Has Andre Ward Retired?

Good stuff dmaq:good

I don't know the extent of the hand injury, looked run of the mill fighters fractures, maybe across two metacarpals. A quick fix with a cut and a couple screws, 6 weeks out of the gym while keeping in shape on the mill. Then some defensive sparring and light lifting for 3-5 weeks. After 12-15 wks he could follow up with some moderate lifting, hard cardio and offensive sparring. By the end of March he should have been able to start full sparring, road/mill work and heavy lifting with it.

He should've had Magee or TD2 scheduled already for May or June. That way when the outcome of Bute Froch comes to it's conclusion, he'd have not been inactive and needing another 6 months to fight a mandate or a tuneup.

But...............here's what I thinks going down. I don't think he's waiting for Bute at all. I think he's waiting for Hopkins. Yeah, they are friends, but BHOP for all his legend is beatable and not a guy whose gonna blow anybody away at this point.
Dawson, Cleverly, Cloud, and Shumenov on the other hand would all be eager to get a guy like Ward into their back yards. It'd draw as Ward is a top name, and being that he's not especially powerful even at SMW, the KO factor would be in their favor in all instances.

So, if BHOP is able to retain his title w/o any kind of rematch mandates again, Ward can move to LHW and sneak a belt in a big HBO $$$ fight. Low risk, high reward. Then, with a title @ LHW, he'd hold the cards as far as defending it and getting back into his back yard, even if it's Vegas or LA.

I think Ward knows he can outbox Bute. And we all know that he knows he aint KOing him either. So he's hoping that perhaps Froch, with his punchers chance, will take Lucian out soas he can move on past this duck and save face when he moves on to fight Hopkins.

Should Hopkins lose and Bute win, then Ward will sign for one of his mandates. Take a voluntary against a guy like Balszay, then fight his other mandatory, and hopefully, for him, Lucian will either move up or be beaten by the likes of Pascal, Stevenson, or at LHW vs a guy like Dawson or even Cloud.

Ward is definitely playing the Gayweather game.......what sucks for him though is that PhoneyGay has legions of PPV moron fans and Ward can't draw flies if he were covered in horse****. :think

 

Andre won't fight again until he gets a sign from Jesus.

 

Good stuff dmaq:good

I don't know the extent of the hand injury, looked run of the mill fighters fractures, maybe across two metacarpals. A quick fix with a cut and a couple screws, 6 weeks out of the gym while keeping in shape on the mill. Then some defensive sparring and light lifting for 3-5 weeks. After 12-15 wks he could follow up with some moderate lifting, hard cardio and offensive sparring. By the end of March he should have been able to start full sparring, road/mill work and heavy lifting with it.

He should've had Magee or TD2 scheduled already for May or June. That way when the outcome of Bute Froch comes to it's conclusion, he'd have not been inactive and needing another 6 months to fight a mandate or a tuneup.

But...............here's what I thinks going down. I don't think he's waiting for Bute at all. I think he's waiting for Hopkins. Yeah, they are friends, but BHOP for all his legend is beatable and not a guy whose gonna blow anybody away at this point.
Dawson, Cleverly, Cloud, and Shumenov on the other hand would all be eager to get a guy like Ward into their back yards. It'd draw as Ward is a top name, and being that he's not especially powerful even at SMW, the KO factor would be in their favor in all instances.

So, if BHOP is able to retain his title w/o any kind of rematch mandates again, Ward can move to LHW and sneak a belt in a big HBO $$$ fight. Low risk, high reward. Then, with a title @ LHW, he'd hold the cards as far as defending it and getting back into his back yard, even if it's Vegas or LA.

I think Ward knows he can't outbox Bute. And we all know that he knows he aint KOing him either. So he's hoping that perhaps Froch, with his punchers chance, will take Lucian out soas he can move on past this duck and save face when he moves on to fight Hopkins.

Should Hopkins lose and Bute win, then Ward will sign for one of his mandates. Take a voluntary against a guy like Balszay, then fight his other mandatory, and hopefully, for him, Lucian will either move up or on to the WBO titlist or LHW.

Ward is definitely playing the Gayweather game.......what sucks for him though is that PhoneyGay has legions of PPV moron fans and Ward can't draw flies if he were covered in horse****. :think

 

I hope so. . . But he needs to recognize that beating Kessler, and Froch isn't the "end all" to boxing greatness. . . I guess I can give him a break for not fighting Bute this time, BUT, if Bute beats Froch, and he STILL refuses to fight Bute, or somehow "conveniently" fights someobdy else, THEN I'm going to have a huge problem with that. . . Would you not? How long would you justify him not fighting Bute?

I guess I just look at Froch's resume, and I don't see him doing what Ward is doing if he won the tournament. . . Guess I just wish Ward would take a page outta his book on this one. . .

And you're wrong. . . ANthony Dirrell has just as much potential. . . Andre is better IMO, but ANthony is definitely a worthy contender for anybody,and I'd love to see him matched up with any of hte champions, or top fighters. .

