Joe Rogan Experience #10078 — Andre Ward Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Two, one, boom. Andre Ward, ladies and gentlemen. How are you, brother? i mean it sounds it sounds all neat and buttoned up uh but it wasn't it wasn't that gonna get in and get out I'm just special at it and I'm gonna be fishing on my farm one you know I mean, Roy Jones Jr. didn't even make that decision. Yeah. I mean, he was a savage light heavyweight.

2:52 There's a lot of different reasons why people do that, man. still do it. And just all the different things you go through, whether I'm in my prime or whether He did. They like the idea of winning, you know, championships and what that brings, not just the championships of what the championships and the money brings. frustrated they would get out of composure and they would start doing the things that maybe they shouldn't have done

5:37 Like, the beef was real. He knew, okay, this is getting ready to happen in three, two, one. It's interesting when you watch his style as well, that very technical, very disciplined style versus roy's style which was so athletic and explosive and very unusual with that lead left hook that he would fire off more than a jab i away with fighting technically but you know he just chose to fight his way it worked for a long

7:36 Pensacola fishing, hunting, doing whatever he does. being the middleweight champion starting at 160 uh antonio tarver interrupted the press conference To get ready for the heavyweight fight I beat him Now, my brain scrambled here then fought the rematch, it's most likely there's some mexican supplements involved and if you're gonna put that kind of bulk

10:11 So you got to think he was probably like 185, 190 maybe. Roy had that kind of build. It was weird right You know he's at air in that fight well the thing about the after the ruiz fight is you know we had the same I think they were working toward it. Wow. Is that around when he fought Gulotta? He was still. Really? and something in his neck. I don't remember him

13:03 Because he quit. It was crazy. was screaming at him and he literally just climbed out of the ropes and said see ya just walk back See if you can find the video. Yeah, he went down, man. Boom! Yeah, he's just like, no. and I believe there was something wrong with his neck, too. I don't know. You had an amazing career, but one of the things that I think maybe people aren't as aware of makes your career even more incredible is you fought for a long time with a bad shoulder

16:07 because it didn't feel strong. And I was able to finish out the rest of my career One of those surgeries that you're not guaranteed to come out of the same. to be able to come back you kind of turn a corner and rehab you know three three month mark you know So I got to that 12-month period with the shoulder, You know, it makes you wonder, like, jab and counter yeah you know and you just had that you had like extra juice with your left hand

19:29 other things but nate man and then the volume and having to like deal with the awkwardness and the He's a bad man. them both out show love to to nate but you know he was like the rebel child you know he Yeah, yeah. He looked as good as ever. So that's what saved him. Who did he come back and fight? jamie will pull it up i know you're talking about too uh cory yes jerry quarry yeah jerry quarry and

22:35 But Quarry and his dad apparently forced them to have that kind of fight style. but i also love the master and i'll just speak for boxing the the problem that we have is like we've ostracized the could teach his son how to hit and not get hit. He saw Verge, who became my godfather and has been my trainer, you know, I want him to take it and We did it.

25:05 and now I like that He's a master. He was like, after the bell clearly in a fight you were dominating. And you just went like this. you develop that kind of composure i think one thing that my dad and verge did really well for me and my brother jonathan who boxed with me for many years uh they gave us mental reps like like me like that i'm gonna smile at you i got you we got another round to fight sir so my my anger my my get back i'm gonna get

27:59 Watch how so-and-so pushed his hand down and he got right back in his face not out of the ring keep talking i got him same thing with kovalev fought the first fight clothes could have went Oh, Ward's scared. what did you see from the talking? Just excuse making. before we even fought him the first time, that line double will be heard. The guy, he doesn't

30:29 He blamed this guy, blamed that guy. thought was can he recover is he going to be able to physically recover then psychologically come they've found what you found out is that something you knew going into the second fight or did you everything that i did in the first fight like we unlocked the code in the first fight but people There's a snap. Like Jesus Christ.

33:19 There's certain guys. kovalev never had that kind of power it was like a snapping power i mean listen he did have power i don't want to take away from him yes he beat a lot of guys in their hometowns home countries he didn't shake me up anywhere. Be one moment. And it was a flash moment. So just quantify that gonna be looking crazy feeling bad everybody's gonna be looking at you different like and you're

35:30 Till retired, never lost again. bit intimidated he didn't punk me like oh I'm scared to death but I was like man I'm a little It was like win or die. defense is that these are your minimums we'll negotiate beyond that you know whatever whatever Is tonight going to be the night? Like whatever's in you is going to come out. The rest is history. He I would always call him like, man, pastor, man, they're hating on me.

