The Art Of Ward

Skye Nicolson joins Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr. on HALL OF GAME ahead of her November 8th fight against former three-time world champion Miyo Yoshida in Arlington, Texas on Most Valuable Promotion’s #MVPW07 live on ESPN. Skye breaks down the challenge of controlling a high-volume opponent in two-minute rounds, returning from the first injury of her career and preparing for her first fight under the MVP and Matchroom co-promotion.
The conversation turns personal when Skye revisits her only professional loss to Tiara Brown. Despite believing boxing was 90 percent mental, she admits she had done virtually no mental preparation—and spent the night before the fight at dinner with roughly 40 friends and family members. Now she journals, visualizes and keeps a five- or six-person bubble throughout fight week.
Andre and Roy share what their own careers taught them about isolation, responsibility and the difference between the people who come to watch and the fighter who has to perform. Family can support you, but they cannot make weight, execute the game plan or fight for you when the bell rings.
[11:57 AM]getting timecodes together rn — dropping in 5 at 3pm ET

00:00 Skye Nicolson joins Hall of Game
01:05 Postponed fight and first injury of her career
01:48 Is Skye a happy fighter in camp?
02:11 Why camp started in Dubai
03:08 The value of pre-camp
04:11 Scouting Miyo Yoshida’s high-volume style
11:01 Coming back from injury the smart way
12:15 Ring walks, style, and 150 amateur fights
13:20 Competitiveness inside and outside the ring
15:05 Lessons from the Tiara Brown loss, the mental side of boxing
17:23 “My bubble”: setting boundaries in fight week
19:16 Dre and Roy on isolating before a fight
20:09 How Roy assesses a loss with his fighters

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Andre Ward is joined by Roy Jones Jr. and Zab Judah for a three-champion breakdown of the biggest conversations in boxing. They react to Daniel Dubois’ win over Fabio Wardley, debate whether Ermal Hadribeaj deserved to finish the Sebastian Fundora fight on his feet, and explain why boxing may need instant replay.
The conversation turns to weight, leverage and the fights that never get made. Andre reveals the preparation mistake he made before facing Sergey Kovalev, the panel challenges boxing’s “weight bully” label, and Roy draws a hard line on Devin Haney vs. Shakur Stevenson: fight at 140, fight at 147 or move on—with Tank Davis waiting as the alternative.
0:00 — Welcome to Hall of Game
2:00 — Zab Judah’s Youth Football Championship Run
4:03 — Roy Jones Jr. on Building an Old-School Champion
9:24 — Remembering Charles King
11:32 — Daniel Dubois vs. Fabio Wardley
18:52 — Sebastian Fundora vs. Ermal Hadribeaj
28:58 — Emanuel Navarrete vs. O’Shaquie Foster
34:06 — The “Weight Bully” Debate
38:25 — Andre Ward’s Kovalev Training Mistake
41:32 — Haney vs. Shakur: 140, 147 or No Fight?
45:55 — Catchweights, Money and Negotiating Leverage
55:31 — Roy Jones: Haney Must Stay at 147
1:01:01 — Closing Thoughts

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On this special Mike Tyson edition of HALL OF GAME, Andre Ward sits down with six-time world champion Zab Judah to look ahead to Netflix’s four-part ‘TYSON’ documentary series and unpack the contradictions behind one of boxing’s most feared figures.

Zab recalls spending a month with Tyson as a teenager—and wrecking one of his brand-new custom Ducati motorcycles. Zab expected the worst. Instead, Mike asked whether he and his brother were okay and told them, “That bike is replaceable. You guys are not replaceable.” Dre and Zab also discuss Tyson’s intelligence, his honesty about entering fights terrified, and how that openness helped other champions understand and overcome their own fear.
They close with the Mike Tyson they see today: calmer, family-focused and still capable of commanding the world’s attention. From his evolution outside the ring to the way he sold the Jake Paul fight approaching 60, the aura remains unmistakable.

0:00 – Mike Tyson Special
0:50 – Can Four Episodes Capture Tyson’s Life?
4:21 – Zab’s Month With Mike Tyson
4:56 – The Wrecked Ducati Story
8:10 – The Reader Behind the Knockouts
8:50 – Tyson’s Honesty About Fear
12:39 – What Andre Ward Learned From Tyson
13:49 – What the Netflix Series Must Show
14:59 – Who Mike Tyson Is Today
17:10 – How Tyson Still Sells a Fight
18:24 – Final Thoughts

