? It's unreal. It's a surreal time. It's a surreal moment. And when I look at the presentation of my gold medal, and actually in the 2004 games, ironically enough,

I was the last US gold medal out of all the sports to win. So I didn't make it to the closing ceremonies, made it to the opening ceremonies. But when I look back at the video, like I wasn't smiling, I didn't seem happy, but I wouldn't say I was in shock, but I was just kind of just, I was taking back. We were. And I was just trying to process, like,

because you literally fight, they shuffle you in the back, put your warm up on it, then you come back out for the ceremony. And it was just, I was thinking about my father, who wasn't there? Your father passed. You fathered past? My father passed two years previously.

And I was like, man, we literally just did, ten years worth of work, like it culminated into what we thought it was going to be, which was a gold medal. And I represented my country, and at that time we had just went to war. And 2004, so we weren't light. We started off in the Olympic Games, booed every time we walked out. And by the end, we had gained the respect and the love of the people and they were cheering us on.

So just a tremendous moment. And one thing that never, that I never lost sight of was that no matter what I do on my professional career, I could turn out to be a bust. But I'm in the record books with Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, and guys like that. Where's the gold medal? Where do you have it? It's not in the most prestigious place.

I move it around, like sometimes it's in the safe. Every now and again I'll find a nice shadow box that I like and I'll put it up, but I got this thing, like, I can't, nothing can happen to this gold medal. Like if I have it in a shadow box on my wall and God forbid somebody ever breaks in, I can't think it's gone. That's what I've been thinking. So I have it stashed and tucked away.

It's not on display and people get on me all the time about it, but I'm like, look, I've only got one of these. Yeah, of course. Like literally one. I think one other thing about you that everyone needs to know, like, are you hearing this journey? I mean, it's unbelievable. Your father, single dad, Dad's got some issues.

Wonderful father. And stills all this. You meet Virgil. You're not naturally gifted. But here's the other piece of the y'all don't know. I want to remember this. Your mess does not disqualify you from going forward and winning in your life, right? Your current mess.

What you're going through right now, whatever the turmoil is or the stress, or even self and do stuff you've done, does not disqualify you from winning because just two years prior to winning the gold medal, your dad passes away, right? And you go through kind of a time there where you're a little bit of a mess, right? Prior to the two years later, you're raising your hand up as a gold medal winner. Just talk, take them back, just one little step, just a couple years prior to that because we all go through our wilderness period in our life, right? This difficult time, our messed up. Take them through that just a little bit for you.

Give them some hope about that. Yeah, everybody's wilderness looks different. Sometimes, you know, it's God inflicted, God will take you through some things and He'll want to take you through to get you on the other side and grow you and stretch you and teach you. And then sometimes the wilderness itself inflicted in things that we do to ourselves you know, self-inflicted and things that we do to ourselves. Mine was self-inflicted. You know, my father passed in 2002 abruptly from heart disease.

And I was already kind of, you know, teetering a little bit, you know, one foot in the boxing game, but also a little burnt out and just trying to, you know, do things that I'd never, like, done before. Like I had a very strict life growing up, you know, do things that I never, like, done before. I had a very strict life growing up. You know, I didn't hang out a lot. I didn't really get a chance to go to parties and do certain things. It was probably good on one hand, kept me out of trouble, but I lost a childhood,

like, committing to this sport. Yeah. So, at that time, I was just kind of ready for a break, but it's kind of taboo in the house. It's not really something you can just go, hey, I'm done. I don't want to do this thing. Yeah. That you guys have invested thousands of dollars in it.

Eight hours. And ran up credit cards, sacrificed to get me to turn them in. It's like, you just don't want to say that. So when my dad died, like, I was kind of my excuse to kind of go buck wild. I did everything that I wanted to do. I drank, I put things in my body, I wasn't supposed to. And I almost lost it all. I can remember Colin Verge and mind you, he at that time worked in the probation department.

He ended up retiring after 20 years. And he has a gift to work with young men, to talk to young men. And he's just remind me, I'd say things like, man, I don't know, you know, I'm interested in going to the Olympics, man, I just want to live my life. He's, he's just kind of chucking to say, son, listen, I hear you. But if you let these Olympics pass you by and you don't keep the promise to your father that you may, you're never going to be able to live with yourself. And you see some guys that you know you can be, he said, you're not gonna be able to live with yourself.

He says, go ahead, enjoy yourself. And I kind of, man, I get mad and I'd hang up, but when I hung the phone up, it was eating at me. It was eating at me. And my father, like I said earlier, gave me my foundation and my faith. I strayed, but it my foundation and my faith. I strayed, but it was always known at me.

I wasn't raised like this. I know I'm doing wrong. Man, what a verge is right. What if the Olympics come and go? And I don't become what I'm supposed to become. And one thing that always stuck in my head was I didn't want to be the guy on the side of the road that people walked by and said man that guy was a bad boy.

He just couldn't get it together. He blew it. So between the drinking, the party and the running the streets, I just got to a place man where I knew my time was running out. And I don't necessarily mean my life was gonna end, but I knew something bad was getting ready to happen. My mother, who she struggled with a crack addiction like we said for about 20 years,

but at the time that my dad died, she was doing well. She had given her life back to the Lord, she was in a church, and she was, you know, attempting to get back into my life. She called me out of the blue one night. I'm about sitting in a car with some friends and had a little flip phone. And no smartphones.

Yeah, that's right. And she said, you know what, she said, what's going on? I said, no, mom, I'm just hanging out, I'm just chilling. She said, I don't know what you're doing, but whatever you're doing, you need to stop. I say, what are you talking about? You said, I just saw a picture of you

and it looked like a picture that should be on an obituary. And that shook me to my core. Because I knew enough about God to know that the warning a lot of times are coming before destruction. He'll give you warnings, he'll send people to you, he'll nudge you, he'll prod you, he'll push you. And a lot of times if we don't accept that nudging

and that prodding and that pushing, that catastrophe, that thing is gonna happen. And I felt it internally, man. And I just got to a place, man, where I threw my hands up. And I called for her and said, man, I'm done, man. He said, well, come on home. And the rest was history, man.

