i think ward will be battling the microphone for the next few years as an hbo commentator..dont see ward being anything special in the sport, he rose, then flatlined...
It's not too late for Andre to have the sport by the balls if he wants it. There's a next round of challenges developing as we speak that would be enough to propel him to p4p #1. He just needs to get this lawsuit straightened out and be more willing to leave his cinder block tower in Oakland and play ball to get the fights made. Or, he can make comfortable paydays at home for a few years and dictate all the terms and miss the biggest names. The ball's in his court, but it's no good seeing a talented fighter on the sidelines either way.
Agree with most here, boxers will chase the $ over the hardcore-fan's ratings. Ward (or his team) through poor marketing and inactivity have put him in the most ridiculous 'high-risk, low-reward' category. I've never understood his almost indisputable No. 2 p4p rating behind Floyd, his wins are far less dramatic/emphatic IMO. If both Ward and Floyd were to quit now, Ward would be a side-note in the p4p of the era argument. I should add that I would love to see Ward fighting 2-4 times a year and really putting the cat-amongst-the-pigeons in both 168 and 175lb divs, just don't see that he has the nous to engineer it for himself......
Ward is a hard fighter to beat in a weaker era that a top fighter could take full advantage of, yet he has not done that yet. Ward didnt fight undefeated Bute in what could and would have been his big fight. At SMW there are no real top fighters. His best win is a past best Kessler who was unwell and rusty. At SMW there is DeGale, but at LHW Ward could face Kovalev, but I dont think the fight will happen. Its not easy to work out what Ward will do as he didnt appear too interested in facing Bute when he was an undefeated SMW champ, not sure if he is interested in fighting in the UK at SMW where he would have some big fights possibly with bigger live audiences, not sure if he will want to go to LHW where there are some bigger fights. Guess we will just have to wait and see??