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Roy Jones Jr. is out this week, so Andre Ward brings in the newest member of the All The Smoke family: six-time world champion, former undisputed welterweight king and Hall of Famer Zab Judah, the pride of Brooklyn, sitting in on Hall of Game. They start with Ben Whittaker's unanimous decision over Conor Wallace, the 10th round that had him in real trouble for the first time as a pro, and his own admission that he switched off. Dre shares the uppercut that wobbled him in his second pro fight, and both have a message for Eddie Hearn on how to move Whittaker from here. Then it's Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, finally made for December 11 in Cardiff. Zab calls it the UK Super Bowl and real beef, while Dre wonders if the bigger fight is Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn. Neither of them knows what to make of AJ tickling Fury at the face-off. They close on the state of the game: fighters controlling their own story on social media, wolf tickets that never turn into fights, the business that gets in the way of the fights fans want, and why anyone saying boxing is dead has it wrong.

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Marshawn Lynch pulls up on Andre Ward for a sit-down between two guys from the same soil. North Oakland, Oakland Tech, and a whole lot of people who knew them before anyone else did. Marshawn gets into how he kept his family together through the fame when so many athletes lose theirs, the Seahawks contract talk in a locker room that got so heated he nearly put hands on his GM, and the lesson it taught him about leverage that he still uses on every deal.
Then it’s Beast Mode. The coaches who told a kid at Oakland Tech he was training for the league, the shoulder-pad sensors that clocked a single game at seven total car crashes, why he still can’t tell you what he was thinking on the Beast Quake run, and the 31 straight days of Seattle rain that welcomed him to the city that became home. He talks about Mama Lynch and the village that raised him, the day his mom refused to put him on medication, and walking away from football at Super Bowl 50 without telling his agent.
And he opens up about his father like he never has: the driving lesson his dad never showed up for, seven years without seeing him, and the call that came the day he was supposed to fly home and visit. Weeks before that call, Dre had met his father in person. They close on what every athlete needs to take care of on the way out, and on lifting up Chris Johnson following his diagnosis.

0:00 Intro
1:15 Staying Grounded and Keeping Family Close Through Fame
7:44 Never Buying Into the Fame
10:44 The First Contract Blowup and Stacking Leverage
17:25 Negotiating Under Pressure (Lessons From the Fight Game)
21:16 How a $10K Shoot Turns Into $25K
25:17 Giving Back and Turning Resources Into Income
27:41 The Media Narrative and Proving Them Wrong
30:12 Ad Break
32:32 Oakland Tech and Where “Beast Mode” Came From
38:02 The Running Back Mindset: Getting Through All 11
40:32 Seven Car Crashes a Game
42:42 The Stiff Arm, the Geometry, and the Beast Quake
48:44 Winning Over the 12s and Seattle
55:34 Mama Lynch and the Village
1:01:43 Growing Up Without His Dad
1:08:37 Seeing His Father Again
1:11:55 The Call, the Six-Hour Walk, and No Resentment
1:18:41 The Memories He Does Have
1:26:42 Why the Community Needs Fathers and Mentors
1:31:42 When Family Can’t Grow With You
1:43:31 Retiring at Super Bowl 50 and Life After Football
1:51:42 Body, Mind, and Money
1:57:57 Chris Johnson and the Message to Young Athletes
2:05:16 Getting Proactive About Your Health

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Joe Tessitore sits down with Andre Ward, his broadcast partner of thousands of hours and, as Dre puts it, a mentor and a brother.

The career is all here. Local news in Hartford, the ESPN call in late 2001 that put him next to Teddy Atlas on Friday Night Fights, the Emanuel Augustus fights he still calls flashes of genius, and why he never negotiates his own deals. He talks about getting pulled off Monday Night Football in the New York Post and not attaching emotion to a corporation, what actually separates a professional from a talent, and the Mike McQuade introduction that made a whole production room sit up straight.

And then April 20, 2019. Madison Square Garden, Crawford vs. Khan, and Tessitore collapsing on air from the top of the building. The EKG, the ambulance, the son riding with him, and the moment he told the doctor to take the IV out, handed his kid a wad of cash for an Uber, and walked back into the Garden sweating through his shirt with the hospital band still on to call Bud Crawford’s fight. Ninety minutes after the main event, one person was still waiting outside the green room to make sure he was okay. It was the champion.