 

If that's the case, and it's just an injury that's keeping him from fighting Bute, and his mandatory, Dirrell, then there's no reason at all to criticize him. . .

But I don't think it is. . . I think he recovered from that in February/March. . . Cause he was trying to fight Kessler again. . .

I guess he's not doing anything different htan most top boxers, but I guess I just demand more of my champions. . . Maybe I should be easier, since most boxers do have a "risk/reward" calculator they use before choosing opponents. . . Wanting to get the easiest payday by taking the least risk.

 

Ward is a multidimensional fighter with alot of tools in the belt, plus the ability to adjust.. I think it could spell trouble for Bute.. Bute does have the offensive arsenal to outpoint or stop any fighter, but he isn't as good as Ward defensively (despite having a good counter punch), Ward is also by far the best in the division at fighting and roughing on the inside.. If you want to beat Andre, you have to take away his inside game, and it doesn't seem to be as simple as :"just throw the uppercut!"

 

Are you a wizard? :admin

 

I agree. . . I think Ward is more complete than Bute, and I would favor him. . .

But his reluctance to fight Bute makes me wonder. . . If he doesn't fight Bute next, we know where he stands in his belief of beating Bute.

 

That explains why Ward doesn't want to fight Bute, he wants to stay on top. Now I understand.

 

That;s what it comes down to. . Boxers realize that careers are short these days. . . And the opportunities for big paydays are few and far between, especially for guys who don't have huge followings. . .

If he loses a fight, that's potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for his next payday. . . And all the more bargaining power he loses at the negotiating table (hwich he doesn't have much as is aside from him winning S6). . These small factors like ring size, venue/location, can make the difference between a fighter losing, or at least getting robbed.

It's really our fault as fans (not most of the real fans), because we seem to write a guy off after one loss, and the networks simply reflect on this mentality. . .

He's just trying to maximize monetary earning potential, whle minimizing risks. . Lol I swear boxers, and promotors have a formula for this.

 

Ummm. Lemme rephrase it: "Ward participated in a tournament which included also some [for the sake of precision: two] among the recognized best super middleweights [along with two strong ex-middleweights tempted by making some extra $ and fame at SMW, and another interesting young prospect] and won!".

I can understand Showtime's emphatization of S6 importance, it's about their money after all, but I fail to find any reason for the informed boxing fans making such peremptorious and false statements. S6 was neither a true unified world championship tournament (with entries granted by some rankings, belts or eliminatory matches), nor a competition among the somehow recognized 6 best SMW fighters at the date of the establishment. It was obviously a good tournament who proposed several interesting matches and had the great merit to put together several fighters who otherwise could have avoided each other for a reason or another, but it has been also plagued by his commercial ultimate aim which turned out to be responsible for a biased choice of the fighters based mostly on extra-sportive criteria: no more, no less. Ward emerged as legit winner of the tournament: good for him, his skills are now universally recognized. I am still deceived that he changed his mind from the fair sportmanlike approach he had when stating that the winner of the tournament should face Bute, to stinky declarations/explanations about who he won't face in near future: this is bad for boxing and should be bad news also for his fans. One achieves greatness by making great fights, not by giving more or less BS motivations why these fights have or will not be made. A clear message of intent from Ward concerning his prospected future opponents at SMW would be very nice for everybody.

 

:deal

Are you a wizard?:admin

 

he will b back soon

 

Meethinks.......YES

Ward is certainly avoiding Bute for some reason or another. Then again, it may not be Ward at all, but rather D

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guy who almost singlehandely cost showtime 8 mil bucks by refusing to copromote with Interbox and allow Bute into the S6 as an alternate.

Smart move on his part.....either for hyping a megafight between Bute and Ward or by hyping his own fighters undefeated record going into a changing of the guard fight with the dinosaur.:think

 

This **** again...

Ward fought in the Super 6. The best boxers except Bute were there. He beat them. Kudos to him.

Bute couldnt fight in the Super 6, you know, not being invited and all. So he couldnt fight the best even though he stated he wanted to fight the best.

Lets see what both fighters did in this time frame.

Bute offered Pavlik and Kessler fights. Both of them declined for whatever reason. What boxers offered Bute a fight? The correct answer is none. Why is that? Only they can state the reason.

Meanwhile, Ward fought the "best" because he had to not because he chose to. I'm not saying he wouldnt have fought them regardless, i wouldnt konw, im just saying. Ward fought all his fights at home, more or less.

Bute also fought all his fights at home (mainly because thats where most of the money were).

End Super 6...

Bute says he wants to fight Ward in Oakland.

Ward, after previously stating that the winner had to fight Bute in order to be truly Nr 1, says Bute aint worthy and needs to prove himself.

Bute does that and makes a deal with Froch, going to England and taking less money for that to happen (how many boxers would do such a thing?).

Ward acts butthurt yet again saying he wanted to fight Bute.

People in here must understand Ward fought the best because he Had to. Bute didnt because they all avoided him (noone offered him anything).

These are facts, what you do with them is up to you obviously.