Andre Ward Has High Hopes for the Changes Zuffa Boxing will Bring to the Sport

We are here with the undefeated legend Andre Ward, uh, broadcaster at Zufa Boxing.

We got, uh, two events in the books already.

Um, I've been fortunate enough to be at the Apex, uh, watch it live, and then be able to watch the broadcast and replay on Paramount Plus.

What's the experience been like?

It's been good, man.

It, it's, it's just getting off the ground, um, but the thing.

That jumps out to me like right away and I think what Zufa has gotten right immediately is getting these fighters active and the and the matchmaking is right down the middle.

You don't have guys overmatched they're not undermatched, and that produces great fights and it also shows you what you have.

You gotta, you gotta match a young fighter or a contender, even a guy that's in championship contention the right way to see the best come out of.

Him and we've seen that thus far, you know, listening to the broadcast, you got yourself, Max Kellerman, Joe T on, and it gives it that big fight feel when you hear those recognizable voices.

How important do you think it was for Zufa to get you guys in that booth and how's the booth been to work in ?

I think it was very important.

I mean, there's nothing that, you know, Dana and his team have done.

That they're not trying to be great and and be successful at so they wanted to get the the A team and I'm grateful to be a part of the A team and um I've worked with both those guys before so it's it's great to sort of have a reunion with with with both Max and Joe and you know I think.

Man, this is, we're, we're taking this thing to the next level, so I, I'm excited for where it is, but there's great things up ahead and there's a lot more that we're going to display.

Talking about taking it to the next level, obviously developing stars, they just had a big signing in Jay Pataya.

It's their biggest signing so far.

Uh, what do you think about them going after a guy of his stature?

Why not?

You know, I think they're gonna go after more um again they didn't get into this just to be mediocre like they're trying to they're trying to, they're trying to win and uh that you gotta have signings like that and I, and I've heard rumblings of other signings, um, in order to win and and and be that premier promotional company and, and some consider it a league but you know promotional company so um I'm excited man.

I'm excited to see what's up ahead, um, but I also, you know.

I don't despise the day of small beginnings, you know, it's very, very early, and that's OK , um, and it's just really, really dope to be a part of it at the very beginning.

I can say, you know, we've been a part of Zoo for 1, Zua 2, and, um, looking forward to great things.

So 12 events a year, and I think that's something that stood out to me when I'm talking to these guys that have fought is they all, they all want to fight when you ask them, they want to fight 3 or 4 times a year, which is rare in boxing.

What do you make of the uh level of activity that Zu is gonna be able to bring to the team?

I not only love it, but it's needed.

You cannot develop a star.

You can't develop.

You can't even have a guy that's in, that's a contender.

You can't even have him at his best if he doesn't fight.

So when I'm studying these fights, we got the bios.

One thing that jumps out at me every week is 200 day layoff, 250, 300, 365.

Some guy's a year and a half.

You don't even know if you have a star or a diamond in the rough because he's on the sidelines and we've normalized that in boxing and these guys, these are the forgotten about guys, and you don't even know you may have the next whoever in that batch of guys that's not fighting, so the consistency, them making money and getting, you know, the exposure with Paramount, UFC, all the stuff like that stuff is powerful for me and I'm really excited about that because I know what that feels like to be on the show.

Obviously Dana White is a legendary, but also a polarizing figure, and he has a lot of naysayers with the way he's trying to change the game of boxing, the Muhammad Ali act.

What do you make of all the naysayers that that are kind of, you know, they don't want Dana White entering the boxing world?

I get it, you know, um, boxing doesn't like much change.

For better or for worse, and oftentimes it's for the worst.

Just don't touch our stuff don't mess with it.

I know it's broken.

I know it's fractured just don't touch it and they especially don't want an outsider, somebody who is not a boxing guy from day one to be a part of the sport and Dana's been very vocal about what he feels like is broken about boxing.

They don't like that either, but that's not a bad thing, you know, nothing changes until something changes, and my message to everybody is just let it play out.