00:00 – Intro: Meeting a broadcasting legend
04:38 – Origin story: his mother’s journey from Italy
11:08 – Young Joe: quiet childhood, his sister’s death
11:56 – His father and alcoholism
15:01 – Forgiveness and looking forward, not back
18:11 – Big Italian family, horse racing, cards
20:30 – “I loathe mediocrity”
21:42 – Chasing “magis” — the pursuit of more
26:28 – Saint Joseph and fatherhood as identity
29:52 – The football injury that changed everything
32:25 – Discovering “the voice”
35:19 – Survivor’s guilt and his sister’s death
39:37 – Business degree over communications
44:16 – Getting removed from Monday Night Football
45:57 – The 2002 ESPN call and boxing roots
51:13 – Uncle Mike the baker: talent vs. opportunity
1:04:45 – Crawford vs. Khan: the medical episode begins
1:09:25 – Hospital, IV, and walking out of the ER
1:14:28 – Calling his son John’s fake field goal
1:26:38 – Stripped down: “Who is Joe Tessitore?”

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Fourteen years after the fight that changed both their lives, Andre Ward sits down with “Bad” Chad Dawson and gets some things off his chest. Ward opens up about why he never wanted the fight, the apology he’s carried ever since, and what he knew about Dawson’s camp that he saved for the weigh-in. Dawson holds nothing back either: getting dropped in sparring two weeks out, who leaked it, why he’s “110% sure” Bernard Hopkins faked the shoulder injury, the Adonis Stevenson knockout, and the same referee who stopped both of his worst nights.

From gloves on his hands as a baby to signing his first pro contract in the gym without anyone reading it, the three-time world champion walks through a career built on fighting anyone, anywhere, and the price he paid for it: three years in Vegas after the losses and the long road back home. Plus a first-time reveal about why he really chased Antonio Tarver, his pick in the Keyshawn Davis vs Devin Haney debate, and sparring Jake Paul.

00:00 - Welcome & Reconnecting with Chad Dawson
03:23 - Andre Ward’s Reflection & Weight Class Regrets
05:49 - Adonis Stevenson Camp & Weigh-In Scuffle
08:13 - Press Conference Energy & Sparring Southpaws
11:45 - Growing Up in a Boxing Family & Turning Pro
18:15 - Glenn Johnson Reality Check & Style Identity
25:01 - Breaking Out: The 2007 Tomas Adamek Title Win
30:23 - Moving Camps to Vegas & Team Friction
36:38 - Vacating Titles & Fighting Antonio Tarver
41:16 - Chasing Big Names & Boxing Business Mistakes
48:41 - Breakdown: Modern Fighters & Style Matchups
51:44 - Facing Jean Pascal in Canada & Controversial Stoppage
55:16 - Bernard Hopkins Drama: Ring Toss & Mind Games
1:02:15 - The Aftermath of the B-Hop Fights
1:08:40 - Weight Cut Nightmares
1:14:20 - Reflection on Career Accomplishments & Hall of Fame Debates
1:18:05 - Current State of the Light Heavyweight Division
1:23:50 - Passing the Torch & Final Message to the Fans

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We’re BACK for PART 2 of THE ART OF WARD featuring Zab Judah. Zab kicks off by telling Andre Ward what the Cory Spinks fight week actually looked like: checking into the hotel under an alias and getting a death threat on the room phone anyway, armed security rotating outside his door through the night, and sending his conditioning coach out in street clothes to order the team’s food because he was certain somebody would try to poison it.

Then the run that defined the rest of his career. He lost the undisputed title to Carlos Baldomir, and Don King had him re-signing his contract that same night, because the IBF belt was the only thing left that could get him Floyd Mayweather. Zab makes his full case on that fight: the glove that touched the canvas and was never called a knockdown, the first five rounds, Roger Mayweather coming into the ring in the tenth and his own father walking in right behind him, the $8 million purse and the $350,000 he handed straight back in fines, and why the year they suspended him afterward hurt more than the loss.

Plus Miguel Cotto’s low blows on Puerto Rican Day weekend at the Garden, the Lucas Matthysse camp he built off a tape of Matthysse’s third professional fight, the three million dollars he refused to hand an investor, the accountants who ran through what was left, and the walk he took by himself to a Brooklyn hospital thirty days after his final fight that ended in emergency brain surgery.

0:00 – Intro: Fight week lockdown before Corey Spinks II
7:53 – The knockout & the Harlem Shake celebration
10:21 – Post-fight bond with Corey Spinks
15:57 – The Carlos Baldomir loss & re-signing with Don King
20:15 – Setting up the Floyd Mayweather superfight
23:13 – Fight week tension with Mayweather
27:06 – Breaking down Floyd’s style and the early rounds
30:25 – Controversial scoring & the suspension conspiracy
33:02 – The ring brawl breaks out
37:04 – Body shots, fatigue, and respect for Floyd
40:18 – Nevada fine, one-year suspension, moving forward
41:36 – Miguel Cotto war at MSG & the low blows
45:47 – When boxing became “just a job”
46:27 – Underestimating Lucas Matthysse & the mid-fight adjustment
52:10 – Becoming his own promoter and dealmaker
56:09 – Money problems and hard financial lessons
1:03:30 – Comeback fights and the Cletus Seldin stoppage
1:04:28 – Hospital scare and emergency brain surgery
1:11:10 – Recovery, reflection, and closing thoughts

