It isn’t known by many but local boxing phenom Andre Ward raises his game at our very own Gamespeed.  The Dublin resident has been undergoing a special boxing specific speed and power training program developed by coach Aaron Thigpen. With a combination of private training and open gym sessions the unassuming champion comes in and quietly goes about his work.  He is always approachable and friendly with parents and athletes, a contrast to the boistrous boxing types you commonly see on TV.

We just concluded our three month training cycle and he’s off for the title fight for the World Super Six Boxing Classic Title in Atlantic City, NJ December 17th.

We wish you the best Andre. Pay per view here I come!

Heres a profile story from this weeks Contra Costa times:

Boxer Andre Ward fights hard to keep things normal

When Tiffiney Ward’s husband heads off for a day at the office, she knows his job involves getting punched in the face. And she actually shows up to watch.

Andre Ward, the East Bay born-and-raised World Boxing Association super middleweight champion, will fight for the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament title Dec. 17 at Atlantic City, N.J. His wife and their three young kids will be ringside.

“They’ve kind of been raised with this,” Tiffiney said, referring to Andre Jr., 10, Malachi, 8, and Amira, 2. “There was a time Andre got cut, and the boys were crying. He winked at us to let us know he was fine.”

Maybe it helps that Ward, 27, is unbeaten as a professional — 24-0 with 13 knockouts over seven years. In fact, the 2004 gold medalist at the Olympics in Athens hasn’t lost as a pro or amateur since he was 12.

If Ward beats Britain’s Carl Froch at Boardwalk Hall, he will own both the WBA and World Boxing Council championship belts at 168 pounds and solidify his place among the best in the sport today.

It will mean more money and more opportunity for Ward. But he insists it will not change him.

“We fight to stay normal, even in the midst of the way the world is and my profession,” said Ward, who represents his hometown of Oakland but lives with his family in the Tri-Valley area.

“I don’t want my kids to ever say, ‘My dad was too busy being the champ to show up at my practices.’ I’m going to have to live with that when this is over.”

For the past seven years, Ward has attended church in Dublin at The Well, whose pastor is former Oakland Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman.

“I’m a Christian who happens to be an athlete, not the other way around,” said Ward, whose boxing nickname is Son of God. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that Napoleon, as a former Christian athlete, was able to help me navigate.”

Kaufman said Ward’s ability to keep his priorities in order — his faith, his family and then his profession — gives him balance.

“As a result of that, you don’t see him get swept up into a lot of stuff that you see other athletes get swept up into,” Kaufman said. “If you see Andre at the church, you know he’s a professional athlete. But he doesn’t relate to people any differently than when he first came here.”

Boxers, in particular, can be notoriously flamboyant. Trash talking is typically part of the package. Ward doesn’t go there.

“I see sometimes how guys may make a buffoon of themselves to sell a few more tickets. They create this image, and when it’s all said and done, it’s like everything falls out from under them. They have no stability,” he said. “I never wanted to be one of those guys.”

Raised by his late father, Frank Ward, and mentored since the age of 9 by coach and godfather Virgil Hunter, Ward takes seriously his role as husband and father.

At parent-teacher conferences or around the neighborhood, he wants to be considered a regular guy.

“It’s cool that, over time, they’re almost unarmed when they realize I’m not this ‘Rocky’ character, blood and guts 24/7,” he said. “I want to be respected as a man, not somebody they saw on TV.”

Ward met Tiffiney on a trip to Washington state to visit his brother when he was 16. Both were high school juniors, and their romance blossomed quickly. They were married in 2003, living initially in a downstairs room at the Oakland home of Virgil and Millie Hunter.

“It was small, but we were together,” Ward said.

“My friends thought I was crazy,” Tiffiney said. “And rightfully so. I was a kid.”

Ward said his wife and kids — not his celebrity — create the life he wants.

“When people ask me, ‘What do you do for fun?’ — it’s my family. That’s it,” Ward said. “Going to my kids’ (sports) practices. I love that stuff.”

At first, Tiffiney wasn’t clear on how boxing fit into his life. She played basketball and ran track in high school and assumed boxing was a hobby for Ward.

“This is what I do,” he told her before they were married. “I’m going to win a gold medal at the Olympics, and I want you to come along for the ride.”

Now the perks and demands of his career are a part of the family’s routine.

Right now is the worst time — the weeks before a fight when Ward leaves home to immerse himself in a training camp atmosphere, without everyday distractions.

“I cry every time he leaves,” Tiffiney said.

The pre-fight regimen is seven or eight weeks of training at King’s Gym in Oakland. He talks on the phone or uses Skype to touch base with Tiffiney and the kids and allows himself a visit or two. Mostly, he keeps to himself.

“Boxing is a lonely sport,” Ward said. “(Camp) is the absolute worst part of what I do, because I don’t like leaving my family. I’ll be honest, it puts you in a certain mindset for a fight. I’ll be ready to go to war. That’s part of it.”

On the night of Dec. 17, Tiffiney and the kids will cheer and shout encouragement from ringside. Barely any of it will register. “You’re in another place,” Ward said.

Afterward, he’ll return home, decompress and reconnect with his family.

Be normal again.