HBO turned down Dimitri Sartison and Caleb Truax as Andre Ward opponents

Go to Showtime Andre.

HBO doesn't like American fighters.

Let them hang their hopes on Pac and those old middleweights.

 

HBO built Mayweather into a PPV super star.

 

Sorry, I mistyped. Truax is WBC #29, unrated by the WBA.

Sartison is WBA #4 (mysteriously) - unrated by the WBC.

 

Ha, you think Showtime would approve these fights?? They are HEAVILY investing in action fighters and action fights. They wouldnt touch this with a ten foot pole. They even forced mayweather to fight canelo...they do what they want.


What about adonis stevenson? He said he's more than willing to make 168...he's not signed to fight anyone yet..

Ward really ****ed up by getting himself injured AGAIN and pulling out of that pavlik fight...would have made him some real good money and would have been entertaining.

 

Andre Ward was with Showtime in Super6. They even signed Bute for a ridiculous amount so the winner of Super6 can unify all major belts at smw but they were fu.cked by Warddke in the arss with his shameless duck after beating Froch. I don't think Warddke is welcome at Showtime after the stun he did on them,they lost millions with the hometown crying *****

 

People are really being unfair regarding Ward vs. Truax, I think.

Ward vs. Sartison is a joke in h2h terms (although, somehow, the guy does still have a high enough rating for the German to become mandatory and therefore a 'legit' contender by way of a little prestidigitation...) but Truax wouldn't lay down for Ward, however outmatched.

Truax has suffered plenty of cuts, so given Ward's history that could be a problem, but as far as I know he never has been seriously hurt or down having faced Donovan George, Jermain Taylor, Antwun Echols, and several journeymen with a bit of truth-serum dig. As well as those mentioned, he beat Proksa conqueror Kerry Hope, fellow onetime prospect on the Midwestern circuit Phil Williams, Andy Kolle, Matt Vanda - all fairly comfortably. To be frank he is only another FNF or ShoBox-level victory or two away from having a not dissimilar resume to Ward prior to jumping into the S6.

Is he in Ward's league? No. Would he be a long shot? Yes.

Really though, if there isn't a top 10 name readily available just now, he'll serve. He isn't a complete bum, only has one somewhat forgivable blemish on his resume (despite Taylor being past it) and it with his style would at least be entertaining, if likely one-sided.

There wouldn't really be much room to criticize Ward if he fought Truax, unless maybe you want to harp about how lowly ranked he is to be challenging (in which case I would direct you to revisit the #4status of freaking Sartison to illustrate just how meaningless and unreliable rankings are). Seriously, look at Ward's body of work since 2009 and give the guy a break.

Throw away 2 names - Podwill and Green - and you are left with a nearly continuous gauntlet of half a dozen world class opponents. The only person with a better run in the division is Froch himself, with ten in a row going back five years. Ward can afford now to make a relative 'soft touch' defense against someone who falls a bit short of world class and would damn sure be up for it and determined to knock him off the pedestal.

Of course I'd rather see Ward unify with Stieglitz, or in a rematch with Froch, or take on a more established up and comer with more upside than Caleb Truax - like Rodriguez, Groves, Oosthuizen, Gonzales, DeGale, Jack or Vlasov...but outside those I'd be happy to settle for Ward vs. Truax, given the alternatives. It would still be preferable to an excruciatingly predictable Ward vs. Abraham II...or to seeing a Magee or Manfredo get another shot based solely on their remaining scraps of name value.

Face it....while the highest any org ranks him is 29, Truax is top h2h 10-15 among potential Ward challengers. :good

 

Was there any dates thrown around for these fights? Be interesting to know when Ward might be back in the ring.

 

It's not that there is no justification behind it whatsoever. Factually, it's just an awful fight to make in regards to the fans. Consider this: Fighters facing others in their leagues.

Truax/Stevens/Vera -- these three contenders can makes many good fights. Hell, I'd pick Truax to Stevens and maybe Vera (on or off night).

Don George win was fantastic. He was a tough guy from Chicago looking to get his career back on the run in a new weight class. With that said, usually a man who is a strong hearted high-level gatekeeper, became a weight-drained human punching bag. He had NOTHING in his shots, he was slow, he was tired in round one. Lets not overrate this win. :bart Truax has much to prove.

You know what the best part is. Truax is fighting on EVEN GROUNDS on September 21st. Heard on Twitter it will be Caleb Truax-Osumanu Adama headlining on 9-21 in Minneapolis. That's good. :good Glad that Caleb Truax concerns his career above a paycheck. I hope Sartison isn't foolish enough to dive for the bucks (and then go on ANOTHER mini-retirement). :fire

If he wants, we can see Ward in with a stay-busy opponent. Someone looking for some extra money. Maybe we can see a fight with someone like Marco Antonio Periban, OFF TV. Let him get a stoppage. Great.:good

He can return on TV against Sakio Bika, Bernard Hopkins, Carl Froch/George Groves, Karoly Balzsay, Robert Stieglitz, Adonis Stevenson... ect next year. Fighters capable of doing something.

If he wants Sartison (or still to lure Truax), go for it! Not on television, though. Get "Go Fight Live" or something like that. Ustream it.

 

Dunno, but Truax is now scheduled for a September date for the IBF's United States MW title so he is definitely out of the race. :conf

 

Good fight some one folks want to see

 

Profanity and mistypings aside this is the most spot on post.

Dick head didn't fight Bute even after winning the Super 6 you are not gonna tell me it wouldn't have made him any money. **** it would have been his highest pay day EVER!!

 

Yes he could have and didn't, but we saw what happened when Bute fought a lesser elite - so...

 

Yes but at the time, Ward didn't know that so it was a duck....a Duck from what he thought Bute was, but a duck none the less.

 

Or, he already saw in Bute what some needed the veil lifted by the Froch loss to clear up their vision in order to see - that Bute wasn't the #2 he was being made out to be, and that such would come out in the wash, so to speak, and so there was no reason for Ward to leave his own comfort zone to visit another home-body for whom the stigma of Andrade I still kind of lingers. :good (as Ward is almost certain to have defeated Bute at virtually any point in their careers - but not by stoppage as Froch did...and if there's funny business with the refs/judges, well...it works against Ward having stylistic and physical attribute differences and not being able to do what Froch did...)

 

Bute said he's willing to travel to Oakland. There is no excuse,none, for what Ward did. Even Ward himself said the winner MUST fight Bute next weeks before the super6 final. It was a blatant duck!