Ward apologists are hilarious

Why does he have to fight the best LHW right out of the gate?? He doesn't have to fight Kovalev until late next year at least. Another tune up fight, a couple of fights at LHW then Kovalev.

 

If anyone is going to do it is Beterbiev :good

 

It could very well be simple negotiation tactics. K2 says 50/50 and 164, to hopefully get more money: 60/40 and 168, for example. They are probably trying to make Ward buy those 4 pounds. It's not a bad tactic.

 

Could be some sort of PR move, but public pressure can be a factor in fights and can sometimes be an effective beginning to negotiations. Sometimes public talk can even be the catalyst for negotiations. The announcement definitely got media and social media talking about it.
I think in this "catchweight era", many fans are fine with 164. I personally want to see this fight at 168 for Ward's belt, but to many fans, it makes perfect sense to have two champs in different divisions meet in the middle of their division weights. We might have gotten a better fight in Ward-Dawson had they met in the middle, but Dawson made that bed, so he had to lay in it--still, I doubt it. Ward's style countered Dawson's well, and Ward was simply better.
Anyway, at the very least this tells Ward's team that if they want the fight at 168, Golovkin's team will need some concessions: money, location, or something. We know that Ward wants the lion's share of the purse in his fights. Golovkin's team might even settle for 50/50, 168 and the whole 164 BS is just a tactic to gain some leverage to get the split at 50/50. I'm simply saying that it's possible that there is more to this 164 thing than K2 really wanting the fight at 164. It's possible that the weight is negotiable and they are setting that table, in addition to getting stories about the fight published.
Also, from a PR standpoint GGG looks like the "bigger man" if he should concede to 168 after demanding 164; like he's doing more to make the fight happen by giving up advantages. Even if they really were fine with 168 all along. It's also some cover in fans' minds if they lose.