On Sept. 8, super middleweight Andre Ward will put his RING, WBA and WBC belts on the line against RING light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, Calif.

Click here for a video of an interview featuring Andre Ward and Chad Dawson with HBO’s Jim Lampley.

Ward, 28, whose father died in 2002 of a heart ailment, also credited his trainer and father figure, Virgil Hunter, for helping to guide him to Olympic glory in 2004.

Ward became RING champion in December, when he unanimously decisioned Carl Froch to add the Englshman’s WBC 168-pound belt to the WBA crown that he already owned in addition to earning him the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic Cup.

Click here for Ward’s RING belt presentation and post-fight press conference.

Dawson earned a majority decision win to dethrone the legendary Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs) in April.

HBO’s 24/7: Road to to Ward-Dawson will debut on Saturday, Aug. 25, from midnight to 12:30 a.m. ET/PT.

The following are Ward’s training camp notes taken from a press release distributed by HBO in association of fight promoters Dan Goossen, who has Ward, and Gary Shaw, who handles Dawson.

Monday, August 20: Ward – What is Dawson’s most dangerous attribute as a fighter? How are you preparing for this fight? Is there any one aspect of Dawson’s game that concerns you most, or that you’ve focused on more than any other during training?

“I cannot identify what Chad’s greatest attribute as a fighter is yet because I have not fought him so that remains to be seen. There is not (just) one thing that’s dangerous about him, he is a good, all-around fighter. His credentials speak for themselves and when you go into a mega-fight or a championship fight, you prepare for the best and you prepare for everything.

“I’m not locked in for one thing. We are prepared for the best Chad Dawson on September 8. With every opponent and every fight, there are multiple things that you prepare for, and we are prepared for the best of Chad Dawson. We are prepared for anything and everything. If you prepare for anything else than that, you are selling yourself short.

“This camp is no different than my past training camps. It’s not a clich├®, it’s the way it is. I don’t pick certain camps that I go hard in. I’m always training to the maximum. I feel like every fight, I’m in the best shape of my life. That’s the way I think a champion is supposed to prepare. I respect the game and the game has always respected me and nothing is different in this training camp.”

Photo by Tom Casino, Showtime

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]