Andre Ward fighting in Oakland

Ward makes Hopkins look like School boy.

 

I think you are right to an extent. The scoring was bad. 116-112 give or take a rd or so. I definitely think the judges were swayed by the hometown effect.

Bika gave just as much as he got. He is just as much the villain as Ward in that fight. That's his style. Either guy complaining is ridiculous. The ref should have taken a point or 2 from both guys. Stopped that **** nice and early.

 

The funny thing is, Andre Ward won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in -- Greece of all places!

Greece!

how do you figure?

Greece!?

 

Whats that got to do with his pro career and all his title fights in Joakland? Nothing

 

:deal

 

seems to say he's a winner even in strange far away places, doesn't it?

 

If Ward does that rough stuff on Froch, he is going to get slammed the same way Dirrell did.

 

I saw a lot of AW pushing into Bika with the (left) forearm. The most noticeably example was of course before the right elbow went in. But in general what do you guys think about such liberal use of the forearm? Pretty sure I've seen Mayweather doing this a fair bit also - how legal is it?

 

Can you imagine if Abraham was having ALL his fights in Berlin or Froch was having ALL his fights in Nottingham the YANKS would be going ballistic crying foul. Ward is a wuss.

 

Not as a pro, it dosent

 

right on, i had it close as well

 

We should post another 5 threads about this.

I mean, why not.

 

Ward will be confused when fighting under a neutral ref.

If he does what he has been doing under a neutral ref, he will be warned in the first round and points will be coming off in the second round no doubt. He won't know what to do. He gets away with murder in Joakland.

 

Good points, it will be interesting to see what Wards skill level is like when he is not allowed to hold before punching etc.
Ward dosent even get points deducted in Joakland, where he clearly headbutts, uses the forearms and elbows, holds and hits. There are other noted fouls that he does.
When Ward was being worked over on the inside by Bika, he looked at the ref and they got parted yet Ward was allowed to lean on Bika etc. Funny how Bika seemed to get the warnings also.
Ward could well get DQ when fighting away from Joakland

 

Lets just see if he goes outside of Oakland after the tournament. I do think he's getting an advantage but so was Froch when he was fighting dirty in his hometown against Dirrell. If this tournament shows one thing it's that a home advantage is really important but I can't really fault Ward too much because his team toke advantage of a loophole. Any other fighter could've fought only at home but only Ward and his team decided to do so. I can't wait to see him fight outside Oakland as it will be a weird experience for him.