JR SportBrief Hour 2

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Find out more at t-mobile.com slash C-Y. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I am happy. I am thrilled to be coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody listening all over North America. You could be here in the South with me. You could be up North with super producer and host Dave Shepherd. You could be hanging out on the West Coast, the Midwest, the mountains.

You could be in Texas. What's up, Louisiana? Shout out to everybody tuned in on WWL.

What's up, Matt? Thank you to everybody in Canada too. Congratulations, Canada. I don't know why, but just congratulations. Okay. I get started though every single week night, 10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. If you missed last hour of the show, simple.

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That's 855-212-4CBS. I'm also a human being. I'm not just a voice emanating through your damn speakers.

You can find me digitally because I'm a human on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. I am at JR Sport Brief. You know, last night we looked for the Miami Heat to get the Boston Celtics the hell up on out of here. The Celtics, they live to see another day.

There'll be an action tomorrow night back in Boston. And so the finals, they're not all the way set. You know, the Denver Nuggets are sitting around waiting to see what happens. But tonight, in the NHL, we do have a team from South Florida who just got the job done. It's the Panthers. The Florida Panthers are going to the Stanley Cup Finals. They just beat the Carolina Hurricanes, the final score, 4-3. It looked like Carolina was trying to get the final score, 4-3. It looked like Carolina was trying to avoid the sweep. Florida, well, they didn't just lead. Well, at that point, they led the series.

They just won it. They were winning 3-2. And then Carolina tied it back up at 3-all. And then Kachuk, who scored a goal in the first period, came back with five seconds left in the third to say, man, we don't got time for another game. We don't got time for an overtime. Five seconds left, I'm putting in a goal, and I'm going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

As a matter of fact, I want you to take a listen to it right now, courtesy of the Panthers Radio Network. Ryan Hart in the circle, shot, and it's bought off by Anderson. Park off right circle, down to the goal by Kachuk, in front of shot, he scores! He scores!

He scores! Matthew Kachuk, a power play goal! It's 4-3 Panthers with 4.3 seconds to go in regulation time. Hey, well listen, they hung on for those last five seconds and they are going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Hey, here's the deal. Matthew Kachuk, he ties an NHL record for the latest series winning goal in regulation in postseason history. And then here's an additional kind of stat that you might have to go, oh this is this is interesting. These are the same Florida Panthers who knocked off the Bruins who had more wins than any team in NHL history in the regular season. The Panthers become the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals by defeating the team with the top betting odds to win the Stanley Cup entering each round in each of their three series wins. And so nobody expected the Florida Panthers to be here. You can also probably say the same thing about the Miami Heat. No one expected them to be here and here they are.

The Panthers go into the Stanley Cup Final and the Miami Heat, they're still trying to ward off the Boston Celtics to join them as well. Shout outs to everybody down in South Florida having a good old time and having a good old evening. As we continue on with the show, I do want to let you know this. I want to say in about 10 or so minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation with one of the greatest boxers that I have ever seen in my life.

I've always had a great time speaking with him. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His name is Andre Ward. He decided the return of 32-0. He just beat the living hell out of Kovalev. He won that Super 6 tournament. He was in the movie Creed.

He's from Oakland. And Showtime has a documentary about Andre Ward. And it really details his life, which is, it ain't been all that easy, but he's been able to turn it around into a positive. And he really revealed some things that he never did before. And I want you to know that Andre Ward is one of the greatest boxers that he never discussed while he was an active fighter. And so we will talk to Andre Ward. He's going to join us in the next segment.

And this is definitely something that I want to broach with him. Knowing Andre's background, and here I'll tell you, he sold drugs for a point of his life. We know he went to the Olympic team. I want to ask him about fame. I want to ask him about handling fame. I want to ask him about retiring early and the process of retiring.

He left at his peak, left a lot of money on the table and wanted to go out on his own. And so I'll even ask him about everything going on with LeBron. But I really want to ask Andre Ward what he thinks about John Moran.

Like, what are your thoughts on this dude? Early this morning, because social media is, it's been real kind to John Moran already, or he's utilized it for the correct purposes. John Moran went on Instagram.

He was in his stories and he posted a series of photos. And he captioned, and this was with his family, he captioned each one by saying, just bye. Bye to his dad. Bye to his mom. Bye to his little girl.

