Andre Ward fight rejected by NSAC. Labeled a MISMATCH???

But its a different weight class , doesnt it mean nothing ? (the fight will be in LHW , which he never fought in)

 

One has to wonder why it was a one-person bidding war to land a P4P talent and the last American Olympic gold medalist.

As far as I know, and someone closer to the situation can feel free to correct me, Roc Nation was bidding against themselves for the "blockbuster deal" they landed Andre for. Haymon didn't show interest, which is a red flag of red flags since his stable needs another high-level talent it can transition into a PPV fighter to replace Floyd. Every other huge Roc Nation offer to fighters like Broner got turned down.

That deal was great for Andre's pocketbook, but they forgot that you have to pay opponents well if you want them to face your pound-for- pound rated champion, too.

 

Ward is a great talent. I know I get my kicks razzing him sometimes, but he's an exceptional fighter. I'd like to see him turn it around.

I just wish he wasn't as bad managing his career out of the ring as he is good in it.

 

Grachev is very good. Good fighters can have off days too.

 

Awesome

 

I think the issue here isn't in the ranking of Ward's proposed opponent (#6 wbo should be good enough). The issue is that the opponent isn't from the same weight class, and is being brought up as a lamb to the slaughter, for a guy that some rate as #2 p4p fighter in the world. This has Rod Salka written all over it.

 

I almost got the feeling Pascal let up a bit in the end to make it more interesting and make a potential rematch an easier sell.

 

:good

 

You could be onto something. He does have stamina issues that are pretty well documented, but it was a stark contrast from how "in control" he was before the late stages and Bute himself isn't exactly known for his deep reserves & coming on strong in the home stretch (the stigma of Andrade I might prove hard for him to ever live down)

 

Agreed.

And maybe the stigma of Andrade I does make me unfairly biased against the possibility, but I had a hard time buying that a shopworn Bute, of all people, was in a position to take advantage of Pascal's slowdown at the end.

I've seen stranger things in boxing that proved to be legit, but I had to raise an eyebrow once that was combined with the rematch talks in the post-fight interviews.

 

Grachev is okay. He should be on a slump of six in a row, as he got a horrible gift over Erdei.

 

They are both moving up.

 

Yeah, especially given the build-up and how that had been discussed as being a big money draw in Quebec for close to a decade by then (basically the Canadian version of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao) - you have to figure anything short of a swift & brutal KO either way probably was going to leave the door ajar for a rematch and whatever could be done to nudge perceptions toward accepting it would be embraced in a hurry (like, say, planting stooges online to go around crowing about how "close and competitive" it was, touting scorecards having it a draw or Bute shading it, etc)

 

Boxing fans are routinely treated like idiots by those in the biz. Par for the course, really.