I started to slowly give my life back to God and accept my father's abrupt passing and kind of facing that and dealing with that instead of numbing myself to avoid it. And God just slowly just healed me. Man, he just healed me in from the inside out. I started to regain my love back for the sport of boxing, my love back for the Lord. And the next thing I know, man, I'm on the Olympic team and I'm representing my country in 2004.

Okay. Easily one of the most favorite things I've ever heard in my damn life is what you just said. You parents out. Parents, number one is the part where you go rewind. And you go play this for your children who may be in one of those spots. It's also for you, those of you that are maybe straight, people say, hey, you have to

dream all the time. I have lost some of my drive and ambition. All of us that stuff ebbs and flows. I'm not after my dream 100% all the time. There's times where these things ebbs and flows are faith. Both of us have struggled at different times with our faith and coming back. And that is just so amazing. You guys, did you forget that you're listening to a world-class athlete?

Because usually all you would hear is just ego, ego, ego, ego. I am amazing. One of the things that's so wonderful about you is I want people to know there's this good man of God, there's this humble man, there's this guy who's self-aware of the struggles. Clearly, we haven't even got the professional boxing yet. That's why this is so good. But clearly there's so many lessons in there, but one thing that everybody can tell keeps coming up

is your faith. So I want to just talk about that from me, because I'm willing to share that as well. Neither one of us do it in a way where it's in your face. We just let people know that it's our foundation. They've got to make the choice. They've got to make the choice exactly. But just speak to, just for a minute, so that people understand the role your faith plays

in your life has played and continues to play it to this time. And by the way, do you ever struggle with it? Have you ever struggled with your faith other than that one time in your life? Yeah, I mean, I have moments not to that degree because coming out of something like that, like that's always like a, it's always like a marker for me. You know, it's like almost like a memorial that when I do start to struggle at any point, like I go back to that and I'm like, man, there's no way that I could have come out of that if it wasn't forgotten. I'm the same way and I want you to

continue to answer the people say, how did you get in your career? I'm like, well, I did do this, this, this, and this, like I trained this, but to be honest, I think some of it's sort of a blur. Like, almost feel like at some point, the Lord just sort of picked me up and carried me for a while. I can't completely explain all of it to you. And isn't it some of your success in some weird way?

This is what I want all of you to be successful. In some weird way, some of the successes I've had are almost like a validation of my faith, because I know I'm not that good. I don't know if you feel that way, but you're going to. No, it's true. And I feel like the way that my success has come, it hasn't been easy.

And I don't know if success, like true lasting, success is ever easy. But for me, I feel like God has always put me in a place and I've talked about the level of talent that I've felt like I had. He's always put me in a place and I've talked about the level of talent that I've felt like I had. He's always put me in a place where he's giving me just enough, but there's always been like a gap between me being the best.

And like that gap is like faith, hard work, and belief. So when I do get to the end goal, it's almost like God is saying, you know you didn't do that on your own. That's how I feel, wow. And that forces me to give him the glory. Wow. And it keeps you humble.

And a lot of people say they're like, man, you're so humble. And it's like, yeah, but you don't know what I've been through. And I know that if I start feeling myself a little too much and I start getting lifted up, it might get bad ugly. That's what happens. So internally, I know this. Me too. So you always kind of slap me back a little bit

when I'm starting to feel me a little bit. And we all start doing that from time to time. Yes, yes, yes. It's natural. Yes, same year. So it's the centerpiece, like for you of your life is really your faith, though. Yes, everything, man.

Like, I've seen too much. I've been through too much to go back. I've seen too much. And I respect people, people you know when they're trying to figure it out or maybe they don't believe in God and like you mentioned a few minutes ago like it's not something that you push on people you know God is a lion man you don't have to he can defend himself you know if a person wants to know hey man how did you do this and I'm open to share but

hopefully my life is speaking you know just as loud if not louder than the words that I'm saying. I believe it does. I'll just tell you guys, you know, there are very few people I've chased to have on the show. The good thing about the show doing well is I don't, they want to come on the show. I've chased him for quite a while. Like, I've texted you a lot of times, right?

Because I wanted this message to get out. I want your young athletes to see this. I want athletes, I coach to see this. I want the business people. There's no difference between business and boxing anywhere else. But you do forget when Andre's talking. You forget that this is especially in boxing because it's sort of a swaggy, ego-driven sort of sport, which you got to have that confidence in yourself. I have a total self confidence, but a lot of my confidence comes because I know

I got got in my corner all the time, right? I do work hard. And I work hard exactly. Just like, well, obviously like you do. Let's talk a little boxing. We gotta go there. We're gonna go there. We'll talk some family, let's talk some boxing. So I'm curious, I'm a big boxing fan. So when you became on my radar was during the Super 6 tournament.

Okay so that was, and they called that the Super Middleweight Division at the time. Yeah, Super Middleweight 168 pounds. But basically I'm paraphrasing showtime got together and said let's just find the best one in the world. They put the six of you in this tournament and it ended up being a seventh dude or something. Wasn't your main tailor in it originally or what happened? Well there were guys at like guys would get knocked out or get injured and then they replace it.

But it was always the court was always six. So again, you had Kessler. You had Frok your frock whatever they call him. There's some dudes in this tournament, right? And you ended up winning that tournament. I'm curious, when it started at that level, was that a new level for you? And like, did you have fear?

Like, did you wonder whether you were the man of those six? How'd that work for you? I had to drop everything. We went, we got in the car, got back to San Diego, flew to the Bay Area, literally dropped my family off packed the bag, double the air infection, got on the red eye, went to Germany and was here the next morning to announce the second leg of the Super 6 and was this close to not being a part of it? That's crazy.

And the way they filmed it, everybody, by the way, this was so perfect, all this 24-7 stuff you see now, this is kind of the original of that and it was so well done it really changed to some extent how boxing was promoted on either showtime or HBO to the way they laid it out but I watched it closely and you weren't the dude they were sort of steering the cameras towards in the beginning and it was really interesting it was the other guys that I've mentioned before and I remember you won, then you won again. I'm like, oh, this dude's got a chance

in with this whole tournament. So every one of these fights, just curious, when you went into it, I just want to know how a world-class person thinks or doesn't think. You're there at that thing in Germany. You see these other five dudes. Are you like, I'm going to win this tournament? I've always had that belief.