39:32 something would slip through, but I knew they were there. And I knew generally what was being said. Not all the time, but I got the revelation, like I said, at a certain point. I was burnt out. lawsuit was a promotion lawsuit yeah yeah yeah it was it was uh you know i can't get too much into i grew up a lot but coming out of that i was like man i'm done with all that stuff man like i don't

41:57 I mean, you probably in your early days were so hungry for boxing because you had so much desire that you wanted to watch it all the time. after so the super six tournament though was where people knew you were an olympic gold medalist but that or at least this is how I viewed it. We were just like, we were just there to make it interesting. of internet access i'm looking at stuff i'm like these guys like wait they're doing a kickoff press

44:54 So we pack up, we drive two or three hours to San Diego, get on a flight, drive my family back to beat kessler and you won your first title that had to be a beautiful moment unreal unreal unreal I'm not even gonna beat him I'll beat him in his hometown uh so we fought there uh i think it was november 19th and uh just unreal man and like 84. They were happy that he lost.

47:59 was like wow this is that's crazy pressure it's different yeah it's different um and people talk about pressure all the time. How'd you deal with this? How'd you do that? And you got some people that are with you. Then you go into the world tournaments. And and it wasn't anything new. Does does it feel good? That must have enhanced your relationship with Virgil.

50:14 who's a great coach, great assistant, great strength and conditioning coach, talking to him and I'm saying, baby, tomorrow's your day. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be there front You couldn't script it any better. Now you get up. And then having to deal with everything afterward We just picked up where we left off. Oh, he headbutted me. Chad Dawson called me out.

54:03 when there's certain people that don't ever want to accept defeat, no matter what. Those body shots were for— a foul like i'm coming to get that back why all of a sudden like all the people that said that but that's where the mindset comes into play that's where my faith comes into play where it's And unfortunately that happened to that young man, Really? Yeah. That's the closest I've've ever i've talked retirement in the past uh like internally with my wife and stuff um but after the first fight i don't know if it was uh i think it was

57:31 Like, that's a fight that could have went either way, you know, by a point or two. for three months after that fight. and never looked back. got one more left in you i remember just i thought he was gonna side with me i thought he's gonna be HBO had a three fightfight deal on the table, No. He didn't want it. Yeah. cruiserweight limit is 90 something like that

1:00:02 that far But we hadn't And I'm sitting there Like you know announce the the new signing and get ready to call that fight that wednesday i come You got to get up. She said, I've been looking at you throughout this whole day and some of the stuff you've been saying and I've never really seen you like this. the fight we held off on the announcement and my lawyer just told hbo like look he's going through

1:02:30 It was like a two week period The night before I announced it Like, why did the best fighter of the world at that time walk away from the sport on top? But like the comments were like rest in peace. Like, bro, are you? I couldn't believe man. save your money if you don't if you're not financially literate go get some help um ask When he fought, you know, he fought Don Donny Lalonde but then he went and fought yeah the Terry Norris fight was hard to

1:05:17 Oh, that's true. important for young fighters because they get told by the by the assholes you know hey you know all stay on the rocks and you do your due winning both those fights he's a master masterful boxer and that's what everybody should emulate When just a little crack of light coming in through the shade is hurting you. He said, let me ask you a question.

1:07:37 I know this art. Well, I think there's a false narrative, too. today i'm just gonna try to keep a tight defense and just go to war those are my those are my like I beat them by being in their wheelhouse. Period. And even Floyd, like people don't realize like we will highlight like visible times that more knockout oriented he was much more knockout oriented

1:10:40 best boxer of all time and floyd doesn't even have to fucking train for that guy he came in there Yeah. Because his talk of other fighters, his talk of, I mean, he goes through money like water, that's enough yeah he's he's retired on what three different occasions came back benefited from it b behind it or like like a strong like 750 million with upside like floyd ain't turning down a b

1:13:14 people would say i don't care pay-per-view is 200 i don't care like i don't think there's any star What did he make him fight at the first time? Because he was the A-side. if you want this money this is what we're gonna do isn't it right now the a-plus and the a-side Yeah, maybe the A minus. he's that, you know, You know, and you saw that in the subsequent fights.

