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On Thursday night, March 20, Bay Area native and Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward will face his most formidable opponent to date when he puts his unbeaten record on the line against former world super middleweight title challenger Rubin "Mr. Hollywood" Williams in the main event of the fourth-season opener of the "American Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank" series at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
The Ward-Williams headliner is a scheduled 10-round super middleweight contest which will
be televised nationally.
Hailing from Oakland, Ward (14-0, 9 KOs), who turned 24 this past Saturday and has knocked out his last four opponents, will be making his fourth appearance as a pro at the HP Pavilion. This time around he is ready for the big test against the very dangerous Williams (29-3-1, 16 KO), a native of Detroit.
"He's tough on paper and he's tough in person," Ward, who most recently stopped Roger Cantrell on the Island of St. Lucia back in November, credited the 31-year old Williams. "He's a title challenger who fell short against Jeff Lacy. Recently he fought a top-ten contender in Allan Green and he gave a pretty good account of himself. He's a durable guy and is just the type of quality opponent we need right now."
Is he ready?
Many people out there think Ward is taking too long to climb up the ranks. But recently we have seen young fighters like Fernando Vargas, David Ried, Jeff Lacy, and Francisco Bojado put into big fights too early which lead to relatively short careers for most of these fighters.
Ward says he is different.
"One of my famous phrases of the past couple of years is 'Locked In,' Ward said. "I'm locked in on a goal to not only be a world champion, but I want to reign until it's time for me to walk away from the sport. And that's my focus. I know the steps I have to take and I'm ready and willing."
For his part, Goossen locked in Williams as Ward's next opponent because, as he revealed: "This is the next step up the ladder in Andre's career. Williams presents a fighter that has been in there with a world champion and world contenders."
Rubin Williams will be a great indicator of Andre Ward's progression towards a world title. He certainly is Andre's most formidable opponent to date.
"As for Andre's development," Goossen concluded, "I've never been associated with anyone that has as much dedication and determination to becoming a better fighter. He understands that his future success is dictated by the hard work he puts into the gym and not what type of
quotes any of us can make."
We will keep an eye on Ward as he continues to grow.
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