By Jim Dower: A much bigger Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday in coming in right at the light heavyweight limit at 175 pounds for his tune-up bout against 39-year-old super middleweight contender Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs). Brand came in at 173.2lbs. The difference between the 6’0” Ward and the 5’10 ½” Brand was pretty dramatic in looking at the two fighters, because Ward appears to be at least two divisions bigger than the 40-ish Brand.
By Allan Fox: Unbeaten #1 IBF, #2 WBA, #2 WBO, #3 WBC light heavyweight contender Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) is heavily favored to defeat 39-year-old Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night on August 6 on HBO from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The Ward-Brand fight will start at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and will be taking place in the 175lb division.
Ward is favored at-10000 by Bovado with Brand at +1600. The interest in the fight has been minimal at best. It’s unclear why HBO gave Ward the green light for this mismatch, because he’s already had two easy fights in his last two bouts against Sullivan Barrera and Paul Smith.
By Hector Sanchez / Photos By Stacey Verbeek: Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (20-0-2, 15 KO’S) from Dallas, Texas is ranked in the top ten by the WBO as a junior welterweight. On Saturday, August 6, 2016 he returns to the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California to showcase his exciting brand of boxing against Ty Barnett (23-4-1, 15 KO’s) on the undercard of the HBO Andre Ward/ Alexander Brand championship fight
His first fight at the Oracle Arena was in March of this year where he made his debut fight with Roc Nation against Wilfrido Buelvas (17-5, 3 KO’s). Although his camp probably wanted more rounds, Mighty Mo wasted no time by taking out the southpaw Buelvas in explosive fashion with a crushing body shot in the first round.
As impressive as he is with his boxing skills in the ring, Mighty Mo is just as impressive outside the ring. At his home gym at the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas, Hooker is always helping out the young fighters by offering them advice in boxing, showing them his accomplishments, but also mentoring them to stay in school so they can give back to the community themselves some day.
By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) will be making his tune-up fight against Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) next Saturday night on on August 6 HBO from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. This is a rust-ridding fight that Ward wanted to help sharpen him up for a title shot against unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev for their November 19 fight.
Kovalev’s trainer John David Jackson says that Brand, 39, probably wasn’t paid very much money for the fight. For Ward to have gotten a good opponent, his promoters at Roc Nation Sports would have needed to come up with good money.
Brand isn’t supposed to give Ward any problems, and Jackson feels that he’ll end up taking away the Columbian fighter’s best weapons and wind up frustrating him.
By Allan Fox: Light heavyweight contender Andre Ward’s tune-up fight against #10 WBA Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) is little over a week away and very few boxing fans are talking about the Ward-Brand fight. Instead, the fans are discussing Ward’s scheduled fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, who Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) is supposed to be facing on November 19 if he beats Brand.
Ward vs. Brand will be taking place on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. California. HBO Boxing will be televising it despite the fact that it’s considered to be a mismatch.
It doesn’t seem hardly fair to Brand that the fans are already counting him as a win for Ward and are talking now of the Ward vs. Kovalev fight. Brand has a real chance of winning this fight against Ward, because he’s better than the last two guys that Ward has fought.
NEW YORK, NY (July 26, 2016) – Two-Time World Champion and top-rated pound-for-pound fighter Andre … read more
By Allan Fox: If former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) puts in another less than impressive performance in his next fight against 39-year-old Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs), it won’t be due to him not being full prepared for the fight. Ward is working hard in training camp to get ready for his interim fight against the little known Brand at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
HBO will be televising the fight, which figures to be a mismatch. Ward has taken flak for fighting an old 168lb fighter rather than a guy from the 175lb division.
Ward, 31, hasn’t looked great in his last two fights against Sullivan Barrera and Paul Smith after coming off of a two-year layoff.
By Allan Fox: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks unbeaten former super middleweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) has lost something from his game due to his two-year layoff from 2013 to 2015.
Ward was out of the ring for that period of time because of promotional problems with his former promoter. Roach says that Ward wasn’t in the gym during that time frame keeping active. When he did come back last year against Paul Smith, he didn’t look that sharp, according to Roach.
By Allan Fox: Trainer Virgil Hunter says his fighter Andre Ward is in the same predicament as IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin as far as not being able to find high quality opposition for him to fight. Ward, 31, has been taking a lot of heat from boxing fans and the media for his choice opponent for his August 6 fight at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Ward is fighting 39-year-old Alexander Brand. This is Ward’s interim fight to get him ready for an important fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on November 19. Brand isn’t even a light heavyweight, and the fans don’t understand why Ward is fighting a non 175lb fighter.
The fans don’t understand why Ward is fighting an older guy like Brand rather than a younger fighter in the 175lb division.
By Dan Ambrose: It’s now official: Light heavyweight contender Andre Ward (29-, 15 KOs) will be putting his unbeaten record on the line in less than two months from now against #10 WBA Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) on August 6 on HBO at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. This isn’t the fight that the boxing world wants to see.
The fans want to see Ward fight iBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. However, the two fighters agreed to take interim fights before facing each other later this year on November 19 on HBO PPV. Fans were hoping that Ward would take on a tough opponent for his tune-up, but it looks like he and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports decided to play it safe by choosing the 39-year-old Brand, whose only loss of his career was to Badou Jack in 2012 in losing an eight round split decision. Jack was also Brand’s only true quality opponent he’s faced during his career.
Brand has a lot of knockouts in his seven-year pro career, but his knockout has come against lower level opposition for the most part.