My career was, my professional career was guided very meticulously. You know, the powers that be, the networks, the suits, the promoters, like they want bang for their buck. They want to make the most money as quickly as possible. And I had opportunities to fight some of the guys that were in the tournament maybe a year or two earlier. And it was for more money than I'd ever seen and you know great opportunity and you know call verse like man they're gonna give us you know 600,000 and we get to fight on you know HBO

and this and that or showtime and and he said no no he said hold on he said I understand that you know if we say no to this internally there's gonna be some blowback but he he said you know when we fight these guys I want you to be a full full grown man and I want you to destroy him. Like, I don't want you to be barely winning or barely eakin' by. And we did that like two or three times before the Super 6 happened. And we get blowback and some of the blowbacks build publicly. With fans are saying, oh, you know, war is a gold medalist, but he's moving too slow. That's the heat you take. That's the bulls you have on, war's he's a gold medalist, but he's moving too slow. That's the heat you take.

That's the bulls you have on your back coming in with a gold medal. But in Germany, I really saw what the intent was. You had Michael Kessler, who was Michael Kessler at the time. He was like 42 and one or something like that, but I don't know how many knockouts. He had more knockouts than I have fights. You had Carl Frotch, who was from the UK,

and you had Arthur Abraham. And then you had three Americans. Jameen Taylor, who was teetering. He was still relevant, but he was teetering on kind of being done. He had the young guy, Andre DeRale, and then you had the other young guy in myself. And I could tell that everybody that was there, they just looked at us like we were just a token

just to be there. These guys are making interesting. Some namesake, young guys coming up, but these guys, these are the guys that are supposed to win. And I took exception to that. To the personal. I took exception to that.

And I got on the phone, I called, versus said, man, they don't really expect me to win this. He said, oh yeah, I know. He said it's always been like that. He said, but just watch. Unwavering fate. He's always that pillar. And again, that jumped off on me.

It's already confident, but now it was personal. Now it was personal. Your physiology changes, Sildermag. You go into your virgin thing. You can see it there. You can see it there. You can see it. You can see it. And at see it. You can see it.

And at that time, Kessler and Frotch were like rock stars in their various countries, too. They were big names. It was time. I don't blame anybody for not picking us. I probably wouldn't have picked me. I was a young guy. Yeah, I had to go.

But I hadn't done anything as a pro. My biggest win was a guy named Edison Miranda, who was a beast. He was a top contender, right? That was my biggest win as a professional so I don't blame anybody for not picking me But I was also gonna use that as So he goes on to win that like he wins everything else You this is the thing you said through I just want to hear everybody everyone just hear things I hear that I think are important I do think that there are times in your life where if you don't jump on an opportunity,

you will regret it the rest of your life. That there is timing to when you will. There are moments. You said this a few times, we're virtual. Said this to you. For a lot of you that are chasing what you're chasing, you may get fatigued to that chase, but there's got to be this part of the goes, if I don't jump on this now, this may never come again for me.

So your timing is so critical on. When in the Super Six tournament was a huge catalyst. Let's talk some boxing stuff just for me. Because I want to know some stuff. I'm curious. When you, I told you I was going to ask you this and you haven't told me the answer, so I'm curious. Forget the training part just for a second. We're going to get to that.

You are getting wrapped. You're about to go out for a big fight. You're getting wrapped up. I'm sure Virgil's talking to you. You're going through whatever your game plan was. What goes through you? Is there honest emotions here as a fighter? See the thing about boxing to me is that it's different than every other sport. UFC has some of this as well but the combat sports. This is a man and a man. I think people forget this. I think people forget this. Like, even when you bat as a baseball hitter, there's another dude coming up after you. If you ground out, the other dude could get the hit, right?

This is a man and a man. And I'm just curious, when you have that happening, you're getting, look at your physiology change again, right? But I'm just curious, like, when you're getting wrapped at that moment, what's going through you emotionally? What's happening to you at that time? That moment can break a lot of men. You can have a great training camp.

Everything can be clicking. You could have a great fight week leading up to that moment. And that moment, as well as the walk to the rain, you can lose it. Like you can lose your confidence. You can live fear. Like you can lose your confidence, you can live fear overtake you, and you can somehow convince yourself that you're not worthy to be there in that moment.

It's almost like an out of body experience. You hear people say, you know, a guy froze, or you know, he didn't perform, or it was a deer in the headlights. Like that's what they're talking about. Like you have, it's almost like a surreal moment. Like this moment that you've been prepping for, talking about building up to the world

has been talking about, like it's here. And the fact that it's actually here, like it hits you in a different kind of way, like you're getting wrapped, and you have the commission from whatever state you're fighting. They're coming in, they're checking on you, they're giving you the count down. We've got 45 minutes, we've got 30 minutes.

We've got 20, then they come back in after you get your gloves back on and they say, we've got five minutes. We're walking in two and a half minutes and they start to count you down, like whether you train good or not, that's running through your brain. Thinking about my wife and my kids, I'm thinking about the fact that the whole world

is literally gonna be watching me in just a few moments. I'm thinking about my critics. They got a front row seat. They got a front row seat. Thinking about my supporters and the people that are riding with me, getting behind me. They got a front row seat. They're watching.

They're pulling for me. It's like this, like this control chaos that's going on, and it's literally an arena, it's a, with two gladiators getting ready to literally risk it all. Like boxing is the only sport, professional sport that I know of that one loss can change your pace skill. Like it's in the contract. One loss can change your pay scale. Like it's in the contract.

If you lose a fight, your minimums can change. We can renegotiate those minimums. Like that's what's going through my head. And fear is very real. Really? Anxiety is very real. It's very present. And all the guys that say, I don't get nervous.

I'm iron man, they're not being honest. Like that's very, very present. But that's where my faith, I knew yours comes in. And I start to believe beyond myself. I start to believe beyond the way that I'm feeling. Like we're called the walk by faith and not by sight Like we're called the walk by faith and not by sight. We're called the walk by faith and not by feeling. So fear is present, the courage is going in the midst of fear.

And I've had 32 fights before I retired. I had to do that every single time. It's not like, oh, this is the 25th time I've done this. It's easy. Because one punch can change your pace, one punch can change your life. And you're not guaranteed to walk out the same way you walked in. So all of that is going through your mind, running through your body and you got to channel

it, you got to process it and you got to believe and you got to be unwavering. And one thing I would always do was I would kind of just paste the locker room. Even though my team's in there, even though the commissioners coming in and out and again this like control chaos, television cameras are in your face, producers are walking around, you hear the crowd, you hear the announcer, I would just talk to myself, it's my night, it's my night. I'm not going home without my bills. Like, those types of things, they may seem corny to some people, but that stuff would really lift me up. And because I made up mine is a hard thing to break.

