Andre Ward vs. Lucian Bute.

Dawson was not more proven than Bute at the weight Ward fought him at. Why do you think Ward pounced on fighting him at 168 and refused to budge a single inch when Dawson later approached him about doing it at a catchweight? Dawson only asked for a mere 2lb concession from him and they wouldn't even agree to that. What Dawson actually said in the post-fight interview when he called Ward out was that they could do it at that 168, 175 or a catchweight and Ward is the one who immediately jumped on them doing it at 168 and clung onto it like a limpet. He knew Dawson was obviously having problems getting back down to a weight he hadn't fought at in six and a half years but he still refused to budge an inch when Dawson requested a catchweight.

And during the post-fight press conference shortly after that interview Dawson said that he was ''he would prefer not to come out of his comfort zone of 175'' for the fight

Ward knew full well in advance that he was going to be accused of draining Dawson if they fought at 168, but Mr. I don't do concessions and always WANT and GET everything my own way all the time once again refused to make a single concession to ensure, as per usual, the deck was stacked heavily in his favour yet again.

Dawson had already agreed to go to his hometown Jokeland for goodness sake, a place where Ward is allowed to fight to a set of rules he penned with his own hand. That alone already put Dawson at a massive disadvantage. He also had 2 Californian judges in tow but even all of that wasn't enough of advantage for Ward. Not only does his Royal Highness always want every single advantage stacked in his favour but best believe poor little hard done by victim him will hurl his toys out of the pram half way across the nursery floor whenever anyone dares to pull him up about it.

Both Ward and Virgil Hunter said they've already beaten two LHWs in Dawson and Edwin Rodriguez. Dawson weighed 186 when he fought him and Rodriguez was at least that by the time he climbed into the ring. Ward already knew weeks in advance (thanks to the spies he has in his opponent's camps) that Rodriguez was having serious problems trying to get back down to the SMW limit. Rodriguez still looked like a skeleton on the scales during the secondary weigh-in on the morning of the fight and he weighed 179.8 then.

BTW, Rodriguez's trainer Ronnie Shields said that ''devout Christian'' Ward's scumbag gangster manager James Prince was seen on the morning of the fight trying to break the scales so that the weigh in would be delayed until even later and Rodriguez would have even less time to rehydrate.

So if Ward has already beaten two LHWs, one of them being the premier one in the world at the time, and said he was ready for ANYONE at 168 or 175 as far back as 2012, why the hell does he now need 3 tune up fights to ''acclimatize to the weight'' before facing Kovalev if he didn't believe Dawson and Rodriguez were drained? Kovalev weighed 3lbs more in his last fight than Ward did in his and 3lbs less than Dawson did when Ward beat him. And Rodriguez was probably closer to 190 come fight time when he fought Ward. Don't forget that Ward publicly stated at the time that he wanted the credit for beating a full strength Dawson as well not the ravaged weight drained Edison Miranda sloppy seconds corpse who showed up on fight night. He simply cannot have it both ways.

And if you don't think he was banking on Dawson being weakened and drained when he fought him they you clearly have no idea no idea just how calculating and scheming Ward and his trainer are. Funny how Ward's stablemate Amir Khan doesn't need 3 tune ups to settle into the new weight to fight the much bigger Canelo, eh?

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And Khan, whose whiskers were glassy down at 140 and has been avoiding punchers like the plague since he got decimated by Danny Garcia, is having to move up even more weight than Ward and he has only been at welter for 3 fights. atsch

Khan was dropped by an ancient Julio Diaz for goodness sake. He barely won that fight and he would've unquestionably have lost inside the distance had he not been allowed to get away with a ridiculous amount of holding by the conveniently blind ref. That's what Hunter calls great defense.

Chris Algieri of all people wobbled Khan too

Regarding Bute. Ward would've been facing a healthy Bute at 168 not a drained to death cadaver. Revisionism aside, Bute wasn't just a legitimate KO puncher he was and a fast counter puncher a vicious counter left uppercut to either head or body and he at that who had scored spectacular one punch finishes over some of the toughest and most durable fighters in or around the SMW division. I'm talking like the freakishly tough Librado Andrade, Fernando Zuninga (it was a one punch finish if you check the clock. Zuniga was writhing on the canvas in utter agony for a good 14 or 15 seconds at least IIRC), and Edison Miranda, the same Miranda who Ward could only outpoint 11 months earlier, whilst having to rely on plenty of his usual brand of cheating.

From a report on the fight

'Ward also would get off his combinations then tie up Miranda when he behaved in a threatening manner. (I thought he should have been warned for excessive holding, in fact, but it was an effective tactic.)'

