Hunter now stating HBO forced Ward out of SMW

I think like you said HBO wanted Ward as far away from GGG as possilbe

 

The **** do you mean forced out? HBO doesn't have to broadcast his fights. This is America, if the networks don't like the product they can move on when the contract ends.

 

The big fight for Ward was with Kovalev, the big fight for GGG is Canelo.

Big fights equal more money for HBO.

Sounds right.

 

Well that makes sense because they thought that was best for business. Ward didn't have to fight on HBO. He made the choice to do that.

 

Team GGG avoided Sergio Mora... of course they wanted no part of Ward. Anyone that can move a bit that Golovkin might have a hard time landing on, and potentially make Golovkin look less than invincible has been avoided. Hence no Lara, Ward, Mora etc

Like Jacobs says, GGG has been matched extremely carefully.

 

Yes Golovkin ducked Mora, good post

 

I remember Floyd Mayweather saying that a while back.

 

I believe it.
HBO is sort of like Russia in not being ashamed to use dirty tricks to get their way.
They were very vocal about getting Ward to fight Kovalev, but no where near as aggressive in getting Golovkin to face Ward.
There is no doubt that Golovkin is a protected fighter and has been kept away from dangerous threats to his illusion, like Lara, Hopkins, and Ward.

 

Yep, Hunter said it about 2 years ago.

 

I don't think HBO gave him an ultimatum. Rather, there wasn't any competition at 168. So if Ward wanted a big payday he would have to fight competition at 175. He got one with Kovalev. Who could Ward fight at 168 that would be worth PPV? 168 isn't what it used to be. GGG isn't moving up to fight him.

 

I wouldn't call it a duck, but they passed on the fight when HBO offered it to them and fought Adama in Monaco instead. Mora wouldn't beat GGG, but he had the potential to make him look less than spectacular.

 

Hunter, like just about every big-name trainer (Roach, Sanchez, etc.), cannot be trusted 100%. However, I believe it is true that HBO told Ward to move up and challenge Kovalev. There were no big fights at 168 lb, Kovalev was the only HBO mega-fight option as Stevenson is on Showtime.

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking, what about GGG? The GGG-Ward negotiations are often twisted to suit agendas here, so here are the facts to the best of my knowledge (corrections with legit sources accepted and appreciated btw).

1) GGG moving up had been a possibility several years earlier, before Ward's legal troubles began. At that stage Golovkin was relatively unknown and desperate for a big fight while Ward was a major star who had just won the Super 6. Ward apparently did not want to take another risky fight just then, and even if he had a change of heart, his career was soon to be derailed by legal problems. So apparently in a meeting at the HBO offices he said no - something GGG always points out and Ward has never flatly denied.

2) Fast forward several years, and things have changed. GGG is becoming well-known in comparison to Ward, who's profile has suffered from inactivity. Furthermore the prospect of the Canelo fight is very much a real one. So GGG wants to stay at or close to 160 lb, hence the 164 lb offer. Also remember that the possibility of GGG losing would hurt the Canelo fight revenue badly. So GGG wanted to be very well-paid to go to 168 lb (my sources say $8 million was what he wanted). Ward cannot make 164 lb, and he is also not happy to give GGG the lion's share of the pot. From his point of view, GGG is comparatively unproven and doesn't deserve that much. It's also the biggest fight he'll ever get as no other SMW-LHW is more popular than GGG, so he wanted to maximize his earnings there. There simply wasn't enough money in the pot for this fight, GGG getting $8 million would mean Ward got substantially less than that.