THE ART OF WARD is a series hosted by Boxing Hall of Famer and Chief Content Officer for ALL THE SMOKE FIGHT Andre Ward exploring the fight game from the inside out. THE ART OF WARD series is a tapestry of thoughtful content showcasing Wardâs personal, unmatched perspective shaped by his evolution as a fighter, a man and an influential figure in combat sports.
HALL OF GAME goes Legends Edition: Andre Ward, Roy Jones Jr., Zab Judah and the newest member of the All The Smoke Fight family, three-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson talk shop on whatâs going down in the boxing game. They break down OâShaquie Fosterâs dominant win over Emanuel Navarrete, and give their take on what Shakur Stevenson has to do next, whether Foster is ready for him at 140, and fighters who talk big online but wonât honor their word.Then itâs Vasiliy Lomachenko coming back at 38 after more than two years off, and Royâs case for why LeBron James belongs with Magic Johnson, not Michael Jordan.
0:00 Intro0:26 Legends Edition: Welcoming Chad Dawson1:36 Foster vs. Navarrete Recap6:17 Why Fighters Fear Losses Today7:41 Young Fighters Not Honoring Their Word8:30 Business, Legacy & âFight the Fights, the Money Comesâ10:45 Social Media Followers vs. Real Credibility14:01 Foster vs. Shakur: Why Shakur Explored Pacquiao & Haney16:28 Is Foster Ready for 135 or 140?19:02 AD BREAK21:23 Lomachenkoâs Return After 2+ Years Off23:25 Is 38 Too Old After a Long Layoff?27:10 Can Loma Evolve? The Blueprint to Beat Him31:12 NBA Talk: Can the Knicks Repeat?32:35 LeBron: More Like Magic or Jordan?35:14 Wrap-Up
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Alycia Baumgardner: From Eddie Hearn to Jake Paul, the Mikaela Mayer Beef & Her 135-Pound Title Shot
Undisputed super featherweight champion Alycia âThe Bombâ Baumgardner sits down with Andre Ward on THE ART OF WARD just days out from her lightweight debut. She takes it back to a two-bedroom house in Fremont, Ohio, and growing up in a small town knowing she wanted to be âgreat at somethingâ. Then the climb: $800 purses, one fight for free, and stopping Terri Harper on five weeksâ notice in Harperâs hometown.She also gets into the Mikaela Mayer beef, the positive test that kept her out 14 months, and the more than $100,000 she spent to clear her name. Plus why she left Eddie Hearn for Jake Paulâs Most Valuable Promotions, what happened with Claressa Shields, and why she says Caroline Dubois avoided this fight.Catch Alycia Baumgardner Sunday, November 8th as she takes on lightweight world champion Elif Nur Turhan on MVPW-07, live on ESPN.
0:00 Intro: Alycia Baumgardner Before Her ESPN Main Event2:05 Growing Up in Fremont, Ohio7:27 From Wrestling to Boxing11:37 Why Derrick James & Refusing to Stay Stagnant19:21 Finding Out About Her Biological Father20:44 The First Photo She Saw of Him Was From Prison29:45 Turning Pro33:00 $800 Purses & Fighting for Free34:04 Jake Paul & Womenâs Boxing37:36 Her First Loss40:58 Losing Her Grandmother & Getting the Call for a World Title Fight42:35 Beating Terri Harper in the UK46:41 The Mikaela Mayer Beef50:15 Learning the Business the Hard Way54:05 The Positive Test & Spending $100K to Clear Her Name59:15 Leaving Eddie Hearn for MVP1:04:12 Special Forces in the Malaysian Jungle1:10:00 What Happened With Claressa Shields1:11:51 Laila Aliâs Support1:15:01 Lightweight Debut on ESPN1:15:20 Why Caroline Dubois Avoided This Fight
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Andre Ward & Roy Jones Jr. Give Skye Nicolson the Fight-Week Truth Nobody Talks About
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 Promotionâs #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 preparationâand 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 â dropping in 5 at 3pm ET
