Hometown Hero Andre Ward Looks to Dethrone WBA's Mikkel Kessler

Former Olympic gold medalist, Andre Ward, calls upcoming rival, Mikkel Kessler, of Denmark, "absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt the most skilled" fighter that he will have faced over the course of his nearly five-year professional career.

"He's the champion. He's very tough. I take nothing away from Mikkel Kessler," said Ward, who will put his 20-0 record with 13 knockouts on the line in pursing Kessler's WBA 168-pound title on Nov. 21 before a partisan crowd at Oracle Arena in Oakland. "At the same time, this is what it's all about -- taking the challenge and rising to it. And I plan on doing that 11 days from now."

Their first-round clash is part of Showtime's Super Six Middleweight World Boxing Classic.

Armed with a record of 42-1, with 32 knockouts, Kessler's only loss is to former world champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales, who retired undefeated after whipping both Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones in successive bouts.

Ward began his professional career on Sept. 18, 2004, with a second-round knockout of Chris Molina. Since then, Ward has been carefully brought along by his promoter, Dan Goossen, business manager, James Prince, and trainer, Virgil Hunter, who became a male role model when Ward's father died in 2002.

"[Hunter] stepped in and became a father to me. He's given me a lot of wisdom. A lot of people say that I have wisdom beyond my years, and the reason why is because he's a wise man," said Ward, a 2004 Olympian. "He's taught me so much about manhood, about life. He's just helped me to rise up and be the man I am today."

And Hunter has trained Ward to win a world title.

"This is something you envision, and something that you dream about for years. I'm just very impatient for this and I'm ready to fight. I haven't been training for five weeks, I haven't been training for six weeks. I've been training for this for most of my life since I was nine years old," said Ward, 25.

"It's time to go and get this world championship. It's against a dynamite fighter. I don't think our roll up to this point has been slow. Some of the former gold medalists, like Sugar Ray Leonard, he did it in three years," said Ward. "But I don't think that our road to this point has been slow, I don't think it's been stagnant. I think that it's been right on time."

The tournament's initial first-round fight was held on Oct. 17, starting with Germany's Athur Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs) scoring a 12th-round knockout of Arkansas' Jermain Taylor (28-4, 17 KOs) in a matchup of former middleweight (160 pounds) champions.

On the same night, England's Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KOs) earned a split-decision over former Olympic bronze medalist Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KOs) of Flint, Mich., in defense of Froch's WBC title.

In the next group stage, Taylor, 31, is scheduled to fight Ward, Abraham is slated to meet Dirrell, and Froch, to face Kessler. In the third and final group stage, it's Abraham-Froch, Dirrell-Ward, and, Kessler-Taylor.

"It was very unfortunate that both of the Americans lost their fights, and it's just added more motivation to be victorious on Nov. 21, because that's how everybody expected it to be. I think Carl Froch summed it up in his comments when he said, 'Everything is going as scheduled,'" said Ward.

"I take that personal, because I'm a proud American. I want to show that it's time in the super middleweight division for an American to be champion," said Ward. "It's been dominated in Europe, and there are some great fighters over there, but I want to do my part to bring the belt back to American soil."

Showtime and NFL Films, meanwhile, are embedded into the respective camps of Kessler and Ward as they prepare for the second episode of the reality show FIGHT CAMP 360: Inside The Super Six World Boxing Classic.

The second episode will air on Saturday night on Showtime at 10:40 p.m., and will offer a look back at the start of the tournament.

Kessler is considered the tournament favorite, and, ostensibly, Ward, among its underdogs.

"When you have the it-factor, when you have the drive, when you have the determination, when you have the skill, when you have the hunger, records don't mean anything. When you look at Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he fought Genaro Hernandez, he wasn't supposed to win that fight," said Ward.

"Muhammad Ali, when he beat Sonny Liston, he wasn't supposed to win that fight. Sugar Ray Leonard over Wilfrend Benitez, Benitez was a decorated figher and Leonard really wasn't supposed to win that fight," said Ward. "That's how I look at it. When you know that you have the heart of a champion, and you've worked years for an opportunity, a guy having more fights than you is not going to stop you from fulfilling your goal."

When the three group stages are completed, the top four point-earners will be seeded to comprise the semifinals, from which the two finalists will be determined. The tournament is not expected to be completed until 2011.