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Zab Judah sits down with Andre Ward for a two-part conversation on a career that started at six years old and didn’t end until he was 41. The Brownsville-born six-time world champion takes Dre all the way back to the beginning: a mother and father who met in karate school, a house where you fought your own brothers for food and for who got the bike, the Golden Gloves chain snatched off his neck on the train, and the night his father woke him up in the middle of the night just to put him in front of Mike Tyson.

Part 1 is the climb and the first collapse. Duva pulled him out of the Golden Gloves at sixteen and put him on a plane to spar Pernell Whitaker, who didn’t know who he was for three days. At eighteen he was the co-main event on HBO. At fifteen and zero he took the Micky Ward fight everybody told him to turn down, and ended up in the corner telling his own father he thought his ribs were broken. Then Kostya Tszyu: undefeated, headlining Vegas for the first time, and it was over in two rounds. Zab tells all of it, the stool, the referee, the year they took from him, and why he still says he never got to go out on his shield.

Plus the recruitment that changed his career: Don King walking into Justin’s in New York with a bag of cash in the limo, the plane tickets to Florida that somehow didn’t exist for his two lawyers, the Statue of Liberty in the backyard, and the $250,000 in a Gucci bag and the green convertible Bentley he drove home himself because he wasn’t about to let anybody ship it.

0:00 – Welcome Zab Judah to The Art of Ward
3:26 – Combat Family Roots & Growing Up with 14 Siblings
6:01 – Brooklyn Amateur Days & High School Survival
9:52 – Life in the Brownsville Projects
11:09 – Meeting Mike Tyson at Age 8
13:07 – Tyson’s Highs, Lows, and Wisdom
21:26 – AD BREAK
22:51 – Golden Gloves Champion & NYC vs. Upstate Mentality
26:26 – 1996 Olympic Trials & Linking Up with Floyd Mayweather
29:12 – Turning Pro & Sparring with Pernell Whitaker
33:24 – Tyson Undercards & the Mickey Ward War
36:55 – First Title Win & Living Large as Champ
39:44 – The Kostya Tszyu Fight & Aftermath
44:07 – Throwing the Chair & Dealing with the Fallout
52:39 – Second World Title & First Deal with Don King
55:34 – Signing with Don King in Florida (the Bentley Bonus)
1:07:55 – The Corey Spinks Fights & Becoming Undisputed Champ in St. Louis
1:13:37 – Chaos in the Corner (Part 1 Ends)

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Andre Ward & Roy Jones Jr are BACK after a wild weekend of boxing. Errol Spence Jr. came back after three years away, flew to Australia to fight Tim Tszyu in his own backyard, went the distance, and then walked away from the sport for good. The internet decided he looked shot. Dre and Roy see it completely differently, and Roy has a message for everybody with an opinion: if you never told him when to start, you don’t get to tell him when to stop.

Plus Stephen Fulton misses weight again and comes home from Australia with no check, Edgar Berlanga climbs off the canvas to save his night at the Garden, and Roy tells young fighters exactly what happens when you let a promoter put words in your mouth.

00:00 – Intro
00:23 – Weekend Recap: Spence Returns, Charlo & Fulton Fall Out
03:54 – Andre Ward Gets Emotional on Chad Dawson
18:08 – Hackett vs. Derevyanchenko & Berlanga Stops Butler
22:07 – Stephen Fulton’s Weight Problem, Again
29:54 – Errol Spence vs. Tim Tszyu Breakdown
44:14 – AJ, Fury & Errol Spence’s Legacy

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Fresh off his 2026 International Boxing Hall of Fame induction, Antonio “The Magic Man” Tarver sits down with Andre Ward and takes him from Ivy Lane in Orlando to Canastota: raised by a single mom with three sisters, put in the ring at nine as a punishment at the Boys and Girls Club, and the rock bottom at 18 that ended in drug rehab, where he was telling anyone who’d listen that he was going to the Olympics.

Tarver gets into the stories only he can tell: watching Roy Jones get robbed in Seoul and getting up off the couch to run, captaining the ’96 Olympic team that consisted of a young Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah, turning pro at 27 with not one promoter or manager calling, fighting four rounds on a jaw broken in two places, and the three-year campaign that ended with “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?” and the punch heard around the world.

