James DeGale giving Andre Ward a lesson in willingness to travel

The funny thing about this match up is it's between a pair of fighters Ward didn't just duck but actually ducked even though they agreed to go to his hometown/home country. Bute agreed to go to Jokeland, and DeGale at the very least agreed to go to the US but chances are he probably agreed to go to Jokeland too. The fact that he fought Dirrell in the US and jumped at the chance to fight Bute at the drop of a hat in his backyard too obviously lends a lot of credence to that.

In both instances, just by virtue of the fight being staged in the US, the referees both would've been American, which is hugely advantageous for a dirty fighter like Ward. Even if he comes in with the intention of fighting clean and not holding on like a gay octopus, he always has the safety net of being able to switch to plan B: Dirty gay octopus/angry billy goat mode.

I don't want to hear any of that Ward wanted Bute to prove himself or wanted the fight to become even bigger nonsense so don't even bother.

And regarding the DeGale fight. There was an interview on Youtube with James DeGale's manager Ambrose Mendy titled something along the lines of 'james' DeGale's Manager's Message to Andre Ward and James Prince' where Mendy looked straight down the camera (as if speaking directly to Ward and Prince) and said they signed the contract to face Ward and Ward pulled out and that neither Ward or Prince could deny what he was saying was true. Ward and Prince's response? Crickets. Not even a peep out of them.

Ward also flat-out ducked Adonis Stevenson even though yet again he would've had home advantage in the first fight (Adonis offered to go to Oakland) with the deck stacked in his favour.

And let's not forget that Bute had zero problems going over to Froch's backyard Nottingham, taking HIS title on the road and also taking a pay cut to do it. This is something that Ward not only wouldn't do but actually refused to do even though he claimed he couldn't get any fights and he would've been rewarded handsomely for doing so.

And DeGale is now doing something that Ward also refused to do too - going over to Bute's backyard and for his FIRST defence of his world title too.

DeGale also fought Andre Dirrell over in the US, something that have gloves won't travel Ward also didn't do. You can say both parties were to blame for that but one of the sticking blocks that did arise for that when it was supposedly on the cards was Mr. I don't do concessions and always want the deck stacked heavily in my favour Ward yet again demanded one of his opponents had to go to his hometown/home state.

Ward doesn't want to fight anyone in their hometown but he's more than happy to make them to come to his time and time again or his home state or country and have Californian and American officials appointed when they do so the deck is weighted even more heavily against them and in his favour.

He's had home advantage for every single one of his fights against world class opposition, whether it be hometown, home state or home country and he's also had American referees for every single one of his 28 pro outings and Californian ones for 20 for his 21 fights in his home state too. The only reason why he didn't have them for all 21 of them is because Arthur Abraham's team threatened to pull out of the fight because the officials for the Super Six fights were supposed to come from neutral locations.

Ward having American/Californian referees for all his fights is obviously massively advantageous considering how big a part of his game illegal tactics are. His style is reliant on excessive (illegal) holding as a defensive strategy and various other illegal tactics such as trying to slice his opponent's eyes up by coming in with his head and clocking them with ''accidental'' billy goat butts and sneaky elbows.

He also ducks below waist level a lot and constantly ties up one of his opponent's arms and then clocks them them as they're trying to wriggle free.

He also lunges in and grabs a hold of his opponent like an octopus a lot either just after he's fired off a sneaky shot so they can't catch him with a counter or just as he senses they're about to lead with one of their own.

Excessive holding obviously greatly reduces the amount shots your opponent can catch you with and therefore increases your chances of not only winning but also of you not getting hurt, floored or knocked out and like I said having hometown, home state or home country referess all the time to let you get away with it is paramount.

Ward fought

Miranda in Oakland
Kessler in Oakland
Allan Green in Oakland
Sakio Bika in Oakland
Abraham in California (Ward's home state)
Froch in Atlantic city (Ward's home country)
Dawson in Oakland
Rodriguez in California
Paul Smith in Oakland

As I said earlier, 21 of his 28 fights were fought in his home state.

When he fought Miranda all the officials were from California.

Kessler - referee and one judge from California

Green - referee and one judge from California

Bika - referee and two judges from California

Abraham - referee American, one judge from California. And like I said the referee would've been from California for this fight too and maybe another judge had team Ward got their way and Sauerland not kicked up a big stink about them trying to breach the supposed Super Six rules and rig things even more heavily in Ward's favour again.

Froch - referee American, one judge American. Apparently, according to one or two posters on here, Team Ward tried to get them to stage that fight in California. It was either that or they were trying wangle another Californian referee or more Californian or American judges for the fight (I can't remember exactly what it was now but team Ward were up to something)

Dawson - two Californian judges

Rodriguez - referee and all three judges from California

Paul Smith - referee from California, all three judges from California too.

The referee and all three judges have been from California for all his pre Super Six fights too, and as stated 21 of his 28 fights have been fought in his home state.

 

Thanks.

Home advantage isn't just advantageous for the home fighter because of the home crowd rooting for them and against their opponent though. There are lots of other factors which also make it advantageous for them too.

 

Bravo Serge I've been meaning to do a thread on this subject as well, you should make a thread out of this yourself, its a great write up.