Like what would you, why are you saying bye to your family? So much so that the local police department in Memphis decided to do a wellness check at this man's house to make sure that he was not suicidal, that he did not injure himself, that he did not harm himself, that he was okay. I mean, well, damn. Has he not done enough harm to himself and in his reputation? And we say this, he has made dumb mistakes. He needs to reevaluate his life.

That's why I say it's not a matter of whether or not he was carrying a weapon or a gun. He needs to be away from the game of basketball because basketball is not going to save him. It's been reported that he's fine. He's okay. And John Moran told the police officers who went and did the wellness check that he's taking a break from social media.

Well, I can tell you this. John Moran is doing nothing but crying out for help. I don't know what his issue is.

I don't know what his problem is, but maybe he should put the phone down. I know he went to rehab down in Florida. Maybe he should go there and stay. You know, it's an unfortunate circumstance when you look at what has taken place, how he is just damaged, the opportunity in front of him. He just lost that super max, but you can't take away the money that he already has unless he has the contract voided through his own issues and mistakes.

But I wish nothing but the best for John Moran. And I don't know what the Grizzlies holdup is. They've suspended him from team activities. I guess he got too much time on his hands. Not that he would maybe be in the facility now. I'm sure he can find any gym to get into. The NBA, they're not going to be in a rush to impose a punishment or suspension.

The season doesn't start until October, September. I just hope this is the last we're here to do. The next time I hear John Moran's name, I'm hoping that he is really and truly going through a process where he can become a better person, a healthy person.

Because all these cries for help, man, how long before it's not a cry and before it's just a travesty. And so, yes, he is a human being. You wish and hope the best for him.

I just hope that nothing catastrophic takes place between now and then. Ironically, Geno Smith, yeah, that Geno Smith of the Seattle Seahawks, he spoke to the media yesterday. And he talked about athletes and their mental health and being able to be treated like humans.

I want you to take a listen to what Geno had to say. I think mental health is very important to everybody. Not just athletes, but to the entire world. Obviously, there's a ton of stress that everyone's under and people cope with them in many different ways. And so I think the more that we can just talk about it, just shed light on mental health, I think it creates a safe place for people where they feel like they can be vulnerable and can express themselves so that they can get better. And so I think that's the importance of it to me. I think that's the cool part is that people got to see my story. They got to see me go through the hard stuff and then obviously to get some success later in my career.

And I know a lot of people want to hear about what was my mental state throughout that. And I think it truly comes down to knowing who you are and ultimately having gratitude, being grateful. I've always been grateful. My grandmother always taught me that to be grateful for what you have.

And so I think that's really what it comes down to. Hey, all the best to John Moran. Forget basketball. I hope whatever he's going through, through his stupid mistakes and his post, hope he gets better. It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to talk to one of the greatest boxers that we have ever seen on Dre Ward. I'm going to ask him about John Moran. It's the JR Sport Brief show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

And right now we're being joined by, this is not an exaggeration. He's one of the greatest boxers ever retired with a record of 32 and 0, won an Olympic gold medal back in 2004, something American hasn't done, beating people up, getting them belts in the titles that at super middleweight, light heavyweight. And now he has a documentary coming out on Showtime, June 2nd. We're going to talk about it. It's my main man, Andre Ward. Andre, how are you brother? Man, I'm doing good. I'm happy to be on with you, man. It's been a minute since we talked. It's been quite some time. I think the last time we connected was in New York City in Damon John's office. So here we are, man. Good to see you. Yes, sir. A lot has happened since then.

You're not in the ring anymore. I want people to go ahead and check out the documentary on June 2nd. It really encompasses your entire life up until now. But I'll start here. And we saw a few of the things that you're up to right now at the end of the doc. What occupies a lot of your time right now now that you're not in the ring? Obviously, my family. You know, my family has always been, you know, top priority for me, even when I was active. You know, me and my wife were licensed ministers at our church.

So I'm a youth pastor at my church. And, you know, business, you know, I love business. I love the marketplace, you know, where there's assessing different business opportunities and jumping into business opportunity.

I mean, people don't realize that for a professional athlete, you know, just even having a financial portfolio like that's a full time job. Just making sure, you know, you dotting the I's and crossing the T's and just making sure your business is handled. And then obviously just projects like this, man, I feel like, you know, I got it. My hidden talent my hidden talent is writing. You know, it's painstaking.

It's a lot of work. But I feel like I got a bug to write. So I love to write. I love to create. I love to story tell. So that that's also occupying my time.