Plus the Bernard Hopkins fight he says deserves an asterisk, being Al Haymon’s first fighter alongside Vernon Forrest, playing Mason Dixon in Rocky Balboa, and finally getting his flowers.

0:00 – Welcoming Antonio Tarver, Newly Crowned Hall of Famer
0:23 – Induction Weekend & Honoring His Mom and Trainer
2:29 – Growing Up in Orlando with a Single Mom
6:11 – Starting Boxing at 9 at the Boys & Girls Club
7:24 – Leaving Boxing for Other Sports, Moving Out of the Inner City
10:26 – Depression, Cocaine, and Hitting Rock Bottom
11:41 – Watching Roy Jones Jr. “Robbed” at the 1988 Olympics
15:33 – Deciding to Wait for Atlanta 1996
17:50 – ’96 Team Captain: Mentoring Floyd Mayweather & Zab Judah
20:44 – Bronze Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
22:46 – Turning Pro with No Promoters Calling
27:53 – First Loss vs. Eric Harding
29:54 – Turning the Tide and Knocking Out Harding with a Broken Jaw
33:05 – The Years-Long Campaign to Fight Roy Jones Jr.
35:12 – The Infamous Post-Fight Press Conference Callout
44:39 – Breaking Down Roy Jones Fight I (2003)
48:45 – The Controversial Decision
49:31 – Fighting for the Rematch
53:18 – Training Camp for the Rematch
55:41 – “You Got Any Excuses Tonight, Roy?”
56:14 – The Knockout Heard Around the World
1:00:45 – Life After the Knockout
1:05:47 – Al Haymon and the Business Side of Boxing
1:07:20 – The Trilogy Fight in Tampa
1:19:15 – The Bernard Hopkins Fight and Feeling Off
1:28:16 – Owning His Lane and His Story
1:30:38 – Final Lessons and Closing Thoughts

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Jermall Charlo sits down with Andre Ward in Houston for his first real conversation in years, just as his comeback fight on the Tim Tszyu/Errol Spence card in Australia is around the corner. The two-time world champion and one half of Lions Only takes Dre back to the beginning: a two-parent household in H-Town, fighting on the same amateur card as his own father, the ingrown toenail that cost him the 2008 Olympics, and why he turned pro without ever signing a contract with anyone.

Jermall gets into the stories only he can tell: jumping the gate to introduce himself to Al Haymon and the handshake that’s lasted 20 years, the mystery package sent to his room the night before his first world title fight, the divorce that took his kids and nearly took him, and the truth about turning down the Canelo fight in 2023 and watching his twin brother take it instead. Plus the Julian Williams counter he drilled every single day of camp, life as “the other twin,” and why at 36 he’s still in love with boxing.

00:00 Intro – Welcoming Jermall Charlo in Houston
01:44 Body at 36
02:26 Pushing each other with Jermell
03:38 Early years in Houston, family life
04:35 Amateur days, fighting on his dad’s card
06:03 Twin dynamic – growing up as Jermall & Jermell
08:16 From other sports to realizing boxing was “the thing”
09:41 Early trainers & the amateur circuit
11:35 Twin life, differences inside & outside the ring
16:03 Missing the 2008 Olympics – injury & surgery
17:21 Turning pro & staying self-made
18:33 Meeting Al Haymon
23:04 2015 – Winning his first title
26:20 AD BREAK
27:07 Life as a champion & the start of his faith journey
29:55 Divorce, rock bottom & hitting his lowest point
34:44 Full surrender – his testimony
47:44 Julian Williams fight – the real tension
52:03 Life after the win – spending, business side
54:14 Two-year layoff & comeback vs. Benavidez
55:42 Scouting opponents & in-ring adjustments
56:42 The 2023 Canelo opportunity – why he passed it to Jermell
1:00:22 Watching his brother take on Canelo
1:01:23 Motivation for the Benavidez rematch
1:01:55 Identity, legacy & the pressure of “being the lion”
1:05:03 What’s next – real estate, ministry, business
1:06:53 Closing thoughts & outro

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Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr. are back with a new edition of HALL OF GAME, and they’re going straight at the fight everybody just watched: Jaron “Boots” Ennis stopping Xander Zayas in the 7th round at Barclays. Boots broke Zayas down to the body, but the Hall of Fame duo don’t see the third round firefight the same way. Roy calls it going to sleep, Dre calls it an exchange, and they go back and forth on whether it’s a real flaw or just the cost of having that much in the bag.

From there it’s the stoppage everyone’s arguing about: should Zayas’ corner have waved it off in the fifth to save him the punishment? Did he quit, or did he show enough? Roy and Dre get into the difference between quitting and getting beat and the mental side of prizefighting.