00:00 Skye Nicolson joins Hall of Game01:05 Postponed fight and first injury of her career01:48 Is Skye a happy fighter in camp?02:11 Why camp started in Dubai03:08 The value of pre-camp04:11 Scouting Miyo Yoshidaâs high-volume style11:01 Coming back from injury the smart way12:15 Ring walks, style, and 150 amateur fights13:20 Competitiveness inside and outside the ring15:05 Lessons from the Tiara Brown loss, the mental side of boxing17:23 âMy bubbleâ: setting boundaries in fight week19:16 Dre and Roy on isolating before a fight20:09 How Roy assesses a loss with his fighters
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HaneyâShakur Hits a Wall, Fundoraâs Stoppage & Why Dubois Is Dangerous
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 Duboisâ 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 boxingâs âweight bullyâ label, and Roy draws a hard line on Devin Haney vs. Shakur Stevenson: fight at 140, fight at 147 or move onâwith Tank Davis waiting as the alternative.0:00 â Welcome to Hall of Game2:00 â Zab Judahâs Youth Football Championship Run4:03 â Roy Jones Jr. on Building an Old-School Champion9:24 â Remembering Charles King11:32 â Daniel Dubois vs. Fabio Wardley18:52 â Sebastian Fundora vs. Ermal Hadribeaj28:58 â Emanuel Navarrete vs. OâShaquie Foster34:06 â The âWeight Bullyâ Debate38:25 â Andre Wardâs Kovalev Training Mistake41:32 â Haney vs. Shakur: 140, 147 or No Fight?45:55 â Catchweights, Money and Negotiating Leverage55:31 â Roy Jones: Haney Must Stay at 1471:01:01 â Closing Thoughts
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Mike Tyson Admitted He Was TerrifiedâAndre Ward Explains Why It Mattered
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 Netflixâs four-part âTYSONâ documentary series and unpack the contradictions behind one of boxingâs most feared figures.
Zab recalls spending a month with Tyson as a teenagerâand 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, âThat bike is replaceable. You guys are not replaceable.â Dre and Zab also discuss Tysonâs 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 worldâs attention. From his evolution outside the ring to the way he sold the Jake Paul fight approaching 60, the aura remains unmistakable.
0:00 â Mike Tyson Special0:50 â Can Four Episodes Capture Tysonâs Life?4:21 â Zabâs Month With Mike Tyson4:56 â The Wrecked Ducati Story8:10 â The Reader Behind the Knockouts8:50 â Tysonâs Honesty About Fear12:39 â What Andre Ward Learned From Tyson13:49 â What the Netflix Series Must Show14:59 â Who Mike Tyson Is Today17:10 â How Tyson Still Sells a Fight18:24 â Final Thoughts
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Is It Fury vs. Joshua or Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn? Dre & Zab Judah Break Down the BEEF
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: The Contract Talk That Almost Got Physical, Retiring & â7 Car Crashesâ a Game
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 itâs 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 canât 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 Intro1:15 Staying Grounded and Keeping Family Close Through Fame7:44 Never Buying Into the Fame10:44 The First Contract Blowup and Stacking Leverage17:25 Negotiating Under Pressure (Lessons From the Fight Game)21:16 How a $10K Shoot Turns Into $25K25:17 Giving Back and Turning Resources Into Income27:41 The Media Narrative and Proving Them Wrong30:12 Ad Break32:32 Oakland Tech and Where âBeast Modeâ Came From38:02 The Running Back Mindset: Getting Through All 1140:32 Seven Car Crashes a Game42:42 The Stiff Arm, the Geometry, and the Beast Quake48:44 Winning Over the 12s and Seattle55:34 Mama Lynch and the Village1:01:43 Growing Up Without His Dad1:08:37 Seeing His Father Again1:11:55 The Call, the Six-Hour Walk, and No Resentment1:18:41 The Memories He Does Have1:26:42 Why the Community Needs Fathers and Mentors1:31:42 When Family Canât Grow With You1:43:31 Retiring at Super Bowl 50 and Life After Football1:51:42 Body, Mind, and Money1:57:57 Chris Johnson and the Message to Young Athletes2:05:16 Getting Proactive About Your Health
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Joe Tessitore: Collapsing at MSG Before Crawford-Khan, Ripping Out His Own IV & Why Bud Waited