SOG, the book award coming out on Showtime, June 2nd. Why now? Why at this moment did you want to go ahead and tell this story? Well, this is really seven, six, seven years in the making, you know, but I got to the point where I wanted to start to curate and create my story because it was just time. You know, when I first came into the pro ranks, excuse me, toward the end of my amateur career, heading into the pro ranks in 2004, when the world first got wind of me, you know, I was fresh off the streets and just gave my life back to God. And I was trying to figure things out.

And I'm also an 80s baby. You know, I'm not I'm not well, I was raised to we don't share our personal business. And it's not, you know, it's more just out of respect.

Like that's family business. So that was my mindset going in. Plus, I wasn't ready. You know, things were still fresh. You know, I didn't know if I had permission to tell my mother's story. My father had passed and didn't know how to how to reconcile that.

But you get to a place as you get older and you get more mature where I started to feel like it would be selfish to not share my struggles and what I've overcome in hopes to try to help somebody. Andre Ward is here with us. The JR sport beef show CBS Sports Radio. You talk about your past and there's a lot in the documentary in detail that you just go, well, damn, I didn't know that that took place. What happened with Andre? And we see it today with so many athletes, even the situation now with with John Moran. We've seen what's taking place over the past several months. Earlier in the day, we found out he's putting up these cryptic posts and messages on on social media. What advice would you give to him?

Because we see the media and just the world, especially when your public can chew you up and spit you out. Man, it's a lot. And I don't know, Josh, situation, you know, in detail, obviously. But, you know, it's tough when a young man gets thrust on the on the on the world stage like that and gets that kind of money tossed to him, you know, relatively overnight, considering a person's lifespan and how long it takes for some people to to build a fortune, even though I know he's been working since a kid.

But to be able to get that kind of stuff overnight is tough, man. People don't understand it doesn't justify what he's done or how he's moving, but it does give some perspective and some understanding. I think a couple of things.

I just need to be honest with himself. You know, how did I get here? Why did I do this? Am I trying to portray image? Am I looking at is the money gassing me up to make me feel like I'm somebody that I'm not? And from there, you know, John just has to hopefully get to a place where he understands he's not, you know, he ain't no street, though. He ain't no street dude.

You know what I mean? John's a guy that he's a basketball player. And for most elite athletes, they didn't have time to be in the streets and to really be out there like that. So he needs to really accept that, embrace that, be comfortable in his own skin. He's in a tremendous position, not just financially, but from an influence standpoint. Like it's real kids that are looking to him and that hinge on his every word. That's a big responsibility, man. And to whom much is given, much is required. So just understand a blessing that you have in your hand and realize that, bro, you can lose it.

You can lose it. One of the greatest boxers of all time, Andre Ward is joining us. Documentary jobs on Showtime, June 2nd. One thing that you were never shy about was even portraying something that you weren't. We know boxing always say a lot of times it's like a circus.

You pitch up the tent, you got to have a barker outside to attract the people inside. That's something that you never did throughout the course of your career. And we see that formula set up to generate and make money, even to this day. How do you feel about how you promoted yourself in just the current state of boxing, the pushing, the shoving, the cursing, the flamboyance?

What are your thoughts on that? I don't knock with what some of these guys are doing. It just wasn't for me. And I think people get it twisted, right? Like they look and say, Oh, you could have been a bigger star.

It's like, now I got what I was supposed to get with who I was. And, you know, I think for me personally, as a young African American man, like coming into the sport, unfortunately for boxing and we don't, they don't want to talk about it. We don't want to address it, but there's a stereotype. You're not exciting until you perform for us a certain kind of way outside this ring.

And if you don't do that, you're considered boring. Your family life, we don't want to hear about that. What you overcame, we don't want to hear about that. Who you try, you know, being a bit, they call it squeaky clean. It's not about being squeaky clean.

You see in this documentary, my life ain't squeaky clean, but I also am representing God. I'm representing my family and I'm trying to build something that lasts beyond this sport. And if I give y'all who you want me to be, there is no life after this sport. I made all my money in this sport and nobody's going to want to be aligned with me or do business with me after that. So I get it, man. I understand.

I'm not ignorant to how guys sell tickets and become more popular, but I just had a better understanding coming into the sport. I had verge in my ear, my dad, when he was living and I just kind of knew that, man, this stuff is fickle. And then when I started hitting some bumpy roads early in my career, getting knocked down, then, you know, the lawsuit period, you start seeing like, man, this stuff, man, these same people that want me to crash out and perform for them and dance for them and do certain things that they want me to do, they'll switch up on me quickly.