Then they look ahead: what’s actually next for Boots, chase the Vergil Ortiz fight, or Fundora? Plus shout-outs to Emiliano Vargas, Ben Whittaker, and Jose Valenzuela avenging his loss to Edwin de la Santos.

0:00 Intro
0:46 Setting the scene: Zayas vs. Boots at Barclays Center
1:36 First reactions: fight, atmosphere, stoppage
2:07 Body shots that set up the finish
4:01 Round 1 power and the Round 3 wobble
7:05 Is Boots’ “defensive lapse” overblown?
9:11 Ad break
10:31 Zayas’ round 3 strategy debated
12:57 Boots’ defense, standards, and grading his own performance
18:19 Ward’s “mental letdown” theory
22:07 The “bag of stuff” theory & lack of elite competition
37:08 Setting up the late rounds
38:33 Round 5 knockdown breakdown
39:45 Should the corner have stopped it?
44:18 Round 7 stoppage and the corner look
46:28 Did Zayas quit? The big debate
51:18 Where Zayas goes from here
53:51 What’s next for Boots Ennis
56:56 Shoutouts: Vargas Jr., Whittaker, Valenzuela
1:01:16 Roy Jones Jr.’s award shoutout
1:01:34 Outro

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Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr. are back in a new edition of HALL OF GAME, and they’re not holding back. They break down the fight everybody’s talking about, Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Xander Zayas on June 27 at Barclays, and Roy makes his pick clear: on paper, Boots is supposed to win, and the only question is whether Zayas can take the punch. Who will come out on top?

First they get into the NBA Finals: how the New York Knicks erased a 29-point Game 4 lead and snatched the title from Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs after 53 years, why Roy says De’Aaron Fox’s turnovers “turned the team off,” and what Wemby still has to prove. Then it’s Bam Rodriguez making history as a three-division champ at 24, the Inoue super-bantamweight fight everybody wants, and Roy’s blunt take on the modern “duck game” and the media that fuels it.

Finally, the Hall of Fame duo talk Errol Spence Jr.‘s comeback fight vs. a tough Tim Tszyu, Errol opening up on THE ART OF WARD, and a message to the haters.

0:00 - Intro: Hall of Game Is Back
1:15 - Roy Jones Jr. Catches Us Up: Franklyn Dwomoh, Newman vs. Munguia & Dallas Fight Card
2:10 - NY Knicks Win the NBA Championship After 53 Years
4:15 - Roy’s Take: De’Aaron Fox’s Turnovers & the Spurs’ Collapse
7:34 - The Boxing Parallel: How Leads Slip Away
12:08 - Shout Out to Jalen Brunson & the Knicks’ Grit
13:54 - AD BREAK
14:49 - Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez Becomes 3-Division World Champion
16:40 - Can Bam Beat Naoya Inoue? Breaking Down the Styles
25:30 - Xander Zayas vs. Jaron “Boots” Ennis | June 27 Preview
27:43 - Is This Fight Too Soon for Zayas?
30:23 - Breaking Down Boots’ Fight Game & the Weight Class Move
36:20 - Winner Gets “The Towering Inferno” — What’s at Stake
40:28 - Errol Spence Jr. Is Back! July 25 vs. Tim Tszyu
41:48 - Roy’s Coaching Take: What Spence Needs to Rediscover
43:27 - Dre’s Interview with Spence: The Crawford Fight, the Camp & the Comeback
47:51 - Addressing the 10%: YouTube Critics Calling Spence’s Interview “Excuses”
50:32 - Andre & Roy on Biased Media & Fighters Feeding Narratives
58:45 - Katie Taylor Sells Out Croke Park (82,000 Tickets in 30 Min!)
1:01:16 - Outro

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Errol Spence Jr. pulls up to THE ART OF WARD in Houston, in the middle of training for Tim Tszyu, for one of the most open conversations of his career. The Dallas native and former unified welterweight champion takes Andre all the way back — fighting in the DeSoto streets, a 120-degree gym with no AC, starting boxing late but making the 2012 Olympic team anyway, and the mindset that made him a feared sparring-session legend before he ever turned pro.

Errol gets into the stories only he can tell: the day Floyd Mayweather called him an expletive mid-session and they turned off the bell to keep going, why his father steered him to Al Haymon over a $250K Top Rank signing bonus, the car crash that nearly took everything, the eye injury that cancelled Pacquiao, and the truth about the Crawford camp and the loss that reset his life.