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 Crawfordâs 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 â Intro: Meeting a broadcasting legend04:38 â Origin story: his motherâs journey from Italy11:08 â Young Joe: quiet childhood, his sisterâs death11:56 â His father and alcoholism15:01 â Forgiveness and looking forward, not back18:11 â Big Italian family, horse racing, cards20:30 â âI loathe mediocrityâ21:42 â Chasing âmagisâ â the pursuit of more26:28 â Saint Joseph and fatherhood as identity29:52 â The football injury that changed everything32:25 â Discovering âthe voiceâ35:19 â Survivorâs guilt and his sisterâs death39:37 â Business degree over communications44:16 â Getting removed from Monday Night Football45:57 â The 2002 ESPN call and boxing roots51:13 â Uncle Mike the baker: talent vs. opportunity1:04:45 â Crawford vs. Khan: the medical episode begins1:09:25 â Hospital, IV, and walking out of the ER1:14:28 â Calling his son Johnâs fake field goal1:26:38 â Stripped down: âWho is Joe Tessitore?â
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Chad Dawson: Andre Wardâs Apology, The Leaked Sparring Knockdown & Weigh-In Mind Games
Fourteen years after the fight that changed both their lives, Andre Ward sits down with âBadâ Chad Dawson and gets some things off his chest. Ward opens up about why he never wanted the fight, the apology heâs carried ever since, and what he knew about Dawsonâs camp that he saved for the weigh-in. Dawson holds nothing back either: getting dropped in sparring two weeks out, who leaked it, why heâs â110% sureâ 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 Dawson03:23 - Andre Wardâs Reflection & Weight Class Regrets05:49 - Adonis Stevenson Camp & Weigh-In Scuffle08:13 - Press Conference Energy & Sparring Southpaws11:45 - Growing Up in a Boxing Family & Turning Pro18:15 - Glenn Johnson Reality Check & Style Identity25:01 - Breaking Out: The 2007 Tomas Adamek Title Win30:23 - Moving Camps to Vegas & Team Friction36:38 - Vacating Titles & Fighting Antonio Tarver41:16 - Chasing Big Names & Boxing Business Mistakes48:41 - Breakdown: Modern Fighters & Style Matchups51:44 - Facing Jean Pascal in Canada & Controversial Stoppage55:16 - Bernard Hopkins Drama: Ring Toss & Mind Games1:02:15 - The Aftermath of the B-Hop Fights1:08:40 - Weight Cut Nightmares1:14:20 - Reflection on Career Accomplishments & Hall of Fame Debates1:18:05 - Current State of the Light Heavyweight Division1:23:50 - Passing the Torch & Final Message to the Fans
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Zab Judah: The Mayweather Knockdown They Never Called, Roger in the Ring & $350K in Fines
Weâre 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 teamâs 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 Cottoâs low blows on Puerto Rican Day weekend at the Garden, the Lucas Matthysse camp he built off a tape of Matthysseâs 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 â Intro: Fight week lockdown before Corey Spinks II7:53 â The knockout & the Harlem Shake celebration10:21 â Post-fight bond with Corey Spinks15:57 â The Carlos Baldomir loss & re-signing with Don King20:15 â Setting up the Floyd Mayweather superfight23:13 â Fight week tension with Mayweather27:06 â Breaking down Floydâs style and the early rounds30:25 â Controversial scoring & the suspension conspiracy33:02 â The ring brawl breaks out37:04 â Body shots, fatigue, and respect for Floyd40:18 â Nevada fine, one-year suspension, moving forward41:36 â Miguel Cotto war at MSG & the low blows45:47 â When boxing became âjust a jobâ46:27 â Underestimating Lucas Matthysse & the mid-fight adjustment52:10 â Becoming his own promoter and dealmaker56:09 â Money problems and hard financial lessons1:03:30 â Comeback fights and the Cletus Seldin stoppage1:04:28 â Hospital scare and emergency brain surgery1:11:10 â Recovery, reflection, and closing thoughts
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