The Art Of Ward

Picking up where Part 1 left off, Virgil and Andre go all the way through the pro career. The 2004 Staples Center debut. The knockdown by Darnell Boone that nearly cost him an HBO deal. The frantic red-eye to Germany to lock in the Super Six tournament and opening the bracket against Mikkel Kessler at home, plus the collision course with Andre Dirrell that Bumper kept saying wouldn’t happen — and the moment Andre’s mind shifted on his own friend. Skipping Lucian Bute, beating Chad Dawson, and the two-year lawsuit that almost derailed everything.

Then the Kovalev story like it’s never been told. Virgil admits he was a fan of Sergey Kovalev before him and Dre ever fought. The knee that swelled to three times its size in training camp and ultimately getting it drained two hours before he walked to the ring. Getting up off the canvas in Round 2 and closing like a champion, and the decision the critics still argue about — and Andre’s full response to all of it.

And then, for the first time on tape, Andre reveals he knew going into the second Kovalev fight that it was his last fight — and never told Virgil. The phone call from Jack London Square the night before he announced his retirement. Virgil’s response, the investment lessons, the jewelry-vs-houses speech, and why Virgil refuses to be the old coach on a stump watching one of his fighters take brain damage for a paycheck.

Part 2 of 2. If you missed Part 1, go back and watch the origin story.
0:00 – Intro: From the Streets to the Pro Game1:40 – The Super Six Tournament & Moving to 168 lbs3:34 – Facing Mikkel Kessler: Setting the Tone5:22 – Patterns of Success: The Journey & God’s Plan6:23 – Financial Wisdom & Having an Exit Strategy13:45 – Virgil’s Training Philosophy & Locker Room Rules21:20 – Keeping Fighters Focused & Blocking Distractions23:00 – Cleaning Out Super Middleweight & Moving to 17525:20 – Preparing for Sergey Kovalev: The 3-Fight Plan27:40 – Knee Injury & Doubt Before the Kovalev Fight29:43 – Walking to the Ring: Confidence Despite the Injury30:07 – The Knockdown & Corner Adjustments vs. Kovalev32:06 – Breaking Down the Kovalev Win & Critics34:04 – The Rematch & Kovalev’s Decline42:32 – Ward’s Retirement Decision44:13 – Knowing When It’s Over: The Mindset of Retiring on Top46:22 – Financial Lessons for Young Fighters49:18 – The Danger of Eroding Skills & Spending Your Prime51:38 – Retiring When You’ve Proven Everything55:06 – Missing the Gym & Staying Away After Retirement
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For the first time ever, the man behind Andre Ward’s undefeated career and 2004 Olympic Gold sits down on THE ART OF WARD... and they go all the way back.

Virgil Hunter, 2011 Boxing Writers Association Trainer of the Year, pulls up for Part 1 of a two-part conversation 32 years in the making.

This isn’t just a boxing conversation. This is the full story.

The day a 10-year-old Andre walked into US Karate & Boxing in Hayward and locked eyes with a quietly depressed Virgil, still grieving the loss of his first prospect. Frank Ward’s simple request: “teach my son how to hit and not get hit.” The years Andre and his brother Jonathan lived with Virgil and his wife. The crack era in Oakland that pulled Andre into the streets — selling rocks two blocks from the apartment where his own mother was using. The psychology Virgil used to pull him back: the guilt-trip phone call, the jailhouse intervention, the Hennessy bottle quietly pulled from Andre’s bag in Las Vegas. The James Prince connection. Marrying Tiffney young against everyone’s advice. Losing his father in 2002. And the 2004 Olympic Gold in Athens and how Virgil had to move mountains to be there ringside.
00:00 - Intro & Welcome Hall of Fame trainer, Virgil Hunter, to The Art of Ward02:30 - The First Meeting & Frank Ward’s Request06:02 - Virgil’s Depression & Why That Day Was Spiritual06:47 - Building a Foundation Before the Temptations08:30 - Andre & His Brother Move In With Virgil & His Wife10:30 - Frank Ward, Andre’s Mom & The Mother Wound14:00 - Battle Testing With Donaire & The First Fights16:00 - The Silver Gloves Nationals & Curtis Stevens20:00 - Sparring Pros at 13 & The Strength Behind It21:11 - The Difference Between Andre & His Brother21:57 - Drive, Tenacity & Being a Student of The Game24:30 - The Junior Olympics & When The Streets Started Calling27:13 - The Oakland Mystique & Virgil’s Focus Shifts29:39 - The Psychology: Guilt Trips, Interventions & The Hennessy Bottle32:06 - Can You Make A Great Without Sacrifice?33:16 - Structure Is The Foundation of Greatness35:33 - His Mother’s Relapse & Selling Dope Two Blocks Away37:00 - The Prayers Working & Virgil’s Street Intelligence39:41 - Structure Kept Him From Crossing The Line42:47 - Virgil’s Diary Entry & The Full Prophecy44:50 - Washington, Tiffney & Marrying Young Against Everyone’s Advice49:04 - James Prince Enters The Picture52:17 - “He’ll Win Us A Gold Medal”: The Guarantee To J Prince53:22 - Exposed To The Life: Floyd, Roy & Dre Losing His Father58:00 - Surrendering & Locking In For The Olympics01:00:10 - “You Don’t Think I Can Get You To Athens?“: The Faith Moment01:02:35 - Front Row Tickets & God Paying For The Whole Trip01:08:13 - The Last American Male Olympic Gold & USA Boxing’s Problem01:11:24 - It Takes A Team & No Great Man Stands Alone01:13:34 - Body Language, Technical Ability & What Wins At The Highest Level01:16:46 - The Decision That Shook Everything Up
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14 years later, Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch sits down face-to-face with Andre Ward. The 2023 Hall of Famer, 4-time super middleweight world champion, and one of the most fearless personalities in boxing pulls up to THE ART OF WARD for a conversation almost nobody thought would ever happen.