I'm talking about like overnight, if they see or hear something that they don't like, I can't live for them. My career is not ultimately for them. Let me keep my priorities in order. So that's just a long way to say, man, I understood what I wanted to be, who I wanted to be. It don't mean that I didn't ponder doing the other stuff. I didn't think about it, but it's futile. It's fickle.

And at the end of the day, that's not what I want to be remembered for. Andre Ward is here with CBS Sports Radio. Man, you stepped away. Perfect record. 2017. It feels like yesterday you were just still beating up on Kovalev, you know, watching the documentary, even taking me back to the super six. I remember being super hyped about that. All of that feels like yesterday. It was one fight.

If there was one fight to come back from, I think I read or saw correctly, it might've been against Canelo. You were waiting for a call out, but it never came. No, it wasn't like I was waiting. Like, oh, if he doesn't, I'm coming back. But when you retire, man, especially as an athlete, the fire doesn't die.

The drive doesn't dry, doesn't die. And you are retired, but there's still that thing in you that's like, man, you never know, man, the right situation falls in place. So that's what I meant by that. You know, there was a common opponent there and it would have been interesting if he would have said my name. I don't know how it would have worked out.

It would have been very, very interesting. Well, we see this from folks in later stages in life. You were 2017, 33 at that point in time? We see Tom Brady has walked away in his forties. We see LeBron James, whether he's going to do it or not.

We see him at least openly saying, yeah, I'm towards the end of the line. How difficult was that decision for you at that moment, especially being your age? I think what people don't realize, and I talk about this with the book, which is probably going to be later this year, top of next year. I really wanted to be retired like a couple of years before I did. I've been doing it since I've been nine years old.

And I was one of them guys that really jumped head first hand. And I had moments, and you'll hear about this. I mean, you see it in the doc where I was just tired of boxing as a teenager, and I just wanted to be a kid. But it's a heavy, heavy grind, man.

The fights are grueling, but really the preparation for me to run and the sparring, the lifting weights, all the stuff. And you just want your freedom back, man. You just want to be normal. And there were times where I wanted to stop and walk away, and it just wasn't time. And I thought I was going to be done again after Kovalay won. You just start looking at, you give your all, and this is the response you get. It's never enough. The goalpost keeps getting moved. First, y'all thought he was going to knock me out. I get off the canvas, show the heart of a champion.

It's still not enough. And I had a very difficult campus. I detailed in the documentary about my knee and just how that fight was almost canceled multiple times. All of that stuff was weighing on me after that first fight. I went and talked to my pastor, and he said, Manjari, I think you could do one more.

I did the one more. And then at that time, I just knew it was time. Not easy. But what's really hard is after you officially retire, staying retired.

That's the real fight. It's one level to say, Man, let me bring myself to announce this to the world. It's something totally different to remain retired, to continue to say no on a day-to-day basis, to continue to push the money away, and to have to answer the question in public pretty much every day. Are you coming back? I know you just holding out for more money. Come on now. You coming back? Man, you left too soon. That's really the tough part.

I'm certain that it is. When you think about all of your accomplishments in the ring, what are you most proud of? Is there a moment that stands out to you where you go, Damn, I really did that? A couple things.

I would say the way I stood up for myself in business. Right? Like me and Jay, we've had some run-ins. You know, really like two in our whole time together. Talking about Jay Prince.

Jay Prince. Yeah. And it's about contracts and money and different things like that. And then obviously, the well-publicized, just people with Dan Goosen. Those are my proudest moments.

Not from the standpoint of just being in a fight, but just the fact that I was able to stand up for myself. And people don't always get it. People got their opinion. They don't know. They're not in the back rooms.

They're not in the meetings. But just knowing that, man, I fought for myself. And when my career is over, I can look back with no regrets from a business standpoint, from a financial standpoint. Because that's really hard to live with. To know like, man, I understand now, but it's too late. My windows passed me up and I didn't get what I was supposed to get. I didn't make what I was supposed to make. Or man, I see now where maybe something with the contract wasn't right. So I just think those moments, man, just having real conversations with those men.

Unfortunately, they went to the courtroom. But just being willing to do that, I'm extremely proud of myself. And the second thing is just maxing out from a physical standpoint and not cheating myself. I left no money on the table. And in this business, in the sport of boxing, you continue to make more money when you win. If you lose, your minimums, the minimum amount of money that you're owed in a contract year is renegotiated. So hey, I'm doing a million for my next.