And your mind has to be made up, not walking to the ring, or when you step through those rubs, your mind has to be made up before you leave that locker room that I'm not going to be broken. I will not lose tonight. Oh my gosh. You ever get, uh, you ever get there where you're at the stardown and looking to do to know you got him? Has that ever happened or is it a professional level you just don't know? Because it ever happened the reverse where you're in that state, you're in that faith state, you're in that strong state and you've in that strong state, and you've looked, you're like, oh, I got this fool.

Was that ever happened? You have to tell me who? Most times, no. Because as fighters, we can lie. We're good chameleons. Because in the sport of boxing, you show weakness. The opponent's going pounds. So we hide a lot of our emotions.

You know, you got some guys that are scared of death, and they'll put a mask on. There's one time, one time, and a 32 fight career that I knew I had a guy at the weigh-in. Chad Dawson. You knew, and you even told me who it was. And he, by the way, Chad Dawson's a great fighter,

but you knew. How do you know what I'm't know why. You know. He? So you get a lot of rumors and you hear a lot of hearsay in training camp. This guy, they'll call my coach. And I stayed away from that stuff. When my coach always had his ear to what

was going on with my opponent. And he would decide on what he wanted to share and what he wouldn't want to share. The guy Edison Miranda that I just told you about, he was sparring with Chad Dawson to help Chad Dawson get ready for our fight. Big fight, Chad Dawson was the Lineal Light Heavyweight Champion and just beat the great legendary Bernard Hopkins. The fight before, yes, tall, rainty.

He beat Bernard Hopkins, he's on HBO Max Killam and ask him, Chad, what, rainty. He beaping art Hopkins, he's on HBO, Max Callerman, ask him, you know, Chad, what do you want next? I minding my own business. He calls my name. I just won the Super Six. He said, I won Andre Ward. He said, I'll fight him in his hometown of Oakland, California. And I'll go down to his weight, too. And I say, really? And I like Chad, like I supported Chad and didn't see that coming. That was like the easiest fight that we ever negotiated right there. And I like Chad, like I supported Chad and didn't see that coming. That was like the easiest fight that we ever negotiated right there.

And I held him to every single word that he spoke, every word. And he came to my weight, my place. So they get in the training camp and because he's losing so much weight, his punch resistance isn't there. At a some Miranda can crack. Edison Miranda knocks him out and spawn. It was barring. Stuff starts to circulate.

Virge comes to me and said, listen, babe. He said, call me babe. Listen, babe. I'm not saying this to get you all trapped. We got to stay focused. We were probably about 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 He said, I'm hearing some things, man.

I'm hearing that Edison Miranda, he knocked you out. I said, and a half. He said, I'm hearing some things, man. I'm hearing that the Edison Miranda, he knocked Chad out, said knock them out. He said knock them out. Like that, to stop the sparring, help them up, and that was it for the day. Now, if you're a fighter, like, that's like the worst case scenario. It's one thing if you get knocked out in the fight.

Got small gloves on, no head gear, it happens. That's acceptable in some respects. And sparring? No. Not a few of the top two. There may be a sparring partner getting knocked out, but not the top guy, not the champion. That was a no-no. Started here in rumors, so I'm kind of processing, man, he got knocked down. Man, it's crazy. But in my mind, I'm always very much in my head, especially in training camps, I'm like, ah, maybe they're just floating that out there to get in my head or trying to get me off track. And that's reversed.

He said, but don't worry about it too much. Just stay focused. We kept hearing stuff, kept hearing stuff. Nothing ever went on the airways. Nothing, nothing on the internet, nothing. Press conference came, the week of the fight. I'm thinking, and I wonder, they're gonna say something. So rumor is gonna come out.

If I'm gonna be asked about it. It's never asked about it. The weigh-in comes Friday, the fight Saturday. I said, now I'm gonna drop it on him. Now I'm gonna drop it on him. We go face to face. And his team, they're over there woofing. My team's kinda woofing a little bit.

And I leaned in his ear and I said, hey man, I heard what happened in that gym. I said, you better tighten it up tomorrow night and you just see his shoulders just go and he's got this look on his face like, how did you know? I won the fight with Chad Dawson right there. Oh my god. Turn and look at the cameras. Turn back and look at it before I walk off the stage. I broke. Just like you. You just knew. Broker. That is an awesome story. You got away with it. You don't know. It's too late. You can't get out of the way. That is awesome. Man. That was the only time I ever felt like I want to fight when I get face-on. Thank you for all of that insight of that and what it's like getting wrapped like thank you for me.

I told that story before. It's awesome. We're keeping it in whether you want to. I'm keeping it in there. No, we do as much. So you said that one punch. A couple more things on boxing than we'll shift because we're going to run out of time. But like I could go three hours of this. But you said that one punch.

Who's hardest you ever been hit by? Hey, yeah. I would say, I start to say one guy, but I would probably say the guy with the strongest power, the two guys with the strongest power are Arthur Abraham, and I heard rumors about him. The analogy people always gave was he feels like he's got bricks in his gloves. And if you watched my first fight with him, the only fight that we had in the first round, hit me with a jab. And for those that don't know, that's a basic punch in boxing, just a straight punch. Bile hit me and I kind of bucked with a little bit.

I said, oh boy, it's real. Everything they said was real. And that kept me on my toes and kept me on my game, the whole night. And then at a Samaranda, he hit like a mule. His money punch was the right hand. That's pretty much all he had. He pulled with the jab. He had these long arms.

And if he landed that right hand flush, a lot of guys went to sleep. And I was my first time facing a big puncher like that. And it's probably the worst I've ever felt after a fight was fighting that as some Miranda. Those two guys probably had the most devastating power. So I thought you were gonna say, and we'll grab up the boxing piece here.

I thought you were gonna tell me Kovalev. So I love your face when I said that. So for those of you who don't know, so I'm a huge fan of yours, you know this. But now that we're friends, I need your face when I said that. So, for those of you who don't know, so I'm a huge fan of yours, you know this. But now that we're friends, I need to tell you that before you fought him, you were worried? I was worried for you.

