"It's also about him growing up and maturing and becoming a strong, young man and spiritually being built up, and then also learning how to manage what he makes, learning how to pay his taxes, learning how to say no when he needs to say no; all the different intricate things that in boxing, we have no system set up...You have to be taught, so that's what I'm trying to bring, that's what James is trying to bring, and that's what Josh is trying to bring to Shakur's career," stated undefeated unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward, who talked about his decision to manage amateur standout Shakur Stevenson. Check it out!
BT: Dre, congratulations on signing Shakur Stevenson to a managerial contract.
AW: I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
BT: How did it come about? Is managing fighters something you were always planning on doing?
AW: I mean, I've always kind of thought about what my mix would be on the business side, either promtionally, an advisor role, a manager role, or no role at all. There's a lot that's in the game that I've dealt with throughout my 12 years as a pro. I didn't know if I was interested in still being involved in the boxing game once I'm finished. It's just something that I felt like, you know, at the right time, I'd figure it out. I talk to so many guys, man, as it is that I'm not on paper with, sometimes on a daily basis, about real situations that are going on in life or in this game and things that they're trying to navigate through. I'm just fortunate they think enough of me to even pick up the phone and ask my opinion, so that's kind of been going on for awhile.
Obviously I've known Shakur for many, many years. I supported him as a big brother and as somewhat of an advisor and just a sounding board, so that relationship has always been there. Long story short, it kind of fell in my lap. It's not something I was looking for. It just kind of came together. He requested that I be a part of his team and I thought about it and I jumped in. I feel like I can bring a perspective that only a fighter can bring. Obviously James [Prince], in my opinion, is the best manager in the game, and Josh Dubin is an attorney that does a tremendous job on the day to day logistics and different things like that. So as a team, for my career, we do a tremendous job and I feel like Shakur, he's getting kind of like the culmination of everything that I've built from a team standpoint at the beginning of his career. So whatever I'm trying to do, I'm trying to give him better than what I had and help expedite the process of him learning the game.
It's not about him just winning titles and making money. That's been done as far back as I can remember. It's also about him growing up and maturing and becoming a strong, young man and spiritually being built up, and then also learning how to manage what he makes, learning how to pay his taxes, learning how to say no when he needs to say no; all the different intricate things that in boxing, we have no system set up. There's no boxing union, there's no representation, there's no classes that you can go to to learn how to manage your money. You come from nothing and you get a check in your hand and you start to get a little notoriety and you're just expected to know what to do with it, and it just doesn't work like that. You have to be taught, so that's what I'm trying to bring, that's what James is trying to bring, and that's what Josh is trying to bring to Shakur's career.
BT: So is this just a one-time thing or do you plan on expanding and signing other fighters?
AW: I mean, right now, it's not about a quantity thing with me. Any relationship that I get into business-wise where I have an investment as far as my money or my time, it has to be the right situation. I'm not trying to compete with no other managers and that kind of thing. Every situation has to be a special case and it has to make sense because to do this, it takes effort, it takes time. I'm taking time away from my family to be there for this individual and I don't sign up for anything if I'm not going to be 100% committed. I don't know if it's giong to be a one-off; I just gotta wait and see. Like I said, this situation naturally happened. I didn't go looking for it. It made sense and everybody's on board and I think it's a great situation, so I just gotta continue to keep doing what I'm doing, man, and see how it turns out.
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE WITH UNDEFEATED UNIFIED LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ANDRE WARD
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]