00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:19 – Relationship Between Andre & Errol
00:02:30 – Training Camp & Working Smarter With Age
00:06:03 – Growing Up in DeSoto, Texas
00:07:16 – How Errol Got Into Boxing
00:09:47 – Amateur Career & Roy Jones Influence
00:13:00 – Competitive Mentality & Sparring Intensity
00:15:30 – Starting Late & Being Preserved
00:18:51 – 2012 Olympics Experience
00:20:01 – Turning Pro & Signing With Al Haymon
00:28:24 – Financial Wisdom & Life After Boxing
00:34:13 – Sparring Floyd Mayweather
00:38:58 – Kell Brook Fight in England
00:42:52 – Relationship With Jerry Jones & AT&T Stadium Fight
00:47:04 – Free Agent on Handshakes Only
00:50:29 – Drinking & The Car Accident
00:54:13 – The Shawn Porter Fight
00:58:51 – Financial Discipline & Living Off Interest
01:01:11 – The Car Accident: What He Remembers
01:07:25 – Life After the Accident
01:10:22 – Reconnecting With God After the Crawford Loss
01:15:26 – Being a Present Father
01:22:58 – Manny Pacquiao Fight Falling Through & Eye Injury
01:29:13 – Making the Crawford Fight Happen
01:31:47 – Crawford Camp Issues & Derrick James
01:38:41 – The Crawford Fight Night
01:44:59 – Life After the Crawford Loss
01:52:32 – Why He’s Still Fighting at 36
01:57:47 – Closing Thoughts & Appreciation

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Shakur Stevenson sits down with Andre Ward on THE ART OF WARD for the third time, and it might be the most unfiltered one yet. Fresh off selling out Madison Square Garden and turning Teofimo Lopez into a one-sided beatdown, the four-division world champ breaks down how he played that fight a thousand times in his head before the first bell, why he’s suddenly boxing’s most wanted (and most clout-chased) name, and the real story behind walking away from his WBC belt.

Shakur goes deep on the Devin Haney standoff and the 144 vs 147 weight tug-of-war, fires back at Bill Haney’s “easy work” claim, sizes up Conor Benn, and guarantees he’d stop any UFC crossover that dares step in the ring, like an Ilia Topuria. He and Dre get into the boxing brain that separates the elite, studying tape vs trusting instincts, and the young fighters and managers Shakur is now building behind the scenes.

Then it gets personal: why fame is a “cold game,” the Floyd Mayweather obsession that genuinely scares him, the J Prince lessons on teaching a man to fish, the O’Shaquie Foster beef, and what going out on top actually looks like.

0:00 - Intro & Sparring Session (Andre Ward & Shakur Stevenson)
3:32 - Breaking Down the Teofimo Lopez Fight
5:28 - Sold Out MSG & Handling the Pressure
6:40 - “I Was Born for This” | Performing Under Bright Lights
8:20 - Corner Advice & Almost Stopping Teo
10:29 - The Post-Fight High | A Month to Come Down
11:44 - Appreciating Teofimo for Making the Fight
12:02 - Making Big Fights Happen Directly (Like Bud & Crawford)
12:55 - Why Everyone Wants to Fight Shakur Now
14:09 - Shakur’s Boxing Brain & Future in Broadcasting
15:17 - The Imagination in the Gym | Envisioning Every Opponent
17:15 - Having a Boxing Mind vs. Just Being Talented
17:54 - Watching Film & Learning from Floyd
19:11 - AD BREAK
22:16 - The WBC Stripping Him of His Belt
26:23 - The Devin Haney Fight | Weight Negotiations & Business Talk
29:28 - Could Haney vs. Stevenson Actually Get Made?
31:47 - Taking Callouts Less Personally | It’s Business Now
34:06 - Conor Benn Situation | What Happened?
34:41 - Assessing Conor Benn as a Fighter
36:49 - Would Shakur Do a UFC Crossover Fight? Ilia Topuria
40:39 - Does Shakur Like Being Famous? (Honest Answer)
45:19 - The J. Prince Relationship | A Real Mentor
47:11 - Managing Fighters
50:33 - How Would You Beat Andre Ward?
51:48 - How Would You Fight Bud Crawford?
52:03 - Floyd Mayweather vs. Sugar Ray Robinson GOAT Debate
54:09 - The State of Boxing Today
55:20 - Biggest Lesson from 9 Years as a Pro
55:47 - What Does the Rest of Shakur’s Career Look Like?
56:31 - Thoughts on Adrien Broner’s Current Lifestyle
58:39 - Floyd Mayweather’s Money Situation & Can’t-Let-Go of Boxing
1:02:42 - Errol Spence Is Back | Thoughts on Spence vs. Tszyu
1:03:45 - Shakur’s Message to O’Shaquie Foster
1:06:07 - “I Don’t Run” | On Character & Integrity
1:07:39 - Going Out on Top | Comparing Ward & Crawford’s Retirements
1:11:21 - Outro