We got to get you 650. You lost your last fight. I didn't leave no money on the table. And I don't have those kind of regrets.

The drive is still there. I miss it. Man, you know, you start formulating a path to maybe one more, maybe two more. But outside of that, I don't have any regrets.

I literally gave it all I had. Andre Ward here with us, the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio. We just also learned, and let's see if it comes to fruition, you want to talk about fights that may or may not happen. Crawford and Spence, I feel like we've been waiting on this for a long, long time. What are your thoughts on that fight taking place and what we might see in that ring? Well, before I answer that, you know, I know this fight is taking a long time. And I don't know everything about the negotiation. But what I do know, I'm proud of both guys, man, for the way they handled that, you know, you're dealing with public pressure, the public wants to fight like yesterday, but they don't understand a fight of that magnitude. There's so many buckets, there's so many streams of income, there is disputes and arguments or just negotiations about the split and where the money's going. It takes time to take the cover off of all those streams of income, know where the money's going and make sure that your money is handled right. Because what's the public going to do if these guys give us the fight maybe prematurely from a business standpoint, and then some guy comes out later and said, man, I didn't get what I was supposed to get.

Oh, you're stupid. Oh, you didn't take care of your business. So these guys, this took a while. It wasn't because nobody was scared.

They had to make sure their business was handled. That's the first fight. So now that that's done, the fight itself is here and it's coming at the right time. Man, this is a pick and fight if we've ever had one.

You know, both of these guys are my brothers. I stay out the politics in terms of, oh, he's going to beat him. It's one of them fights, man, where you got to show up on the night and you got to execute. And just like I knew Haney Loma was going to be back and forth, ebbs and flows, this fight is going to be the same. I don't think either guy has no real animus, but they're both extremely competitive. I think they both know that they're on the back end of their career and it's going to be one of the ones for the ages. And I think we could probably safely say we at least got two fights, maybe three out of this situation because there's a mandatory rematch clause for both guys. I can't see a scenario unless somebody just gets, even if they get blown out, which I don't see that happening, where the other guy's not going to try to get that get back. So we may have two fights on our hands. And I'm going to also say that this may be the last time we see both of these guys. Like these three camps, two camps, one that they got coming up between their contract situation and the fights they're going to have, I can't see them going much longer beyond the two fights or trilogy that they may have at the end of the day. Yeah, this is probably the mountaintop for both of them. Andre Ward is joining us here, CBS Sports Radio, The JR Sport Brief Show.

As we start to wrap things up, I can't ignore the people listening, they may not be able to see it. You got the Jordan on the chest. Michael Jordan.

Man, the Jordan brand doesn't really get into boxing. We know it's associated with basketball. It's grown in the NBA.

You'll see it on the Celtics jersey, which is crazy to me. What was that like when you first found out that this guy named Michael Jordan said, Oh man, I need that guy as a part of Jordan brand. This was years ago. Yeah, this was when I was coming out the Olympics, 2004.

And you couldn't believe it. You know, and Jeff Reed, who was an attorney of mine at the time, he was instrumental in putting that together with Larry Miller. And you see it in a doc where, you know, Jordan calls Larry, once you look at this guy, Andre Ward, and Larry's like, Man, I'm already ahead of you. We already got him on our rated R, very, very exclusive group of athletes, even the basketball guys that they signed, but more specifically the boxers. There's like, you can count the boxers on one hand that they signed.

Man, it's just a privilege and an honor. You can't believe that you're associated with that kind of brand. And Jordan, man, they spoil their athletes.

I mean, they spoil their athletes with gear, with clothes. Because that's like, when we went and did the interview with Mike, the crew that we were with, I went to Charlotte to the Charlotte facility where the team practices, and I'm looking around and I'm telling everybody, I'm like, look, man, the Jordan aura, like that thing is rigged. And you're going to feel it when he comes in the room. I said, and I started looking around at everybody's shoes.

Dang, bro, you got Adidas on. I said, Mike is going to call you out about them. And he said, man, come on. I said, I'm just telling you. They don't play about this stuff. Mike came, man, how y'all doing?

How y'all doing? Man, your friend need to get some new shoes, man. We're going to get them hooked up, though. That that thing is serious. But that's why they spoil you. And that's why they give you so much stuff.