So I thought, this is the crusher. This dude supposedly can really hit, right? And so, y'all don't know this, he'd be in twice. But, so, just, because those are the last couple fights, right? Yeah, last two fights. What would you just tell me about fighting him, prepping for him, getting hit by him, those fights? Anything you would tell me about those experiences?

I mean, the first fight was like, hey, people thought I could have gone in the way. The second fight, there was obviously no question. Yeah, no, I mean, Colab was like, he's a real deal. He's a real deal. Anytime you got a nickname like the Cresher, you better be able to hit hard. And he has good power.

He has good power. It's not what I thought it was. But he hits hard. And I think one thing that's always been overlooked in my career, you hear about people saying, oh, he's a good boxer, you know, Dre, you can do this, he can do that. But they never talk about my chin.

And that's not really something I want to be known for. Because you don't want to get hit all the time. That's not really my thing, but I thought the best punchers in the game. And I've been down twice in a 32 fight career. And I fought the best. And one of those times is against Sergey Kovalev. I can't get into too much, because we're

going to be putting out the documentary soon and we're going to detail a lot of what happened in the pre-fight for COVID-19. But just went through a lot of different things physically for that fight. I was moving up and waiting from 168 pounds to 175 pounds. But again, like you just mentioned, I'm not going up there just to fight some Rudy Poo. I'm fighting the best guy. This guy was the real deal. Russian fighter.

He was known for going into other people's home towns and home countries and like taking their belts. And nobody really wanted to fight him. And here I am, a guy that's in a lower weight class who's not really considered a big puncture, but has a lot of skill. And I pretty much won everything at the lower weight class. And people are saying, man, he's going up in weight.

The overall census was, the critics were saying he bit off too much. This is the guy that's finally going to get him. And my supporters were saying, Jerry's going out boxing. We get into the fight and the first thing I noticed about him was just how accurate he was. Like it wasn't necessarily that he hit hard, it was just, he was just very accurate. Like I was thinking and he was punching. And the first round was just like,

man, it was just like a blur. And I remember sitting down and birds getting on me right away saying, man, stop posing. Meaning, stop standing still, like move your legs. Like warm up, get moving. And I was just kind of like, man, I just, I don't know, I just kind of felt like I was in quicksand. Second round, he and I exchange. And I'm getting ready of like, man, I just, I don't know, I just kind of felt like I was in quicksand. Second round, he and I exchange,

and I'm getting ready to throw a right hand. He's getting ready to throw a right hand. And his right hand gets there first. And I just see a flash. Bam, I look up, man, I'm on the camera. And here's the crowd going crazy. I look up the referees in my face, say, seven, eight. And I stand up. In those moments, we talked about pre-fight referees in my face, say, seven, eight. And I stand up in those moments,

we talked about pre-fight, but in that moment, that's for sure a fight or flight type moment. Yeah. Like, whatever you got on the inside, it's going to come out. If you got turn in you, it's going to come out. If you got any kind of cowardice, it's going to come out. If you got the dog in you, that's going to come out too. And I think my dad for these types of moments, because my dad had that dog in him. And he's a type of guy that would never start anything, but if you hit him, he's gonna hit you back. And that was probably the best thing

that could have happened to me in that first fight with COVID was for me to get knocked down because now I'm mad. Now I wanna get that back. And I'm no longer overthinking trying to be perfect. I was too busy. I was incensed with trying to get that moment back from him. And I found somehow some way, man, by the grace of God,

I clawed my way back into that fight. And I really felt like from the seventh round on, I broke him. And when I say he broke him, it doesn't mean that he quit. It doesn't mean that he threw in the towel. It means that he wasn't himself. I stopped him from being who he wanted to be that night. And I eaked out a win.

And I won the fight by the 12th round. From that mistake, and two judges gave it to me. One judges gave it to him. One judges gave it to him. And some people were not happy about it. That's right. I'm not mistaken, two judges gave it to me. One judges gave it to him. One judges gave it to him. And some people were not happy about it. And some people were happy about it. And after the fight, I thought I was done.

I thought I was done. I think it was a combination of just my career, like physical toil that it took to get ready for fights and then the actual fights. And then you see the reaction from the people and it's like, man, I just gave my all. I just beat the buggy, man. I beat the monster. And it's still not enough. And I didn't do anything for three months after that fight. And that's a no-no for me. Like I always do something. I'll take, you know, maybe three, four weeks off, let my body heal.

And then I'll start to do some run-in, some light shadow box, and I'll get back in the gym, little by little. I like having no desire, literally for three months straight. I remember going to see my pastor, Napoleon Kaufman, former Rader running back. Really? Yes, he got to know the name of a neighbor. No, he went to UDU, University of Washington. That's right, that's right. That's right, that's right. From Lumpot. I remember him, yeah. I remember going to him and he abruptly retired

after six years in the lead and started a church and he's been doing great. I said, man, pastor, I don't know, man. I said, I think I'm done, man. He said, man, why do you say that? I said, I haven't done anything in three months. I said, that's not like me. I have no desire to do this.

And I thought he was going to co-sign with me. And he kind of sat there like you did. He said, you know Jury, I, he said, I think you'll be fine if you stop right now. He said, but I could say you're doing one more. And I remember like, I was thankful for what he told me, but at the same time, I was just a point. I'm like, like, what? What is that? Give me that extra little off to like give me the courage to walk? You're gonna give me that extra little off to like give me the courage to walk away. Yeah. And he challenged me,

so I could see you doing one more. I said, really? I said, but yeah, but I just told you I have no desire to do it. I haven't been to the gym. You say, I know, I know. He said, but once you make up your mind that you want to do the second fight,

he said the fire of the Reckon, and he just sat there. And I got up and I walked out. And again, I had mixed emotions. I was like, man, I appreciate him. And I wasn't what I thought he was going to say. And he challenged me just to go a little bit longer. Go a little bit further.

And I was content, even though I knew I was going to get some heat. And people are going to say, you're running from cobala, you lost the first fight, you're scared to fight the second fight. I knew I was going to get that, but I was over it. Drove home and talk to my wife and mold over her before about another week. I picked up the phone, I told my team, I said, man, get the money right.

