Why couldn't Andre Ward cash in on his Olympic Gold Medal the way Oscar De La Hoya cashed his Gold?

Noone would fight him because he's was a extremely high risk - practically zero income proposition for most of his career.

Who wants a fight against a guy who's 95% likely to beat you for the kind of money you could barely buy a used Sedan for.

 

Because he couldn’t even sell a hometown Arena.

 

Because a secret society of cross dressing reptilians control all the money in sport.

Hoya played the game...the Son of God did not.

 

his refusal to fight out of his home town and make real money

 

Not charismatic enough and a style that wouldn't drive new fans to watch him.

 

Oscar just knew how to play the game. Released an album at one point, made guest appearances on shows, had an all around good personality/charisma...add the Mexican-American fan base and that’s all he needed. Wasn’t a pushover either and was a beast in a ring as well.

Well, I’m sure his private life after that didn’t help him in a positive way but did get his name out there I guess. Almost nobody outside the boxing community even now I would say knows who Ward is...

Just goes to show you that just skills won’t get you far in boxing unfortunately...

 

not the biggest oscar fan but a legit argument

 

Ward fought in a division that isn't typically attractive to American boxing fans 168. 147 is where Oscar made his name and is a much better division than 168 historically.

 

Most promoters take a financial loss with fighters like Ward who are likely to make it far in the pro ranks. For promoters they see it as an investment to get their fighter quality learning fights and exposure early.

 

It was a very different time and a very different place Wards rise versus Oscars rise

Boxing in the 1990s in the United States was a much more mainstream sport then it is now or at the time of Ward's rise also Oscar was a household name when he won the Olympics because of the story with him and his mother and he had that going for him when he turned Pro

In addition to that as previous posters of mentioned the built-in Mexican-American fanbase his looks and crossover appeal and also a much more Talent Laden division or multiple divisions with Big Time Stars for him to beat

In the case of Ward he came around in a Time where boxing was not as popular in the United States as it was during Oscars time he didn't have the crossover appeal or the story that Oscar had and unlike many countries the US has a deep history in boxing and Olympic gold medals so it takes a lot to really impress the general public here who already don't care much about boxing I think you see that with a lot of today's Fighters where we've had our grandparents talk about guys like Robinson and Marciano and our parents telling us about Ali and Robinson and maybe some older relatives like cousins or uncles tell us about the Fab Four and Mike Tyson so being a gold medalist in a country with a ton of boxing history doesn't just impress anybody like it might in a smaller country with less boxing history

Ward was still given chances like the super six tournament and he came through with flying colors I think he really messed up when he stalled his career after the tournament he had an obvious opponent in Bute who was clearly the best in the division after the tournament besides ward but he decided not to fight him for some strange reason and let froch take that w and Revitalize his career

 

Ward despite his ring talent has zero charisma and isn't very marketable while Oscar had more charisma then he knew what to do with and was extremely marketable.

 

De La Hoya had:

1. The backing of the Mexican American community
2. Came from one of the biggest, most attractive, and famous cities in the U.S. (Los Angeles)
3. De La Hoya was thought to be a very handsome person
4. Because of his boyish charm and good looks DLH had a lot of sponsors and came out on commercials
5. Had a very entertaining style thoughout his career. Started as a KO artist, and transitioned into an exciting boxer puncher once he hit 147