Fighting for attention

by Brian Mahoney, Associated Press Writer
Exclusive to Yahoo! Sports

August 27, 2004

ATHENS, Greece – Boxers never want to be trapped in the corner. But that's where Andre Ward found himself earlier this year, while fellow U.S. Olympic hopefuls were being interviewed in other parts of the same hotel ballroom.

The best-known athletes got podium seats. Others got to sit at tables, surrounded by members of the media.

Ward, on the other hand, was relegated to a chair in the very back corner of the room. He guessed that was because people have bad impressions of, and therefore less interest in, boxers.

"A lot of boxers have given other boxers a bad name, so they kind of judge you before they know you," he said. "You don't have to worry about that with a cyclist or a sprinter, or something of that nature. There's already a tag on us, so to speak, so what I'm trying to do with myself is I'm trying to change that."

After Athens, you can be sure that Ward will never be put in the corner again.

Ward salvaged another poor Olympic performance by American boxers, scoring two winning points in the final few seconds to beat Utkirbek Haydarov of Uzbekistan 17-15 in the semifinals.

The win put him into the light-heavyweight gold medal bout, where his victory over Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus made Ward the first American gold medalist in boxing since David Reid in 1996.

For all his ring savvy, the most impressive part of Ward's victories may be how he ignored crowds that loudly booed his entrance, his exit, and every small "USA" chant that broke out in between during qualifying and semifinal bouts.

Luckily, he came in prepared. He had already received good advice from a great boxer on how to deal with such hostility.

Ward got the chance to visit Roy Jones' camp while the former light-heavyweight champion was preparing for his fight in May with Antonio Tarver.

Jones had to deal with a crowd that was against him when he boxed in the 1988 Games in Seoul, where he lost the gold medal match to South Korean Park Si-hun in a decision that was so controversial, it helped change the way Olympic boxing matches are scored.

"I asked him how does it feel with the hostile crowd in the ring," Ward said. "It was very hostile and I've never been in an environment that hostile before. He said don't worry about the crowd, don't worry about anything like that. He said just keep working hard and you'll learn how to deal with that before long."

Ward dealt with it perfectly.

Instead of being fazed in his early bouts by a crowd whose only cheers came when he slipped – including once where he nearly fell through the ropes – Ward transformed the jeers into motivation.

"It doesn't bother me at all. It really motivates me because I feel like they're not showing my country very much respect and I take that personal. I feel like they're not showing me much respect and I take that personal. So it keeps me on my toes."

Ward came to Athens as part of a U.S. team that was considered too unskilled and inexperienced to have much success in the Olympics.

Two Andre's defied the odds all the way to the semis, but Andre Dirrell lost – taking home bronze.

That left Ward as the solitary American hope going into Athens' final day of boxing. He delivered, using a third round rally to win some redemption for his team and America's bruised boxing pride.

Ward has won two national titles while compiling a winning streak that is now six years long, but even with that type of resume, he was largely unknown on the world stage before these Olympics.

He said a combination of injuries and bad timing kept him from being prepared to box in big events like the 2001 or 2003 world championships.

That anonymity worked to Ward's advantage.

He was able to study film of light heavyweight Evgeny Makarenko and use what he learned to surprise the Russian 23-16 in a quarterfinal bout.

But finding film of Ward is next to impossible.

"I think it was a good thing because no one got to see me," he said. "Makarenko, he won the 2001 worlds, he won the 2003 worlds. I was nowhere to be found. They had no tape on me, they had no film on me, they knew nothing about me. And I think that was a good thing."

Ward has forever lost that advantage.

He now has a boxing reputation, making him an easy target in Athens.

"We have a team saying that they'll boo us at the beginning, but they'll love us at the end," U.S. coach Basheer Abdullah said.

They did love him in the end – Ward was the crowd favorite in the gold medal bout.

The rest of the world may not love Ward yet, but it definetly knows him now.

Updated on Friday, Aug 27, 2004 9:35 pm, EDT

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