Because they not only want you decked out in the gear, but everybody around you, they want to make sure they're good too. Andre Ward here with us, the JR sport reshow. Man, you done built your own legacy. You done built your own brand. When you think about what you've done, what you have coming forward, what you have with your family, your sons, everybody, what do you want the final word to be when it's all said and done?

Hopefully a long time from now about Andre Ward. Well, man, I know anything you do, man, it's gonna be a lot that said. But I hope I hope my legacy is more felt than her.

You know what I mean? I hope that that my life, my career can be somewhat of a blueprint. And that's that's what I want. I want it to be somewhat of a blueprint because in this sport, man, we don't have a lot of good blueprints. We got managers in your ear telling you what you should, shouldn't do, how you should act. Got promoters, you got networks giving their opinions.

But we don't have a lot of guys who did it that we can point to and say, I like what he did, man. I think I can do it that way. And I just hope that they can pull something from. I hope that they can pull something from it.

I hope it could be some form of an example. And, you know, I feel like I have represented the sport well. I will continue to try to represent the sport well. And the greatest part about my legacy for me is when the phone rings and it's the young fighters picking up the phone to call, whether it's about business, whether it's about life, whether it's about boxing. That's what the media doesn't see.

That's what the media don't understand. That's real impact. And I'm grateful for that, man. That lets me know I might have done some right. Little something. I hear that.

I think you've done a lot right. I've been hyping it up. You tell everybody about the documentary when it drops.

June 2nd on Showtime, it premieres, man. You don't want to miss it. You know, this is not just for me to frame or make myself look a certain way. You're going to have some eyebrow raising, you know, takeaways for sure. But this, hopefully my life is something you can pull from, learn from, whether it's the mistakes or whether it's the things that I overcame, my mother overcame, my father overcame our story. My story is a story of redemption, a story of overcoming.

And I hope that, that by tuning in that somebody can, can, can find some courage, strength, and some wisdom to do the same. Oakland's own one of the greatest boxes of all time. Andre Ward.

He's been joining us here. The JR sport brief show on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. You're such a man of the people though. You take more calls than any sports personality I've ever known.

And to take words out of your mouth, pardon me. We appreciate you, man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR sport brief show on CBS sports radio.

Yeah, I'll take a lot of calls. Man, that was awesome. That was awesome. That was awesome. That was awesome. That was a good call.

We took last break. Thank you so much. Boxing hall of Famer, gold medalist, entrepreneur, got a documentary coming out. Thank you to Andre Ward for joining us. Just an excellent perspective on the current world of sports. He had some words for, for Ja Morant.

He talked about retirement and he talked about, you know, getting out of the game before the game got him out. And just always a pleasure to talk to. If you missed the interview with Andre Ward, you don't have to be a boxing fan.

Just go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app and take a listen. The phone lines are open. That's 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. At the top of the hour, I'm going to deliver to you a new top six list.

I think it's appropriate for everything going on in the world. We certainly want Ja Morant to bounce back after he has some time away, but I'm going to give you a top six list of active athletes who've been able to turn their careers around. They have been able to bounce back, but right now let's bounce to the phone lines. Let's go to California where Andre Ward is from representing Oakland, but let's talk to Chris. Hey, Chris, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR. How you doing tonight, man? I'm very well. What's on your mind? That interview was just, it blew me away, JR. I mean, I've always been an Andre Ward fan, but you know, I didn't know all these details, man. You get the best out of everybody. It just touched my heart, man. And that dude's the GOAT.

I mean, there's no question. I can't wait for that documentary. Yeah, it's next Friday, June 2nd, and I've seen the documentary and I'm not going to sit here and tell you, I know everything about everybody because I don't, but there were things that he revealed from his dad. I had no idea his dad boxed to the extent of, I don't want to say a criminal history. You think about Andre Ward and you think squeaky clean. No, there was a point in time where Andre Ward was selling drugs and he goes into detail, especially the moment where he decided to quit.

It's pretty graphic detail. So there's a lot that he opened up about and it's pretty amazing what he's made his life into being. And boxing, as he said, is so crazy. You become a boxer, you got to fight your way in, and then even if you have success, in 99.9% of cases, you get beat out of the game of boxing.

They beat you down until they beat you out. He left and if you can't tell, he's doing pretty damn well for himself. So it's pretty good.

Check the doc out. You'll enjoy it, Chris. Thank you, man. Hey, hold on. Hey, Jay, can I tell you this one other thing real fast?