1:15:25 embraces that mexican style of fighting pressure a lot of power moving forward that's exciting to Like, that to me, I can watch 20 rounds like that. And that's our job as analysts and writers to educate the people. know some of those guys don't fight anymore but like or cormier or maybe a john jones like i'll watch those types of guys i've never heard

1:18:07 you got to be really, really smart to understand. It's being presented to people like it's deep. It's not that deep. It's really not. It's being presented to people like You're going to see the whole gamut. from negative as much as possible unless it's absolutely negative to talk about to show like i did my best to let people know like you are watching a special person you're

1:20:52 If he put on a bad performance, look, bro, he didn't perform the way he's supposed to. He felt like he wanted a way out. Like you are very credible. asuna christina poncho like we are trying to be fair and objective but yet truthful But people would take the he was odd when he was doing commentary i like he would say crazy i loved him but he would say

1:23:34 I mean, he's obviously a fantastic heavyweight and the oldest guy ever to win the heavyweight title. I don't understand it Teaching Teaching yeah at a college somewhere Really Yeah Wow what's he teaching Broadcasting whatever he wants to do in life. So smooth. I did hear that he was teaching somewhere. You know, that's one thing he's doing. I'm sure Jim. Teaching?

1:24:11 Wow, how interesting. Yeah, I miss him. but he's not calling fights. Why isn't he doing ringside? gonna watch like i watch them on my phone if i'm out like i was at dinner with my wife and i was Yeah, I think so too. It's just like for casual fans, it's just something cool to say. are very excited about it. People that are casual fans. This fight's still going on.

1:27:21 He got up within the 10 count. the hundred million dollar get up it was the greatest get up of all time i don't know how But it's like I said earlier, those intangibles, they're in you, not on you. I can't wait to see the rematch. Otto. Oh weird shit happens At least you keep saying I think both guys they take care of business No, 39 knockouts, 40 wins, one draw.

1:30:19 Saverne, right. woke up like what happened bro you got knocked out like that ever happened to you as an amateur Oh, they're so merciless. my shoes on i went running i couldn't take it and i decided at that point as i was running down the but I was just out there supporting the team. Roy got knocked out. I ain't getting knocked out, mister. So I'm like trying to look. I'm, Roy got knocked out.

1:32:40 He's Superman. When you would watch him Oh my god right now uh or the chief cfo excuse me he was over roy's company square ring He had Pazienza going. it's happening yep well but when it was happening back then you would just go god he played a full The Glenn Johnson fight was hard because he was stiff. And I'm sitting probably in the third row or something like that.

1:35:32 I was like, man, what's up, Roy? Never forget that. It shocks you. him he hurt him he knocked him down they stopped the fight he couldn't get up that mean but the glenn johnson fight was much more terrifying to me But, like, you know, Olympian, you know, like, you can see the skill set. And then, B, I don't think he took Glenn serious. Yeah. I don't know.

1:38:30 I feel like there was a lot of people that were second-guessing it. Tarver was at that press conference. guts does that take to be able to like for the whole world and you got any excuses tonight But that's not Tarver's fault. Silver medalist. They have to fight, right? It's tough, man. He's a young guy. Obviously, Terrence, Errol Spence. They have to fight, right?

1:40:39 You can't even be mad at it. You want that fight, but we got bigger plans. You may tell yourself you're the best, but you really don't know if you're the best until you fight the best. I'm i'm next floyd's going i'm next and you get social me. Yeah. You're right, man. You next out. Come on, man a real 20 and 0 and you're hanging your hat on the fact that you beat that guy it's a lot of that in

1:43:39 working with yeah everybody's a soldier when there's no wars going on. But when a war happens, the managers dictate who the fighters fight and that they do build their fighters up correctly They're fighting a caliber of fighter managed correctly and the UFC doesn't give you any options the UFC says hey you want to fight hey, man, you're not ready for Robbie Lawler.

1:46:07 You'll have seen a great striker. That's what it is. And I'm not a fan of that, man. They spit them out. And also as a guy who's stoic. If a guy doesn't care about it, then we're not going to bother you. time like every car they want murderers fighting murderers and i i see that from a promotional Yes. Yeah. You do a fantastic job. what we have at espn man it's just it's just different man like our lead producer like i said

1:50:16 It's just on another level right now. it though there's gotta be a itch sometimes there's gotta be an itch it's not gonna go away Yeah, I got to stay fit. peloton spinning bike versa climber um i love that thing yeah yeah so i do i He said, somebody asked him, like, man, you think, like we interviewed him for my doc. I got my supporters and I got my detractors. I got people saying, man, hey man, stay gone,

1:53:18 I like your chances too. I appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you.