According to some of those Ward would be 21-5 if he had traveled abroad ffs. Making out as though he's been gifted decisions, this isn't no Felix Sturm, Marco Huck type ****. Those are the guys you wanna go after. What about all the other American fighters who fought their entire careers in USA, why don't nobody say **** about them? USA is the biggest country for Boxing so it makes sense to fight there, that's why when British fighters make it to a certain level they goto America and only come back for "homecoming" fights.
So why, in your warped mind, is it ok for Ward to get Kessler and Froch when they were Champs to come to him with their titles but not ok for him to go to them with his? If he's going to beat them no matter what then surely its going to be great psychologial victory for him if he humiliate them in their home countries, and get the plaudit for going to their backyard while doing so. If he's so much better than them, and he can beat them anywhere, then why are you saying he shouldn't? Can you really say it would do any damage to his legacy to beat either Froch or Kessler in their backyards instead of his?
thats how showtime playd the cards!! if the promoter had decide ward had to made the unification in england or denmark...i know he would had go...he is a profecional fighter...its a sport that fear is not allowed. the problem is that Ward is the champion and he has the right to choose were he wants to defend his tittles.....so you guys have to deal with that. i love both carl and kessler.......but if the think they can beat him...take the belts with out crying like a *****
Froch and Kessler are in the process of rebuilding, gaining momentum to challenge Ward again. This will, inevitably, end with a fight between the two of them so only one will get their rematch. They've both said they want Ward, they've both said they think they can beat him and dont think they were at their best in their first fights against him, none of which seems particularly like whining to me. I'm pretty sure that both Kessler and Froch said that while they want the rematch to happen in England or Demark they're prepared to go to America for it. My main problem is the way I have seen Ward fans going on about how the rematch would have to happen in America as if there would be no benefit whatsoever to the fights happening in England or Denmark. There are benefits to be had for Ward in beating Froch or Kessler in their hometown rather than his or some neutral venue in America - the payday wouldn't be noticably smaller and Ward could dispell some myths surrounding him while proving his superiority - so I still dont understand why people are ruling it out entirely.
Hi mate, I'll get behind it, but at the moment, he's having a break. He's no desire right nown to fight a guy he's outclassed less than 12 months ago. Like you've just mentioned, he doesn't have to go anywhere at the moment. The situation with Calzaghe was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. He was an unknown fighter, fighting in a weak divison, defending his WBO belt. All the best fighters available to him, were in America. Andre has already beaten all of the top fighters in his weight class. Joe had to leave his comfort zone to get the big fights. Luckily for Andre, they've all gone to him, because of Goosen, and because Showtime hosted the Super Six. They're not excuses. Put yourself in Andre's shoes. Why would you go to Denmark, unless you had to? Like you've said, he probably wouldn't get credit anyway, if he did travel. All of this anger towards him not travelling, is just from bitter fans who support the fighters he's beaten. If he travelled to Nottingham and outclassed Carl, what would happen on here? it would be, Carl wasn't at his best. Ward is still boring. etc, etc. There would always be something. If Andre decides to stay at 168, then at some point he'll have to fight Kessler and Froch again, because there's no one else. But, it will be on his terms, because he's the champ. Andre holds all of the cards. If Carl was in the same position of power, he'd want to fight every fight in Nottingham with his home crowd. He hasn't fought away from home through choice, he's done it because he's HAD to. Regards, Loudon.
The crucial bit about my stance on this issue is "if they earn a rematch" I am in no way advocating Ward fighting Froch or Kessler in the next year, neither man would be worthy of a shot, but if Froch wins all his fights against credible oppostion in the next year and Kessler wins all his against credible opposition, then they fight each other, then the winner of that will be worthy of a rematch. So if either earns a rematch then I think it would happen in 2014 at the earliest, provided Ward's not left the division by then. And at that time I would fail to see any credibility to an argument that there would be no benefit to be had for Ward if he fought either Froch in England or Kessler in Denmark.