Froch walks Andre through the full story. From a skinny kid in Nottingham getting flattened on a rugby pitch, to walking back into a boxing gym at 19, to becoming a four-time world champion at super middleweight. He gets into the Pascal war, the Jermain Taylor stoppage with torn ankle ligaments and a scratched cornea three weeks out, the Lucian Bute destruction, the controversial first Groves fight he openly admits he was under-trained for, and the 80,000-strong Wembley KO that closed his career. And then he gives Andre what nobody expected: a flat-out admission that he bit Andre’s shoulder during their 2011 Super Six final, his read on the body shots Andre took that night that left him unable to move for a week after, and his decision to pull his family out of England for good and move to Dubai. He also tells the real story on Joe Calzaghe ghosting their planned exhibition, and weighs in on whether he’d actually get back in a ring with Andre Ward today.

This is one of the most loaded sit-downs in The Art of Ward’s run. Don’t miss it. Subscribe to All The Smoke Fight for more raw conversations with boxing’s biggest names. Tap in.
0:00 Intro — Carl Froch comes on the show1:35 How Andre and Froch reconnected through David Haye5:40 Froch on leaving Sky Sports and going independent5:59 Growing up in Nottingham7:23 Family background and his relationship with his father11:47 His unorthodox style and the four-year break from boxing at 1513:47 Coming back to boxing at 19 and turning professional28:00 The Jean Pascal fight — his first world title35:00 The Jermain Taylor fight — torn ankle, scratched cornea, three weeks out44:00 The Super Six World Boxing Classic — entering the tournament51:53 First meeting with Andre Ward at the Super Six press conference55:21 Froch’s honest scouting report on Ward going into their fight58:27 The 2011 Super Six Final — what really happened that night1:01:15 Froch admits he bit Andre’s shoulder during the fight1:24:11 Froch’s honest self-assessment1:26:01 The body shots that left Andre unable to move for a week1:27:45 Lucian Bute — the destruction in Nottingham1:31:58 George Groves — the controversial first fight1:32:32 Wembley Stadium — 80,000 fans and the KO that ended his career1:38:01 Would Froch and Ward do an exhibition today?1:40:58 The Joe Calzaghe exhibition that never happened1:41:27 Life after boxing1:45:29 Why Froch is moving his family out of England to Dubai1:50:11 Wrap-up
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For the first time ever, Tiffiney Ward steps in front of the camera on THE ART OF WARD. Andre’s wife, best friend, and the woman who’s been by his side for over 25 years opens up about the life she’s kept almost entirely offline. From growing up as an Army brat in Germany, to losing her dad as a teenager, to getting pregnant at 16 and being moved down to Oakland by Virgil Hunter and his wife Millie, this is the origin story behind one of boxing’s greatest careers.

Tiffiney pulls the curtain back on the moments most fans have never heard: their Wednesday-night bible study wedding, the contract Andre signed without showing her, the eight-week training camps that left her crying every single time, the surgeries, the lawsuit, the wink to her in the corner after the Kovalev knockdown, and the morning Andre laid on the bedroom floor and said “I’m done.” She talks about faith, motherhood, the Virgil and Millie blueprint, and what it really takes to stay locked in for 25 years inside a sport that breaks most marriages.

This is Andre Ward’s untold story, told by the only person who’s been there for every chapter. Don’t miss it. Subscribe to All The Smoke Fight for more raw conversations with boxing’s biggest names. Tap in.
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Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr. break down a stacked Cinco de Mayo weekend that delivered everything boxing fans wanted. David Benavidez became the first three-division champion across super middleweight, light heavyweight, and cruiserweight with a dominant performance against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, and the question of what comes next is the biggest one in the sport right now. Roy makes a bold strategic call the Hall of Game audience will be debating for weeks: skip Jai Opetaia, skip every other cruiserweight, and go straight to Oleksandr Usyk while the iron is hot.

Andre and Roy also dig into Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani in Tokyo, where Inoue defended his undisputed junior featherweight title in front of 55,000 fans and broke Mike Tyson’s Tokyo Dome live gate record. They also react to the news that Errol Spence is officially back, set to fight Tim Tszyu in Australia on July 25.

Plus: Mitchell Robinson and Dyson Daniels get tangled up in the Knicks vs Hawks 72-22 playoff blowout, and Roy explains exactly why a Pensacola fighter was never going to take that lying down.
0:00 - Intro0:26 - Recap of Fight Weekend / Cinco de Mayo Boxing1:32 - Undercard Review: Sanchez vs. Chavez4:38 - Co-Main Event: Jaime Munguia vs. Armando Resendiz5:53 - Controversial Decision? Duarte vs. Fierro Breakdown7:41 - How to Score a Close Fight (Judging Discussion)10:55 - Main Event: David Benavidez vs. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez15:57 - Benavidez at Cruiserweight: What’s Next?16:47 - Canelo Alvarez vs. Benavidez: Will It Ever Happen?19:09 - Benavidez vs. Usyk? Exploring the Big Money Fights24:24 - Ad Break27:12 - Naoya Inoue vs. Nakatani at Tokyo Dome (55,000 Fans!)31:16 - Breaking News: Errol Spence Returns vs. Tim Tszyu35:22 - Knicks vs. Hawks Braw39:10 - Closing Thoughts on the State of Boxing
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