I said, we'll do the second fight. And just like that, the desire kicked that out. It did come back. You trained just as rigorously for that fight as the other fight. I had the best training camp for that fight that I probably ever had in my whole career. I was the happiest.

I just enjoyed it again. The first fight, physical issues, it was just a lot of pressure. It just didn't feel right. But once I got through that and got to this other side, man, I had a great camp and I was happy. I had the bounce back in my legs. My body felt good.

I just mentally, like me and Verne's had planned to knock him out. That was the first thing Verne said when I went back to the gym, he said, we don't stop him. And in my mind, I'm like, all right, how? Give me that. That's the what, all right, how? Give me that. That's the what? What's the how? He said, we're going to hit him to the body.

He said, you broke him that second half of that fight. He was exhausted. He said, we're going to pick up where we left off. And the camp was just amazing. It was amazing. Amazing. We had bumps and bruises, but that was the best camp emotionally that I've had in a long time.

So I'm at least to the big question. Like, he retired, by the way, if you wanna see something as unbelievable, so this was a dominant win, okay? I think your best fight myself because of who it was against, too, but so you wanna see an emotional clip, go to his Instagram,

which we're gonna promote at the very end, we're gonna promote some things here in a minute that I want you all to see that are awesome that he's doing. But let me just be clear with you, you need to go watch this video, it's emotional watch I told him, I Terry. I'd watch it alone, right? But so you lost a little juice after the first fight. You found it. Then he retired after this fight. Okay. But like still the dominant fighter that you are, like why not fight again? Do you know you're not going to

fight again? Or is there the chance that something like that happens again and that fire gets rekindled and we see you back in the ring again? Because you walked in there and I'm like, this dude is fit. I mean, ready to go. It's being near Friday that he decided to retire. But like, really? You know, boxers are like really? Now, he saved some money. He's not your normal boxer. But be real. Like is there a door open? I know you can't like, is it cracked open? Is it possible? The right dude came along, called you out, whatever. Like, be don't, don't do the TVN. Do the real answer. Like, is there a chance that you would fight again? Listen, it's not something I'm playing. You

know, it's not something I'm playing. it's not something that's being mapped out. But I'm also smart enough to know that you don't know how things are going to unfold. You just don't know. So I'm always going to keep myself in some kind of shape. Yeah, you're smirking. I'm always keeping my eye on the game and just see who's who and what's going on. But I'm not planning on it. Like, the why is what we're gonna address in my upcoming documentary, Unguarded.

Let's talk about that. And I named it Unguarded because my harshest critic will say that, Andre is guarded, he doesn't give you anything. And some of that is true, but a lot of them haven't taken the time to ask, why? Like, we just met. I followed you, I know your body will work, but I feel like I can talk to you.

It's kind of like a kind of spirit there. So you want to open up to a person like that. And sometimes the media, they come off abrasive, and they They kind of want the story for the wrong reason And based on my upbringing and everything that I've had to go through like I'm sensitive with my story man I'm sensitive with my wise and I'm sensitive with all those things and This is one of the first times that I'm gonna like really open up and I just open up but like show people Why the best fighter at that time

a year go walked away from tens of millions of dollars and what I'm giving too much away like of course you know there's a lot of factors there's there's you know wanting to preserve my long term health you know I'm dealing with physical issues I've had multiple surgeries and and I've you know to use your line like I've maxed out like I poured myself issues. I've had multiple surgeries and I've, you know, to use your line, like I've maxed out. Like I poured myself out. Like I've literally given everything that I was supposed to give. Like when I jump rope, I give it everything I have.

When I shot a box, I give it everything I had. And literally to the point where my coaches had to pull me back. I say, man, don't leave it all in here. Like that's all I know is to give it everything I have because like I've had a 20 year win streak since I've been a baby 14 years old and That doesn't come easy and yes, I can have the faith in God and yes, I can have all this but faith what our works is dead And I put in that work. So I got to a point where I said

There's only a handful of guys That have walked away like this, a handful, and there's even a smaller percentage of guys that left undefeated. And I didn't just pad my record and then say I'm undefeated, like I fought the best, the best available competition. And I just woke up one day and I had tens of millions of dollars on the table. And I told my wife, I was like, I don't want to do this no more. You know, I don't want to do this no more. And I said, and even me saying it like it's taboo.

I suppose to say that as a professional athlete and more importantly a fighter. Because when you start using the R word, the writing's on the wall. It's time to go. And she said, if you're saying that I feel like the decision is already made and you know you got my full support and the video that you just mentioned,

for some reason that video was in my head, like I had it, I said, man, I want my, and those boys that were in the video were my sons. Oh, wow. I said, I wanna show people, like my career at each stage. As a young kid,

and then, you know, young teenager, and then, you know, older teenager, and then I wanna let them know that I accomplished everything that I set out to accomplish. I got people that love me, I got critics, you know, I've done it all that I wanted to do. I've made enough money.

I'm ready to go. And there's a piece of this decision that was for me. Then there's also a piece that was for the sport that I love. I sport that I've given, given up a childhood for and given my life to, you know, fighters are not always revered. When you say certain fighters name, you get a certain reaction. When you bring up the name boxing and you don't love the sport like you, most people's reactions, yeah, and they have something negative to say after that.

And one thing that they always say is, ah, you know, those fighters, man, you know, they hang on too long. And I went to Canada, Stoto New York about three years ago to the international boxing hall of fame. And it was such a, it was a rewarding moment. It was, it was an awesome moment. I'm seeing fighters that I grew up watching and I'm talking to them and we're getting at each other like, man, how to beat you, man, you're too small.

We just had a great two or three days. Then I also saw the ones that neurologically weren't good or maybe didn't have the money, tangible proof of what they did all these years. And it bothered me. And I don't want to be another one of those guys. Like when is enough or not? Like you can always say there's more money out there. But the question that me and my wife kept asking

ourself is what do we do or what we had with what was in our already in our hands. And since I retired, don't get me wrong. Like I missed the boxing checks. Because they were plentiful. Sure. They were large. Yes. But they come with a price. Sure. They were large. Yes.

But they come with a price. Yeah. And I just wasn't willing to put my body through that anymore. And again, I'm a person that gave it all I had. Or I don't want to do it at all. And if I can't give it all I have. And if I don't think my body's going to respond like I needed to, I don't want to wait until some young guy has to show me that I don't have it anymore.

