Is Ward going to LHW because of Degale?

Thanks. :good

 

Loudon, 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 ''not saying that he would prefer 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, but even that wasn't enough for Ward who always wants every single advantage stacked in his favour and then he gets all surly and throws his toys out of the pram whenever anyone dares to pull him up about it.

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 Ward's 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 notorious gangster manager James Prince was seen trying to break the scales that morning so that the weigh in would be delayed until even later and Rodriguez would have even less time to rehydrate on the day of the fight. atsch

So if Ward has already beaten two LHWs, one of them being the premier one in the world at the time, why in the hell does he now need 3 tune up fights to ''acclimatize to the weight'' before facing Kovalev if he didn't believe they 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 too. 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 wants the credit for beating a full strength Dawson as well. He can't have it both ways, mate.

And why is he now trying to fight 2 SMWs, one of whom is a nobody and the other is European level at best, in back-to-back fights for ''settling into the weight'' fights? He already beat the best LHW in the world with ease. In fact, he stopped him for the first time in his career. But now he's too scared to face an actual LHW in his second fight at the weight opting instead to face a pair of very lowly SMWs who literally pose him zero threat.

And it's not an accident that Ward is refusing to face an actual LHW yet again for his second settling into the weight fight either. All three of the opponents I've heard he was trying to line up for this date are all career SMWs: Zac Dunn, Rohan Murdock, and Alexander Brand. :rofl

But you don't think he was banking on Dawson being drained when he fought him? You have no idea just how calculating and scheming Ward and his trainer are if not.

Regarding Bute. He would've been facing a healthy Bute at 168 not a drained to death cadaver. Revisionism aside, Bute was also a legitimate KO puncher 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 a couple of years later a shot to smithereens version of knocked Dawson senseless in sparring a few weeks before Dawson fought Ward. No one has ever got rid of Miranda like Bute did, still to this day. Same goes for Andrade and Zuniga and it's not like they haven't fought plenty of quality opponents and big punchers or don't get hit a lot.

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 with twice now, one of which 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 and the other of which (delivered by the hand of a nobody) had him staggering backwards in dire straights a clean punch or two away from Bolivian.

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 important to remember, we're talking about someone who always wants and gets everything his own way and refuses to make concessions in order to stack the deck as heavily as he can in his favour all the time. Dawson had already agreed to go to his hometown so why the hell couldn't he concede to a catchweight of a mere 2lbs given that and how he's also keenly aware of the fact that many have criticized him for always having everything his way and refusing to make concessions?

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