You sure can. Okay, so I moved back to New York in like 85. My uncle's a retired cop.

He's still around NYPD. I know you're a New York guy, man. I could tell the first time I heard you, man. And I got a feeling you know those playgrounds too, man.

What's the ball? I just got that feeling anyway. You want to talk about the cage or West 4th Street? What do you mean?

You know what? I never stepped into the cage, my friend, but I did step off the subway and walked by and I just kept on walking. I walked real slowly and I saw dudes throwing elbows. I mean, I could have sworn this one dude was Anthony Mason.

This is like 87 or something. I don't know. They played.

Oh, no. I mean, they played, they played out in the cage. Absolutely.

Yes. I mean, I saw left left elbow, right elbow. And I'm like, then when I saw him play from this, I'm like, oh, I know he's apodexious.

I know where he got that from the cage, throwing them elbows. Anyway, this dude, Freddie Red Cochran, was my super in 1987. And I'm like, who are you, dude?

He's like, yeah, I was a former Baltimore champion of the world. I'm like, okay, sir. Yeah. Yeah.

Can you get that mouse out here? You know, he's like laughing at me. I'm like, I'm sorry, dude.

I'm from somewhere else, California. I don't like mice. I'm sorry. And he's all laughing at me. I'm like, he gets rid of it. And then he goes, yeah, see, he's quite a sportsman. I got all, you know, got the Lakers shelter game on. I got all these sports encyclopedias around and he goes, I'm serious.

Here's my business card. Yeah. And I called my uncle and he's like, yeah, we used to gather around the radio and listen to his fights. He was like the champion.

And then I called Art Rush Jr. I'm sure, obviously, you know. Yes, New York. Yes. Legend. Legend. Yes. One of the godfathers for sports radio.

Yes. So I called up Art. I'm like, hey, Art. I mean, my uncle confirmed it.

The guy gave me his card. You know, I'm just, I'm out there a little bit, man. Smoked too much weed or something. Can you tell me everything about this dude, Freddie Red Cochran? And Art Rush Jr., the goat, went into a ranch.

I mean, not a ranch. He just, Freddie Red Cochran, 1940, 1942, Walter White champion of the world. Inducted into whatever, the Army, the Navy, you lost the belt. Came back, Fritzie's epic, blah, blah. And I'm just like blown away.

Art Rush Jr., unbelievable. So then I'm like totally into Freddie Red Cochran. So I'm like, all of a sudden I got all these maintenance problems. Just to have the conversations, yeah. We're beer drinking buddies there. And you know, I'm like, Freddie, how do you Walter White champion the world with 38 lawsuits?

He's like, hey, come on, man. It was back in the day. You know what I'm saying? Anyway, all he did is fight. Nah, it's a tough sport to be involved in. And I learned a long time ago hanging around boxers is that it's true. You can play basketball. You can play hockey.

You can play tennis. You do not play boxing. And that is- People don't know boxing, man.

They just don't know boxing. Thank you. Freddie passed away of basically alcoholism.

He made it to 75, which is unbelievable. God rest his soul, Freddie Red Cochran. Well, thank you, Chris. Appreciate you for calling from Cali, man.

Thank you, my brother. No doubt about it. No, you do not play boxing. And even for some of the all time greats, we had George Foreman on here a few weeks ago. And I've been fortunate enough to have spoken and met so many legends in the world of boxing. So, you know, from Andre Ward to Roy Jones to Foreman. And it just, it goes on and on and on, Manny Pacquiao. It just- Even when a lot of these dudes get older, Van de Holyfield, it can become difficult, like, to let go.

I mean, Roy Jones Jr. is still doing celebrity boxing matches right now. It's like, what are we doing here? You know, just- It's a tough thing to do. I encourage you to watch the documentary. It's not even just a boxing documentary. It's about sports and how you can screw up and how the world is ready to tear you apart. And the media's position in a lot of it and the family backgrounds.

It's tough. And there's not the same type of structure that exists in boxing. A lot of the pitfalls can be a whole hell of a lot worse. There's no safety net, no union, like a lot of these other sports that people participate in. And so if you're boxing in the first place, you're probably doing it out of necessity. And it's a hard way up.

It could be a hard way down. Thank you so much to Andre Ward for joining us. It's the chair of sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio on the other side of the break. I'm going to give you a top six list. It's going to be about athletes who have bounced back from difficult circumstances. Don't move a top six on the other side.

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