Ward To Sign 3 Fight Deal w/ HBO @ LHW

An old post of mine

Ward went from saying this:

Andre Ward on who he would pick to win if he was not involved in the Super Six and Lucian Bute were there in his place:

11-06-2010

“Wow, that’s a great question. I would have to have Bute and Dirrell as the top two guys on my list. I always favor the type of guy—I’m stealing some words from Carl Froch, you know being in the Super Six with these guys, I’m learning a little something—but I would always favor a guy who can do more than one thing. Taking nothing away from the other guys, I think that if Bute was in the tournament and Dirrell being in the tournament, I think they have more tools in the toolbox so to speak. I would probably lean towards those guys, but that being said, the other four combatants—they demand respect. As we’ve seen with the seesaw up and downs in terms of who’s winning, nothing is guaranteed. That’s what makes the Super Six the Super Six and that’s what’s so exciting, but those two guys would be on top of my list to win the whole thing.”

On whether he believes the Super Six Champion needs to defeat Lucian Bute before he can be considered the best super middleweight in the world:

“I think it would be the other way around. I think Bute would have to face off with the Super Six Champion to prove that he’s the best super middleweight. You know you come out of a tournament like this on top, that demands a lot of respect and that carries a lot of weight. Taking nothing away from Bute, he’s not fighting the competition that’s in the Super Six so I think it would be the other way around. I think the Super Six champion if he wanted to go to another weight class, I think it would not be good for the fans and the sport necessarily or the 168 pound weight class, because everyone would want to see the Super Six Champion and Bute fight but in terms of legacy, I think Bute would need to be in a hurry to want a future fight with the Super Six Champion.”

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''As far as fighting him (Bute).. I would love that. I would truly love that. I think that, god willing, I'm able to come out of this thing on top and win the the Super Six, I think that's the only fight that makes sense. I think that fight has to be made. And it would put rest to a lot of confusion about who's number 1 in this division. And from there I would like to move up and become a multi-divisional champion after because there really wouldn't be much to accomplish after the Super Six and a Lucian Bute fight. And then on top of that you get pick up the last belt. Well, the WBO belt would still be out there but you would be able to unify three belts. It would be awesome. And I would love that match up. I think it would be awesome for the sport of boxing, and obviously for the super-middleweight division and, like you say, the fight is building itself. Because he's outside of the tournament, and because the tournament is doing so well, it's building itself. So the winner would definitely look in that direction.''

To this

''He [Bute] needs to beat ONE or TWO good guys, A-level guys, and even in some cases come out of his hometown and do it to get a shot.'

And then when Bute did what he suggested he said this:

"I was disappointed," Ward said. "Bute and his promoter were screaming and yelling that I was ducking them, then they go and make a two-fight deal with Froch where if he loses, he takes Froch back to Canada? I didn't understand that.''

But he's the one who said that Bute needed to fight ONE or TWO A-level guys and leave his ''hometown'' so why on earth did he complain about Bute wanting a rematch clause in place for defending HIS world title in Froch's backyard? Bute took his title on the road and took a big pay cut to do it too and flew over to Froch's backyard, which is something Ward has both never done with any of his opponents - he's had home advantage for every single one of his fights against world class opposition, be it in his home country or home state - has publicly expressed reluctance to do so for fear of ''getting robbed' and has actually, duh, outright refused to do, turning down a lot of money to do so in the process. Ward would never have done the exact thing he criticized Bute for doing. atsch

Ward refused to fight Bute even though he offered to come to his hometown Jokeland, demanding that Bute needs to come out of his hometown and fight one OR two A class opponents first and then the ridiculous clown criticized him in order to pretend like he actually wanted to fight him for having a rematch clause written into the contract (again Bute was talking HIS IBF title on the road) in case Bute ended up getting robbed over in the place that Ward has said he's extremely reluctant to travel over to fight in for fear of getting robbed and has actually turned down a very lucrative offer to do so. atsch :rofl

 

In an interview with Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, super middleweight world champion Andre Ward revealed that he's targeting a June 2 return in Oakland, but has no opponent in mind. He also stated that he wanted to fight Lucian Bute, which Bute's promoter Jean Bedard has all but laughed off in response.

Let's start with Ward's next fight. The June 2 date in Oakland should work, but it won't be against Bute, who faces Carl Froch on May 26. Nor will it be against Anthony Dirrell, it would seem. Dirrell, the brother of the more famous Andre Dirrell, is Ward's WBC mandatory. But Ward says he's not interested in that fight and would just vacate his belt, even though he called it "a good matchup." He claims that the TV networks won't be interested, which seems bizarre given that Showtime televised Dirrell's eliminator win over Renan St-Juste in December.

After immediately saying following his Super Six win in December that he wanted to take a break, Ward now seems shocked that Bute went ahead and signed a deal with Froch, the next-best option for him:

"I was disappointed," Ward said. "Bute and his promoter were screaming and yelling that I was ducking them, then they go and make a two-fight deal with Froch where if he loses, he takes Froch back to Canada? I didn't understand that. I was never ducking him, I just wanted to build up the fight. I was coming off two years of grueling fights and I felt he needed to fight someone. But ducking him? Come on. He wants belts, I have three belts over here if he wants to fight for a belt."

What a bizarre statement this is. Ward previously claimed that Bute needed to fight top competition, so with Ward not showing any legitimate desire for a fight, Bute went with Froch. I fail to see any problem there. As for "building up the fight," that's a load, plain and simple. That fight is as built as it's going to get. Andre Ward's not exactly packing in the fans for his fights or drawing a load of interest from the general public, and frankly he probably never will. He's not interesting enough, in or out of the ring. Maybe he's the next Bernard Hopkins, but B-Hop was never an A-side draw either. Still isn't, even though he's unquestionably headed to the Hall of Fame.

Bute's promoter Bedard took a humorous route in response. From ***********.com:

"It's like he was resurrected after Easter ... after all, his nickname is 'Son Of God.' When I first read [Ward's comments], I thought it was a joke. We never had any discussions with Andre Ward. In fact, we have not heard from him since December 18... If he wanted to fight Lucian, we might have already been one week away before the fight."

I'm really having trouble seeing a valid point from Andre Ward here. He said he wanted to take a break. Fine, he did that. What was Bute supposed to do? Wait for him to get a tune-up in and fight him this fall? Was Bute supposed to take a year off? And if they both win their next fights, what will the next excuse be?