I'd rather leave on top and try to set an example for the next generation to say, man, you know what, I'm going to do the 100th award. Oh wow. You just have this over abundance of character. And so that's what overflows from you, right? And I do believe in life there's these chapters of our lives. And I think, you know, I want to make sure that everyone knows about this documentary too. It's like, that's one of these chapters. Just the preview alone. It's just gripping. It's like, unbelievable. I can't wait for this to get out into the You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? by admire and respect you for not doing it too, because there is so much to be said to be finishing the way that you have. And because of your character, because of your composure, your elegance, the way you communicate, you have a lot of other opportunities outside of boxing too, right? I mean, you know that.

So let's talk about a couple of those things that I want to finish with your family. Okay. And thank you for today. And thank you for being such an amazing example of what a good decent godly man can do in life. And it means a great deal to me that the world gets even more exposure to somebody like you. And I also feel like, and I'm not just saying this, starting to get to know you, I think boxing is going to be a

part of your life, but I just have this feeling that the next 30, 40 years are going to be extraordinary for you, like the best years of your life, but I just have this feeling that the next 30, 40 years are going to be extraordinary for you, like the best years of your life, because boxing may someday just be your old story. You know, I really do believe that about you. Thank you, well, I appreciate it. He does all kinds of stuff, so you've seen him do, you know, commentary for HBO. He just did the ASPN, the Canelo Triple G fight, which we both agreed that we both think the Canelo won that fight, which is in the minority, in the minority, but I'm curious, so you got a couple other cool things cooking right now.

You're the host of the contender, which is like, to me, one of the great, like it's the original reality show. Yeah, yeah. So tell them a little bit about that where they can find it and why they should find it. Yeah, no, this, I mean, this year that I've been retired has been just overwhelming. You know, one thing that, you know, I say concern, you're concerned about when you retire and you go from one thing that you've done

for multiple decades and you're trying to transition into the next phase of life is, like, what am I gonna do? Like, you wanna channel that competitiveness, that drive and all those different things. And I was like, man, I don't know, when my close brothers, they'd be like, bro, guys are gonna open up something for you. I'm like, man, I don't know. When my close brothers, they'd be like, bro, guys are gonna open up something for you. And I'm like, yeah, I know he can, but like, Willie.

And I don't know what it's gonna look like. I barely retired before the phone started ringing. You know? And one of the opportunities was to host the contender. So cool. A show that Sylvester Salon and Sugar Ray Leonard hosted back in 2004, 2005, 2006. I think the last Aaron was O8 or something like that.

I grew up watching that show. I saw the fighters that were on there, the Sergio Moras, all these different guys that I was like, man, this dude just won a million dollars, man, like he went from being just a contender to a household name. Like I wanted to be on the show. And now they're calling me to actually host the show. So cool.

Spend a month out in Los Angeles and stayed in Marina Del Rey. And- Couldn't stay here, you can stay here next time. Yeah. And it was a lot of work. The first day was probably the roughest day for me. They gave me a script a day before,

like this big, I was like, I learned this about tomorrow. I'm like, wait, wait, wait. Like memorize the whole thing. So I wouldn scripted the day before, like this big, I was like, I learned this about it tomorrow. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. Like, memorize the whole thing. So I wouldn't memorize the whole thing, not getting sleep, I'm trying to figure it out, and I was so nervous on the first day. Like, I walk out of the office and all 16 fighters are standing there for the first time.

They surprise me, they give me a round of applause, and they're like, man, that's worried. I'm like, trying to process that, and like, memorize my lines, and they're like, man, that's a war. And I'm like trying to process that and like memorize my lines. And I'm like, oh, this is crazy. So I'm playing it off. Like I don't, I hope nobody can tell when they watch the first episode. Yeah.

We got through the first day. And then Eric said, the executive producer said, he said, hey man, forget the script. He said, we got a few things we got to hit, hit those things but be you. And from day to arm and I just flowed. I was just I was a reward. And it was a blessing man. Where they find it, where they find it. So you go to epics.com. If you don't have it with your cable provider, you can get caught up on all the previous episodes or again, you can just call your cable provider and just

get a get a trial there. And we got 12 episodes coming up. And the previous episodes or again you can just call your cable provider and just get get a trial there and we got 12 episodes coming up and the finale is actually going to be live in Las Vegas December I think December 8th. Oh very cool. December 8th. So just it man it's it's it's not just boxing. You have real human interest stories. Yeah. You have like what we just did today. You have that on the show. With them, yeah. It's the ultimate reality show, y'all, because it's not just filming some dudes eating cheeseburgers and restaurants. These guys are fighting for their lives.

And humanizes the fighters. Oh man, it was, I can remember Sergio Moro, very clearly. And by the way, he went on to have a pretty decent career after that. A career, maybe he's a dollar. Didn't have your career, but he had a great career. So, it's live is important to me and you and your life, because not only did you do the content, or not only have this documentary going, not only are you still doing broadcasting, but you're also in Creed 2.

So that's pretty cool. So, tell them a little bit about that. Like, now you're an actor too on top of it. So you're coming out in Slice and Creed 2, it's not just Slice movie, but so talk a little bit about that. What was that experience? I mean, just to... Yeah, I was in Creed 1, Ryan Kugler, who directed the first one as a friend of mine.

And he called me and basically said, bro, I got a roll for you. Like, what do you mean, he like, I don't act. He said, I got a roll just for you. Red the script was nervous as I'll get out, but he helped me out a lot, man. He encouraged me. Went out there. I felt like we did a great job in the first one. And the second one started coming around.

And I'm like, man, I have a call jet. I'm like, I wonder if they're going to bring my character, Danny Stumpman, Willard Bay. And I said, Michael, be Jordan, the message, I was like, hey, bro, are they going to bring Danny? He was like, yeah, no, no, it's happening, bro, don't worry about it. Next day, I got a call from Stephen Capel, who took over for Ryan Kugler, because obviously Ryan Kugler just did like Panther, killed it, knocked it out of the card. Historical numbers.

