Andre Ward, the Boxer

When my sweetie asked me if I'd like to join him at a press conference for Andre Ward, I said "no."

"I always do the things that you want to do," he said, "but you never want to do the things that I want to do," He said this partly kidding, but also partly not kidding.

Andre Ward is a boxer for whom my sweetie and one of his friends maintain a fan site. They even have press passes when they go to one of his fights . http://www.andre-ward.com/

"Even if you don't care about boxing," my sweetie continued, "we'll get to spend the day together."

Of course, I agreed to come.

And I had a great time.

Andre Ward and his opponent, Carl Froch, will be fighting to keep their belts at the
Super Six World Boxing Classic on Saturday, October 29th, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Both men were at the press conference as well as their managers, Andre's coach, and local dignitaries. (Andre grew up in Oakland where the press conference was held.)

What impressed me first was that neither men wore "bling." Andre wore a watch; I don't remember if Carol was wearing one or not. And that was it. No gold chains. No diamond rings. Both men, in casual clothes, could be your average Walmart customer.

Though both men talked about being confident about the upcoming fight, they were respectful of each other. In different words, they both spoke about the reality that there would be a winner and that there would be a loser. Carl predicted that he would win the fight. Andre said that he wasn't brought up to talk about being the greatest fighter; he'd let his actions speak for themselves. Both men said that each of them and his opponent were already winners for getting so far in the competition. However it turned out, the sport itself would be the winner of a well fought match. I'm not a sports' enthusiastic and have never seen a boxing match, but on October 29th, I'll be watching the match on ShowTime Sports and I'll be cheering for Andre Ward ('cause he's the local guy. )