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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 Game
1:40 – The Super Six Tournament & Moving to 168 lbs
3:34 – Facing Mikkel Kessler: Setting the Tone
5:22 – Patterns of Success: The Journey & God’s Plan
6:23 – Financial Wisdom & Having an Exit Strategy
13:45 – Virgil’s Training Philosophy & Locker Room Rules
21:20 – Keeping Fighters Focused & Blocking Distractions
23:00 – Cleaning Out Super Middleweight & Moving to 175
25:20 – Preparing for Sergey Kovalev: The 3-Fight Plan
27:40 – Knee Injury & Doubt Before the Kovalev Fight
29:43 – Walking to the Ring: Confidence Despite the Injury
30:07 – The Knockdown & Corner Adjustments vs. Kovalev
32:06 – Breaking Down the Kovalev Win & Critics
34:04 – The Rematch & Kovalev’s Decline
42:32 – Ward’s Retirement Decision
44:13 – Knowing When It’s Over: The Mindset of Retiring on Top
46:22 – Financial Lessons for Young Fighters
49:18 – The Danger of Eroding Skills & Spending Your Prime
51:38 – Retiring When You’ve Proven Everything
55:06 – 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 Ward
02:30 - The First Meeting & Frank Ward’s Request
06:02 - Virgil’s Depression & Why That Day Was Spiritual
06:47 - Building a Foundation Before the Temptations
08:30 - Andre & His Brother Move In With Virgil & His Wife
10:30 - Frank Ward, Andre’s Mom & The Mother Wound
14:00 - Battle Testing With Donaire & The First Fights
16:00 - The Silver Gloves Nationals & Curtis Stevens
20:00 - Sparring Pros at 13 & The Strength Behind It
21:11 - The Difference Between Andre & His Brother
21:57 - Drive, Tenacity & Being a Student of The Game
24:30 - The Junior Olympics & When The Streets Started Calling
27:13 - The Oakland Mystique & Virgil’s Focus Shifts
29:39 - The Psychology: Guilt Trips, Interventions & The Hennessy Bottle
32:06 - Can You Make A Great Without Sacrifice?
33:16 - Structure Is The Foundation of Greatness
35:33 - His Mother’s Relapse & Selling Dope Two Blocks Away
37:00 - The Prayers Working & Virgil’s Street Intelligence
39:41 - Structure Kept Him From Crossing The Line
42:47 - Virgil’s Diary Entry & The Full Prophecy
44:50 - Washington, Tiffney & Marrying Young Against Everyone’s Advice
49:04 - James Prince Enters The Picture
52:17 - “He’ll Win Us A Gold Medal”: The Guarantee To J Prince
53:22 - Exposed To The Life: Floyd, Roy & Dre Losing His Father
58:00 - Surrendering & Locking In For The Olympics
01:00:10 - “You Don’t Think I Can Get You To Athens?“: The Faith Moment
01:02:35 - Front Row Tickets & God Paying For The Whole Trip
01:08:13 - The Last American Male Olympic Gold & USA Boxing’s Problem
01:11:24 - It Takes A Team & No Great Man Stands Alone
01:13:34 - Body Language, Technical Ability & What Wins At The Highest Level
01:16:46 - 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 show
1:35 How Andre and Froch reconnected through David Haye
5:40 Froch on leaving Sky Sports and going independent
5:59 Growing up in Nottingham
7:23 Family background and his relationship with his father
11:47 His unorthodox style and the four-year break from boxing at 15
13:47 Coming back to boxing at 19 and turning professional
28:00 The Jean Pascal fight — his first world title
35:00 The Jermain Taylor fight — torn ankle, scratched cornea, three weeks out
44:00 The Super Six World Boxing Classic — entering the tournament
51:53 First meeting with Andre Ward at the Super Six press conference
55:21 Froch’s honest scouting report on Ward going into their fight
58:27 The 2011 Super Six Final — what really happened that night
1:01:15 Froch admits he bit Andre’s shoulder during the fight
1:24:11 Froch’s honest self-assessment
1:26:01 The body shots that left Andre unable to move for a week
1:27:45 Lucian Bute — the destruction in Nottingham
1:31:58 George Groves — the controversial first fight
1:32:32 Wembley Stadium — 80,000 fans and the KO that ended his career
1:38:01 Would Froch and Ward do an exhibition today?
1:40:58 The Joe Calzaghe exhibition that never happened
1:41:27 Life after boxing
1:45:29 Why Froch is moving his family out of England to Dubai
1:50:11 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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