The difference is, Froch and Kessler HAD to go to Ward. They did it on the request of their promoters. Nobody travells unless they have to, unless their someone like like Ali, who took great delight in doing so. Regards, Loudon.
That's right. If Kessler beats Magee he becomes Ward's mando and Ward has to defend before May 2013. As it stands I reckon that fight will go to purseoffers where there's a pretty good chance that Sauerland wins the bid on behalf of Kessler. If that likely scenario plays out what do you think happens? Will Ward defend in Denmark or will he put his tail behind his legs and give up the belt? I think the latter outcome is the most likely. Yes he did. Ottke was the no. 1 and Joe just didn't want to go to Germany. In what way is America the home of boxing? What do mean with that term? Andre perhaps. Goosen made the ultimatum though. All fights at home or no tournament. They where hyping the fight. Ask them whether they put real money on Dawson and I guarantee you that they did not. Particularly not after Miranda KO'ed him in sparring and all the rumours of weightmaking difficulties surfaced.
I agree with that. I agree that it was the promoters who decided it and very few people would be the away fighter if they could help it. But still on the theoretical front, I fail to see how an argument that Ward would gain nothing from fighting a worthy challenger abroad can be supported. Realistically, he doesn't have to fight abroad so long as he calls the shots but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be some benefit for him doing so. And Lennox Lewis who, as I said, spent something like seven or so years fighting as the away fighter in the US, as a conscious decision to go where the top fighters in his division were and to fight where the money was.
Ok mate, that's fair enough. If Andre decides to stay at 168, then he'll have to fight them at some point. I understand exactly where you're coming from, but I'm just looking at things solely from Andre's perspective. Fighting in Denamark would probably gain him respect like you say. But we don't know him personally. Would he think, I'm going to go to Denmark to get rid of my stay at home tag? Or will he think, why should I have to travel to Denmark? I'll fight him here. We don't know, and it's fun to speculate. But if I was Andre, and I was the champ, I wouldn't even consider going to Denmark. I'm sure that if Kessler could fight all of the best fighters in Denmark without ever needing to travel, I think he'd do exactly the same. We also don't know what the terms of the contract would be do we? If Carl keeps impressing the way he has, it might be a bigger fight for both fighters if it happened in the U.S. In Britain they could hold it in football stadium packed with around 50,000 fans, and with a decent PPV. Both fighters would get a share of the gate and the PPV. But how many fans would watch it from the U.S.? I think the best thing to do, would be for Carl to have a few fights in America and call him out. Because if the PPV numbers were good, then depending on what his split was, potentially he could make more than at home. America's PPV audience is huge. It's all if's and buts at the moment. Carl needs to keep winning in style to get Andre's and America's attention. Then if the promotion is good, both guys are going to be paid good money. As it stands, what would Andre make if he went to England? What would he make if he fought in Denmark? Financially, would it be worth it to travel? Of course Carl and Mikkel want hometown advantage, and I admit that it makes a slight difference. But Andre holds all of the cards. I think Andre will stick around for a little bit, and see what happens with Dirrell's comeback, and what happens with Magee/Kessler and Foch/Bute. I think he will rematch Carl at some point, but I think Carl will have to concede again, and go to America. Nice debating with you. Regards, Loudon.
So why in your warped mind do you want to see a re-match of a fight that wasn't overly competitive in the first place? Because Carl said he had an off night? Gee, as a fan I've never heard that from a fighter before. Why a Kessler re-match? Oh, the headbutts right? That must be it. It wasn't Ward's talent or how slow Kessler is that enabled Andre to repeatedly punch Kessler in the face now was it? Why does Ward need a great psychological victory over two guys he already beat handily? I guess you want to see a Hatton-Pacquiao re-match or Cotto- Mayweather 2 in the UK and PR respectively huh? You are just another butthurt fanboy who demands Ward travel simply of the notion that in a re-match Kessler and Froch may be able to regain some dignity from the one sided beatings they incurred, simply because they are fighting at home. Well keep dreaming pal, and I wonder if the sky is blue in the dream world that you live in.....