Stephen Capel went to USC just like Ryan, their friends, they're, you know, kind of working together on Creed II, and he was a big help. He said, bro, we're bringing you back. This is what we want you to do. So it's a bigger role than it was the first time. I'm excited. It's coming out Thanksgiving weekend. And I'll just give you guys this. You're gonna see me in a light that you haven't seen me in before on Creed 2. Really? Yeah. Okay. Alright so hey Thanksgiving weekend so we got all this stuff

for pro yeah his career in boxing like literally the phone starts looking right after it's like you got even more stuff cooking it seems like right now, right? So. This is man, like sometimes the things that you want, the things that you desire, they're on the other side of that leap, that leap of faith. Like I don't think this stuff would have come. If I'd have said, man, I'm gonna go another year or two. Like I had to be courageous enough to walk away and then take that leap of faith and have that small little

season where you kind of in limbo before these opportunities will come and they can. The problem with this interview is that there's so many minutes like what you just did. I don't know how I'm going to cut this into just the stuff they'll use because it's like the gold and like so many different places. I just think that you and boxing are such great metaphors for life and business and success and all that. But there's been all these running themes. We're running out of time.

I've enjoyed this so flippin' much. I wish we just could keep goin', but there's these running themes with you, which is obviously your character, it's obviously your faith, but also family. And I wanted that to be the last part of what we talked about today, because this man is five children. Five people.

By the way, let that sink in. Yeah, and let it sink in that he also then walked away from those big checks with five children. So you really gotta be walking by faith, right? Because five children and your daughter is four months old. Is that right? You son, four months old. So he's got four boys and a little girl, right?

But his son is four months old. This son is gorgeous, by the way. That we saw the picture of him, my wife and I. But so five babies, your wife is your high school suite. I mean, are you all hearing this like seriously? You all, remember the ladies in the beginning, I told you, stick around because you're gonna love this man, there's gonna be value.

I told you this wasn't just boxing. I told you this is all about life. It's life. It's all about life. But I just think you this like, man, like, of all the stories you hear, it's like, millions and millions of people know who you are, but like, you're just one of the great men in sports.

Like, you're just one of the great men. People need to know that you can be this caliber of man. And that you ladies, by the way, that men like this exist, right? That are flawed, that are, that go through ups and downs, but that are good men. And so, how important to you and just speak to like, like, I know because we've talked enough about it, but like, what's how important to you and just speak to like, I know because we've

talked enough about it, but like, what's family mean to you? Man, it's right there with my faith. I got my faith and I got my family. And, you know, just like anything else, you just mention, you know, boxing be being a metaphor for my life. And that's what it is. Like, you know, whether it's having a, you know, Mary in my high school sweetheart, when I was scared of death at 20 years old and not knowing, you know, if I was gonna be able to deal with this and be faithful and just hold the fort down and be a man or raising kids.

Me and my wife had, you know, our first child, a 17 to 16 years old, like the odds were against it. And we weren't supposed to be where we are now. And I would just tell people like, it's a fight, man. You got to fight for your marriage. You got to fight to raise your kids the right way. And sometimes things happen that are unexpected.

And but you keep fighting. You don't give in, you can't just give up. And it's times that I get on my wife's nerves. It's times that she may get on my nerves. But we're not leaving, it's not an option. Like, we're gonna ride this thing out. I love you, you getting on my nerves, but like, we're not, like, leaving is not an option. Like, we're gonna ride this thing out. I love you, you getting on my nerves, I'm gonna go downstairs and get away for a minute

and I'll be back up and we're gonna keep loving on each other, so I'm just thankful, man. I don't know where I would be without having that foundation. Like, if I didn't have my wife Tiffany there to kinda, you know, to give me that from time to time when I'm getting out of line. I don't know, like her and I learn the business of boxing together. There's times when we're overlooking contracts and we're leading our manager, no, we're leading our lawyer,

no, like, hey, did you guys look at this clause right here? It's like, yeah, yeah, but man, that's a good catch. We'll get back to you. Like that's her and I, you know, when I wanted to retire, when I'm dealing with, you know, the critics and trying to process that I. You know, when I wanted to retire, when I'm dealing with the critics and trying to process that, and she's there for me to vent to. Like she's my everything.

And Virgist always tell me, he said, I always knew you were a one woman man. I'm like, yeah, how'd you know? He said, I could just tell you, you weren't a good player. You didn't do a good job. I can always tell that was you. He used to say, son, you having a wife at a young age, you're going to make you better

fighter. And I think he was right. I think he was right. I think you're such a decent man, a good man. And I'm so glad everybody that one of my heroes, even all much older than him, when you meet your hero sometimes in life, you can be disappointed. And it's very rare when you meet somebody that you admire from a distance that they exceed your expectations.

And you exceed mine. I think you're tremendous. I want to do whatever I can to help you in the new chapters of your life. I told you that off camera. I mean that. And there are so many things here today for people that I'm gonna go out of my way to promote this thing, but I wanna make sure that I promote you too.

So where can they find you so they can interact with you? So where would you like to send them to find you? You're gonna have your documentary, but they're gonna find all these things probably through your social media or website. Yeah, I'm on Twitter at Andre Ward and I'm on Instagram at Andre SOG Ward. So yeah, I'm very active on on social My website Andre SOG Ward dot com. We got merchandise. We have just like real just like the latest news

Again, I'm very active so I can communicate back I'm a very tangible person. Yeah, so feel free to reach out. Come holler man, I'm there. So you all know, um, SOG, when he would get introduced in the ring, it was son of God, just so you know what that stands for everybody. So this man, his all of his career stood for what he stands for now. And I really do believe this. I really do. I don't know if you get back in the ring or not. It's obviously, I hope you do, but, but I really do, I do, no pressure, though. No pressure, though. No pressure. But I do have this sense that the next 30, 40 years are going to be the best chapters of your life, bro. I just really do sense that. And 30, 40 years are going to be the best chapters of your life, brother.

I just really do sense that. I'm so grateful that you are here today. I actually covered the things I wanted to cover, which is incredible in the interview. So, it was absolute joy to have you here today. So thank you so much. I would say everything you say, brother. Thank you for having me. God bless you.

So good today. So, hey everybody, I know what you're thinking. You're like, I can't believe this, right? So please follow him on social media. You already follow me or you wouldn't be watching this. But remember also one thing on social media. We run the two-minute drill every single day on Instagram, which is essentially this, that when I make a post in the main feed, you just make a comment within the first two minutes

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into works in your own life. God bless you and max out.