Boxer Andre Ward lets his fists do the talking

The only time Andre Ward talks trash is when he is wheeling it to the curb at his home in Oakland.

Yes, he is a pro boxer. Yes, that is unusual.

He won the WBA super-middleweight title Nov. 21, giving him a platform to crow. Many in his sport would be proclaiming their magnificence every chance they had. Boxers lead the sports world in phony self-esteem and over-the-top braggadocio.

When Muhammad Ali called himself “the Greatest” and “the Prettiest,” he always did it with a twinkle in his eye. He also backed it up. These days, many fighters swagger before they sweat and preach what they cannot practice.

Ward’s promoter, Dan Goossen, says, “All too often in boxing, the loudmouths get carried out of the ring on their backs.”

Ward is a different sort, certainly not a loudmouth, and with a 21-0 record, certainly not spending time on his back.

“One thing my dad taught me,” Ward says, “is to never be a bully. I try to stand for all those people who have been bullied.”

At 25, he is the most recent U.S. Olympic boxing champion, the only one since David Reid in Atlanta in 1996. The U.S. failed to win a boxing gold medal in Sydney in 2000 and in Beijing in 2008, so Ward’s light-heavyweight title in Athens in 2004, were he the type to push it, should be worth something similar to Oscar De La Hoya’s ’92 gold medal in Barcelona.

Instead, under the watchful eye of Goossen and trainer Virgil Hunter, Ward has moved his career ahead methodically.

“We’re not slow, just diligent,” he says.

His WBA title victory, at Oracle Arena in Oakland, came over Danish veteran Mikkel Kessler, who entered the fight with a 42-1 record and left with a badly cut right eye and a loss in a unanimous technical decision. Before that, Kessler had lost only to Joe Calzaghe, who retired at 46-0.

A few days after the shock of the loss had sunk in, Kessler gave Ward the kind of respect he has quietly worked toward.

“He was a better man,” Kessler said. “He gave me my due.”

Ward’s victory came in something called the Super Six World Boxing Classic. It is the creation of the Showtime network and it features six of the top 168-pound fighters in the world -- Ward, Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor. The round-robin format awards two points for a victory, one for a draw and a bonus point for a knockout.

Ward’s victory over Kessler, which also happened to qualify as a title match, was the last fight of the first stage. Abraham and Froch also won first-stage matches. After three stages, the top four in points fight in the semifinals, leading to the final.

Ward won’t fight his second stage until the spring, when he takes on Taylor at a site to be determined by promoters and Showtime. Las Vegas is among the possibilities and Ward says he likes that.

“Vegas is the Mecca of boxing,” he says. “It would be something just to get off the plane and look around and know you are going to be boxing there.”

Continued success in the Super Six tournament would keep Ward’s schedule tied up through next year and halfway into 2011, perhaps postponing some potential big-money fights against the likes of Kelly Pavlik or even Paul Williams, who seems to fight well anywhere from 147 pounds to perhaps as much as 168.

Ward repeats he is not in a hurry. Remember, not slow, just diligent.

“I think, with this title, I’ve arrived,” he says. “But I’ve got a lot of work ahead just to keep it.”

Goossen says he has never seen a boxer more even-keel. To illustrate, he tells a story from the Ward-Kessler post-match news conference.”

“Somebody asked him how he felt, being on top of the mountain now,” Goossen says. “His answer was that it is more dangerous on top, because once boxers get there, they tend to take their foot off the gas.”

Ward says, “When you win a title, you need to continue to work on your craft. I want to get better. There are still belts to get, still challenges.”

Ward is married, has three children and is eager, although not pushy, to talk about the role of religion in his life. With many athletes, the God stuff can be a turnoff. With Ward, it appears real and fits the way he talks and says he lives.

“God keeps me humble,” he says.

For those reading this in disbelief, it will be reiterated here once more. Andre Ward is a boxer.

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