Anyone feel that if his career was better managed in the early days he couldve been a real solid top 15 in LWW and WW at the time. watching some of his earlier fights his style is fantastic i honestly think he couldve had a very good career if their wasnt always something going on outside of the ring
No. He simply wasn't as good as he has been hyped to be because of his highly publicized fights with Gatti, who was also greatly flawed. He was outboxed several times in the late '80s before giving it up for a long sabatical. He was managed ok. He was just beaten by better fighters. Top Rank moved him well. They just had better fighters contracted to them that beat him like Brazier. The only fight where maybe in hindsight he was mismanaged was letting him fight a bigger guy in Mungin. But no one thought Mungin would beat him because Mungin was rusty after four years in prison and had always fought at 140 lbs.
He was managed for a lot of his career by his own mother and his brother ****y who was a crack head..
He was moved pretty slowly on the way up. He lost his first real test to Edwin Curet. If he was contender material, he would have beaten Curet. Curet was a journeyman, at best. There have been countless fighters who were worse managed than Mickey Ward. It wasn't like he was thrown in over his head from day one.
That may be true. But how a fighter is managed, trained and handled can have a huge impact on his success or failures. Never mind taking long leaves of absences from the ring or taking fights on short notice, or having training sessions delayed or disrrupted because your trainer-brother was passed out or in jail, all of which Ward was subjected to.. The fact that at 37 years of age, Mickey fought an incredible trilogy with a very good ( but not great ) Arturo Gatti certainly implies that there was ability that might have been better harnested in his youth if some things were different..
I had seen Ward fight a few times in the late 80's and didn't think too much of him. In 1990 I met one of his nephews (my friend's father married one of Ward's sisters) who knew I was a boxing nut and he told me I should watch his Uncle Micky (Ward). He gave me the back story on Ward as well as Ward's older brother Dlck Ecklund's story. I never told him I had already seen Ward and wasn't impressed. Ward's next fight was against Harold Brazier, Ward lost a decision. Ward lost his next 3 fights by decision... Charles Murray, Toney Martin and Ricky Meyers. All 4 of these fighters were very good in my opinion, no shame in losing, but something wasn't right with Ward. Ward needed surgery on his hands. I was trying to like this guy but he wasn't doing enough to win. Did a police officer really injure Micky Ward's hand like in the movie? Yes, but the injury didn't happen exactly as the movie depicts it. It also happened on May 9, 1987, before Micky's mismatched fight with Mungin, not after it. Like in the movie, Micky Ward was arrested for interfering with the arrest of his brother Dlckie. Unlike the film, the arrest did not stem from Dlckie having just been caught in the act running a prostitution scheme. Prior to the arrest, Dlckie had actually been inside the Cosmo club (Cosmopolitan Cafe on Market Street) with his brother. Dlckie exited the club to supposedly defend someone he knew who was getting beat up outside, only the cops say that instead of seeing Dlckie helping the guy, when they arrived Dlckie was punching and kicking him. In the movie, a policeman cracks Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) on the hand with a nightstick when his hand is on the hood of a patrol car. However, during the actual scuffle outside the Cosmo club, Ward was pulling officers off his brother when his hands were cuffed behind his back and then hit repeatedly with a flashlight, breaking his left hand and bruising the right. The resulting injury would plague Ward throughout his career. During the arrest, the police had also split Ward's head wide open, which took seven stitches to fix. - Irish Thunder Did a cop really yell, "He's a fighter, break his f@#king hand!" during Micky's arrest? Yes, though it may not have been taken exactly word for word. Micky recalls that when the cops had him on the ground, he heard one cop yelling, "Break his f@#king hands! Break his f@#king hands!" Micky Ward's cousin, Mike Lutkus, who was there that night, says that as the cops were hitting Micky, someone observing yelled, "Hey, don't do that! That's Micky Ward." One of the cops yelled back, "F@#k Micky Ward," and another officer added, "Yeah, break his hands so he can't fight again." - An HBO documentary and a long story in Boxing Illustrated about Dlck Ecklund and all of his problems sparked my interest. I wanted Ward to do well in his comeback. Validating the stories I had heard from my friend. Ward came back in 1994 after almost a near 3 year layoff. His hands were repaired. He won 9 in a row, 7 by KO including KO wins over Louis Veader and Alfonso Sanchez. He also beat Veader by decision in their rematch. His left hook to the body was awesome! He lost by 3rd round TKO to Vince Phillips for the IBF JWW World Title in 1997. The stoppage was bullshlt and the Boston crowd showed how they felt about it by throwing trash in the ring. Ward did not get a rematch though. He lost a decision to a prime Zab Judah in 1998. He won his next 4 by KO including a great fight vs. Reggie Green (KO10) and a nice win over Shea Neary (8th round KO) for the WBU JWW World Title. He dropped a decision to Antonio Diaz and it looked like the end was near for Ward. He came back with 2 wins including a great fight vs. Emanuel Augustus (W10) in the 2001 Ring Magazine fight of the year. He lost a TD (5th round) to Jesse James Leija due to a Leija cut (they should have fought again). In his last 3 fights he fought wars vs. Arturo Gatti and even won their first fight. 17-6 (13) during this stretch. His fights vs. Phillips and Leija were very unfortunate. He didn't look very good vs. Judah or Diaz but he didn't get hurt either. His losses to Gatti are something to be proud of. His win over Gatti was unforgettable.
Thanks for the story and great information. Yeah a lot of the time frames and incidents in that movie were out of whack and rearanged. They made his title bout with Shea Neary seem as though it was the first time he had fought for a world title when in fact he had already challenged Vince Phillips for one and lost. Most of it was true it seems but scrambled.
Those were some great days.. Especially back in the 80's and early 90's. Some great cards featuring fights in all divisions, hot prospects, household veterans, tough journeyman, and great commentators.. Sitting back on a Tuesday night with a cold Budweiser and watching the fights... Those were the days..
USA & ESPN both had good boxing programs back then. I remember Old George Foreman fought on USA in a "comeback fight"....and he beat up a journeyman "white" guy by throwing just a bunch of roundhouse shots to the body, plus a "belly-bump" or two. Then he was munching on a hamburger post fight !
Micky ward was what he was. A tough guy from a bit of a mental background had a lot going on in build up to fights but that's his own fault he could've done what many have done and taken himself to different people. As for his boxing he was as tough and game as they come but lots of decent boxers would beat him. His fights with gatti are amazing and I have them all and love watching them but that doesn't mean either were great fighters they were just made for each other I've seen some great wars at local amateur shows