And Bute's uppercut was considered one of the most destructive weapons in the sport at the time too, a punch that Ward isn't just susceptible to but has actually already been hurt badly by twice now. One time it resulted in him getting dropped heavily and badly hurt to the point where he claims not to remember anything for the final 2 rounds of the fight. The other time (delivered by the hand of a nobody) had him staggering backwards in dire straights a clean punch or two away from Bolivian.

Bute whooped Sakio Bika via CLEAN boxing. Clean boxing>>>cheating

Ward vs Bika was fiercely competitive and much, much closer that those ridiculous scorecards said it was.

Bute also whooped Glen Johnson with ease, the same Glen Johnson who had given Froch a torrid time just 5 months earlier. Froch vs Johnson was a close fight, many people in the RBR thread had that a draw. Johnson was catching Froch with big overhand rights throughout and Froch and his corner were clearly worried. Froch was flashed looks of concern over to his corner at numerous stages of the fight. Bute handled Johnson with ease despite the fact that he barely used his pet left uppercut during the fight. Johnson looked positively intimidated by Bute's power from the get-go. I've never seen Johnson act that way.

So Bute whooped Bika, Miranda and Johnson with ease using clean boxing not cheating, whereas Ward struggled badly against Bika and had to cheat against him and Miranda (granted Bika is a dirty SOB like SOG too). And he whooped a Glen Johnson who gave Froch everything he could handle. Bute did better against Bika than both Ward and Calzaghe. Bute handled Bute easier than anyone has handled him before of since. Same goes for Miranda. And Andrade (before Andrade was shot).

And before the Super Six or maybe it was early into it (can't remember off the top of my head), Ward even said that he would've picked either Bute or Dirrell to win the Super Six had he not entered when quizzed about it. So he obviously rated Bute highly. And don't forget Dirrell is his good buddy too so obviously he's going to be complimentary about him.

In 2012 Ward said he was ''willing to fight anyone at '68 or '75." and that he was also ''ready to fight the best 168- and 175-pounders that are out there.'' He didn't need loads of tune ups to ''acclimatize to the weight'', he said he was ready for anyone. But when it came time for him to do that he slipped right back into rigging the deck heavily in his favour mode once again and insisted on dragging Dawson down to a weight he hadn't fought at in six and a half years even though he knew A. he would be accused of draining Dawson and B. that Dawson was having real difficulty trying to get down to the weight.

Like I said, and this is very important to remember, we're talking about someone who always wants and gets everything his own way all the time and refuses to make concessions in order to stack the deck as heavily as he can in his favour. Dawson had already agreed to go to his hometown and 2 of the 3 judges were from Ward's home state California so why in god's name couldn't he concede to a catchweight of a mere 2lbs given that and how keenly aware he was of the fact that many have criticized him for being a control freak diva who always has to everything his way and refuses to make concessions or fight on a level playing field?

Once again, Kovalev weighed less in his last fight than both Dawson and Rodriguez did when they fought Ward.

Btw, most of this is an old post and Kovalev weighed 186 in his most recent fight, 1lb more than Dawson did when he fought Ward.

 

Old post

 

Now I'll be interested to hear the excuses for Ward's ducking Adonis Stevenson ie. the lineal LHW champion who Ward used the same excuse he cited to duck Bute - that they were both unworthy of a shot at him. Both Bute and Adonis agreed to go to his ****ing hometown for goodness sake, where everything was against them and in his favour and where he is allowed to cheat to his heart's content.

 

''I've always been available and I've never ducked or dodged anybody.''

--Andre Ward

''Andre Ward has always fought the best opponents that were available."

---Michael Yormark, president and chief of branding and strategy for parent company Roc Nation

And I've heard those exact words come out of Ward's mouth.

Bute, Stevenson, and DeGale weren't only ''available'' they offered to fight Ward in his backyard.

 

Thanks.

Ward's lawyer also said this

"Andre is a man and a professional fighter of the highest integrity, so when he sees or hears these comments or we see or hear these comments - 99% of the time we just ignore them and just chalk it up to people just trying to use his name to promote their own event. And we understand that and it's fine if they want to do that,"

"But Abel crossed a line when he called him a liar. I'm not going to stand by and allow someone to insult my friend and my client's integrity and professionalism by calling him a liar when it completely untrue."

Do I need to post the numerous instances of irrefutable proof of Ward lying through his teeth I've posted in the past?

And as for Floyd

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He put that out there. Sounds very sincere to me. Or is he lying through his teeth again? If so, he's rather good at it isn't he? Those lies fall from the lips of a ''devout Christian'' way too freely and easily. :rofl