Goossen believes Ward will be the last man standing.

"Andre Ward's an exciting, offensive-minded, very intelligent fighter inside of that ring, and Mikkel Kessler's a proud champ, which we obviously saw from the first round to the 12th round in his only losing effort [against former world champion Joe Calzaghe.] He was certainly still trying to get that fight turned around in the closing seconds," said Goossen.

"We know that it's going to be a great fight. But if you're going to have a prize fighter, one who is destined for greatness, have him have the mentality of Andre Ward. He's a great family man outside of those ropes," said Goossen of Ward, who is married with two sons and a daughter.

"But during preparation and inside of the ring, he's one of the meanest fighters I've ever been associated with -- and we've been associated with some great ones throughout the years," said Goossen. "I believe that the world stage that Andre conquered in [in the Olympics in Athens] Greece, he's going to do the same thing at Oracle Arena in his home down on Nov. 21."

On that night against Kessler, Ward, the youngest competitor in the Super Six, will return to the site of his biggest victory to date. In May, Ward thrilled Oracle Arena fans by scoring a unanimous decision over tough, perennial contender, Edison Miranda, of Puerto Rico.

Ward said that he "answered all of the questions that were asked about me" against Miranda, including a head butt that caused blood to stream down his face just under a minute into their bout, being punched by a knockout artist squarely on the jaw, and whether he could go 12, hard rounds while also dealing with the distractions of a hometown crowd.

"Everything was pretty much the way that I thought it was going to be. There were people who are going to be screaming and yelling and trying to get your attentionthe week of the fight and two weeks before. Even the night of the fight, people screaming your name, saying good things, bad things, but I just try to stay focused," said Ward.

"I just try to stay in the middle and keep my eye focused on the prize at hand. This is a long time coming. This is over a decade of preparation," said Ward. "Fighting at home, I won't allow it to be a distraction. If anything, just like the Miranda fight, I'll use the crowd as motivation."

Ward is coming off of September's third-round knockout over North Dakota's 34-year-old Shelby Pudwill (22-4, nine KOs) at the Pechange Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA.

"It's about bringing the total package. I don't know how Mikkel perceives me as a fighter, but I plan on bring the total package on Nov. 21," said Ward. "It will be a little bit of everything. Not just speed, not just footwork, but the total package."

And there is nothing like the intensity of performing before fans who are familiar with you, said Ward.

"I'll allow the crowd to fuel me. They were very excited for this last fight, and they're extremely excited for this fight. I went to the [Goden State] Warriors' game last night, and I could just sense the excitement that people have about this fight," said Ward.

"So I'm definitely going to use it to my advnage where needed, but at the end of the day, it boils down to two men fighting, and who comes out on top. And who is going to focus and execute the gameplan," said Ward. "If you go in there just depending on the hometown advantage, you're in for a long time. It's just focus, whether I'm fighting at home or fighting abroad."

The role of underdog is one that Ward relishes.

"I expect a very, very, very tough fight. I expect to face the best Mikkel Kessler...I expect a better Mikkel Kessler than I saw against Calzaghe. But why do I feel I can beat Mikkel Kessler? I have to feel that way at this point in my career. If I didn't feel like I can be in this tournament, I shouldn't be in this tournament," said Ward.

"For me, personally, when you're fighting a fight like this, this is it. This is all that you think about. This is what you eat, this is what you sleep, this is what you drink," said Ward. "The other details, you just approach them as they come. This is not something that you sit up and you calculate. It's all about this fight right here."


Below are the air dates and times for FIGHT CAMP 360°: Inside The Super Six World Boxing Classic--Episode2:

Saturday, Nov. 14 - 10:40 p.m. SHO (premiere)

Monday, Nov. 16 - 10 p.m. SHO2

Tuesday, Nov. 17 – 10 p.m. SHO2

Tuesday, Nov. 17 – 12 a.m. SHO

Wednesday, Nov. 18 – 11 p.m. SHO2

Thursday, Nov. 19 – 10 p.m. SHO2

Thursday, Nov. 19 – 1:05 a.m. SHO

Friday, Nov. 20 – 10 p.m. SHO2

Saturday, Nov. 21 – 4:35 p.m. SHO

Note: all times ET/PT