Ward ready to step up to trash-talking Miranda

OAKLAND, California — While Andre Ward sat calmly on a nearby stool, Edison Miranda turned the canopied stage in the sun-kissed downtown square into his pulpit. Miranda criticized Ward's skills, then praised his opponent, then ripped him again. The Colombian fighter curiously proclaimed the imminent death of boxing a day before the two are scheduled to step into the ring. He announced God had personally guaranteed him a victory on Saturday — all this after claiming he was tired of talking about the bout. Miranda then stepped to Ward and glowered, hoping to punctuate his verbal threats. Ward instantly rose with a malevolent gleam in his eye — a look many have long wondered whether the last American Olympic gold medal boxer would ever flash at a foe. "Don't get my intensity wrong," Ward said. "This guy's whole game is built around fear and intimidation, and I'm not going to buy into that. I don't fear any man, and he's going to understand this now." Ward is aware of the stakes in just his 19th pro fight since his gold medal triumph in Athens nearly five years ago. After numerous injury setbacks along his deliberate path, he's finally in position to get a 168-pound (76-kilogram) title shot if he can beat Miranda in his hometown's biggest boxing event in many years. Miranda (32-3, 28 KOs) is a concrete-fisted puncher with unpolished skills who's been stopped by Kelly Pavlik and Arthur Abraham, but he's also the most accomplished and dangerous super middleweight Ward has ever faced. Nine of Miranda's last 11 fights have ended in knockouts, and Ward had a streak of seven straight stoppages before his lopsided decision victory over Henry Buchanan in February. – AP