At the age of 25, Andre Ward entered a tournament with Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, and Carl Froch. He wiped them all out. For comparison sake, Gennady Golovkin is 32 years old.
I realize that. I watched the super six and used to be a fan of his. That doesn't change the fact that his moves at this current time tell a different story. The guy clearly doesn't want to take any risks anymore, now that he thinks he's literally 'the son of god' of the boxing world or something. Not to mention how he was catered to in having all his fights in the US, most in his hometown of Oakland I believe, and he's carrying that same expectation around as if he's some major PPV star himself.
I expect Ward to fight Kovalev in 2015-16. They're both rather young and Kovalev is not going up to cruisers. [yt]-BCrG_FGl2Q[/yt]
The problem is, Ward is known, and people don't want to watch his fights. He is the problem, not Kovalev.
The truth is there is no one the general public (meaning non die hard boxing fans) is going to want to pay for in the 168-175 range. No big name stars there, and none of the fighters possess the charisma or style that will draw in the casuals.
I imagine if they tried pushing that as a PPV in the US, it would be one of the most terrible draws in recent PPV history, bar none. Most people have no clue who either of those fighters are. Besides it is about as likely as Mayweather-Pac at this point. :smoke
SOB Ward was the only boxer who never had to travel in Ward's own tournament. Ward refused to fight outside his home turf, had to have his own personal referee, judges, boxing commission.............let Ward to go UK and fight Froch. Ward said that Kovalev was too big for him. Ward refused to even answer Stevenson when Stevenson called him out live on HBO, Stevenson even said he would come down to 168, but Ward still refuses to answer him. However, Kovalev would love to fight Stevenson, but Stevenson is afraid of Kovalev and that is a fact. Let Ward continue to fight a useless fight in court for the rest of his life...............after all Goosen did for him. Ward is very spoiled..................
Kovalev would knock Ward out, but Ward said that Kovalev was too big for him. OK, Stevenson said he would fight Ward at 168, Ward refused to answer him................now, what does that say about spoiled brat Ward?
Whatever money he makes from the fight is going to better than the money he'd make by not taking the fight. Also by racking up a couple of good wins would get him into postion to starting pushing to be a PPV fighter in his own right, not just off the back of other more established fighters.