That's third -fourth, actually- party information, but here's the quote: "Jean Bédard ma confirmé en entrevue téléphonique quil a eu de sérieuses discussions avec le réseau SHOWTIME à cet effet. Monsieur Bédard précise que les demi-finales du tournoi des 168 livres doivent se dérouler en terrain neutre. Avec les bonnes foules qui assistent aux combats présentés au Québec, on peut croire aux chances de Montréal dobtenir ce combat." -Spoke to Jean Bédard (Interbox president) on the phone, and he confirmed he was in serious discussion with Showtime regarding this fight (Froch-Johnson). He stated that the S6 tournament semi-finals must take place in neutral territory. Considering boxing attracts decent crowds in Quebec, one can think there's a chance this fight happens in Montreal. http://legrandclub.rds.ca/profils/104880/posts/101326 NOW THE BIG QUESTION... WHERE IS WARD-ABRAHAM GONNA TAKE PLACE?!? I'm sure Showtime will consider Las Vegas as a neutral venue for Ward. Otherwise I don't see where they're doing it... Scandinavia? England? Naaah... Ward ain't crossing the big pond.
One thing's for sure, the Son of Ottke bashing will be taken to never before seen levels if Ward batters AA in Cali.
Makes sense. Why draw thousands when you can draw hundreds like Bradley-Alexander! It would only work in Montreal because that is a real fight town.
Hahaha yeah well, Bradley saw 7500 in attendance when he came to Montreal. Let's compare with the Silverdome when the fight report comes out.
AA fights in February... call me crazy, but why not send both semis to the Bell Centre in May (Froch-Johnson being rumored to go there as Jean Bédard said he's in discussions with Sho to bring this fight up here and that they have a fair chance), get ~23K people at the fight GUARANTEED and more than decent PPV ratings across North America. Stick a decent undercard in there, and promote a Bute vs Kessler/Dirrell for the summer. Kessler sent love to his fans saying he was determined to get his belt back, and Dirrell tweeted not even a week ago that he was coming back against either the winner of the S6 or a former tourney competitor. There's a potential there, Hershman's gotta see it. After these May (semis) and summer (Bute-Kessler/Dirrell) fights, you order the final for November along with the winner of the summer fight vs (Kessler/Dirrell - whoever wasn't avail in the summer) or any other top 5 fighter that's available. I call Bute-Ward @ MSG for March 2012.