Everybody wants to be the first to say something's not gonna work, but.

If boxing as a whole had their stuff together, I'm not saying perfect, there's no perfect entity, but where we actually cared about change and we were progressive and things were moving forward.

You wouldn't be able to have a person that's in the UFC come over here and establish anything if we had our stuff together, so don't get mad because there's some shake up now we'll see where the shake up goes, give it time, but we should have been doing a better job on our end .

Uh, alright, moving off his own for boxing, let's talk about the boxing world in general.

You know, the last decade, the influencer boxing's become popular.

Jake Paul, I think Mike Tyson's fighting Floyd Mayweather coming up.

I heard that, yeah, in Africa, right?

Um, obviously you're done fighting, you've said as much, but I'm sure you get the calls sometimes .

Is it tempting when you get presented with a bunch of money to maybe get back in there just for it is a big payday.

It is tempting.

I'm a warrior.

I'm, I'm, I'm still, I still have a lot of fire in me.

I still, I'm still very competitive.

Um, money has never been my driving force, though it matters, um.

So it would just have to be the right situation.

I'm never gonna say never, but the right situation came along, I would say this I'll entertain it .

What do you make of, uh, what Jake Paul has done in the sport of boxing, because he has a lot of naysayers too.

But then on the flip side, he's also done a lot for the sport of women's boxing.

I'm not, I'm not a Jake Paul hater, you know, like, obviously when he starts saying stuff like I'm the face of boxing now you're gonna have guys like myself say pump your brakes.

You'll never be, you'll never be the face of boxing, but the impact he has.

You gotta acknowledge that what he's done for women's boxing, you have to acknowledge that people say, oh, it's ruining boxing.

No, no, no, there's real things that are ruining boxing that we don't wanna talk about.

Jake Paul fighting and filling up arenas and, and having real fighters on the undercard is not ruining boxing.

So I just don't look at it like a lot of people look at it, though I understand the criticism because of how he comes off.

That's his brand, that's who he's always been.

So if you don't like it, don't tune in, but it's a.

A lot of people saying they don't like it and they're tuning in.

So talk to me about that.

All right, a couple of last ones from me.

Um, Shakur Stevenson recently got strapped.

There's some controversy about the fees that these boxers have to pay their promoters.

We saw it with Terrence Crawford.

What is your opinion on that whole situation?

Man, I'm gonna always support a fighter when they stand up to a sanctioning body.

And especially the WBC because I believe they've been the worst at um not only the sanction fees but but how they go about it.

There's there's this arrogance and and they're demanding about it and then when you tell them no.

It it's a problem and they play play the victim role and times are changing.

Fighters are looking at contracts.

They're doing the math and they're figuring, you know what, I don't need to fight for this belt.

So I stand with Shakur.

I stand with Terrence when he did what he did, and I've also had my own personal things with, with the WBC.

It's funny, I've fought for a lot of belts, never had any issues with any sanction anybody with the WBC.

That's a recurring theme.

I think they should look at that, uh, big Raiders fan.

Still, yeah, I'm saying, listen.

It's complicated.

They left again.

I still feel a way.

Still feel a way.

I, I watch.

I'll just say I'll watch.

What do you think of Fernando Mendoza?

Is he gonna maybe be able to turn it around there?

I, I like him.

I just wanna see him go there and see it work.

Like my pastor Napoleon Kaufman, man, former Raider great, and I'm like, man, I don't know if it's, if it's, I don't know if it's some of it like they gotta figure that out because, because great talent will come and then they don't become what they're supposed to become, so.

I hope so, man.

I think, I think he's, uh, you know, some people kind of tease him and laugh at him how he how he kind of comes off, but that's genuinely himself and I think he's the type of guy that could balance out Raider Nation in the locker room where they're still Raider Nation, but then they got, they got, they got a little balance maybe that maybe that's what they're missing maybe they're missing a guy like that.