Worst business decision of the decade: Ward signs with ROC Nation

What a clown! You don't want to take any punishment you say? So far your doing pretty go at it. The dude at the Olive Garden parking lot was more threat than Paul Smith!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYikaOnDWOs

 

Yea I know I never understood that :huh especially since Haymon has alot of guys at 168-175 he brought out Floyd back in the day and Ward is real talented just like he was

 

Ward refuse to fight any of the Dirrell brothers because they are "close friends" and old stable mates. Stevenson would probably KO Ward so that's not an option either because Virgil has said Ward wont be ready for 175 until late 2016-early 2017.

 

The same reason there wasn't a huge demand from other promoters for him- high guaranteed purses, stubborn negotiating that made matchmaking difficult, and below average popularity (given his purses).

Its difficult to turn a profit on a fighter with those business characteristics, especially if you have a business model like Haymon's that doesn't use premium network money to subsidize the high purse requirements.

Roc Nation is finding that out the hard way because the networks don't want to air Ward's expensive mismatches, but his high purse requirements are too high for the network's budget to afford the better names. And that's assuming he'd be willing to compromise in negotiations to make the bigger fights happen. Maybe he will, but the next time would be the first time.

It's sad to see because I really thought Andre had the boxing world in the palms of his hands after Dawson. If he'd just bided his time and stayed active, all eyes would be on him as the next big star now that Floyd has retired. He's being lapped by guys like GGG, Crawford, and Kovalev, and look where they were when Andre was beating Froch and Dawson.

I can't remember the last time I saw a great talent blow it quite like this businesswise once they got big. Winky is the closest, but Ward is a step beyond.

 

Agreed, it's unprecedented. He was on the brink of something special. Now with Mayweather gone for me in terms of ability he's number 1 P4P but he's blown it.

And it's not like he didn't have options. The Bute fight was a big unification fight and he declined, he even suggested Bute fight Froch after he beat Froch! He then refused to fight Dirrell meaning he was stripped of the WBC belt.

He had the rematch with Froch this year but made unrealistic demands and was making arrangements with Smith the whole time.

Things could have been very different for Ward. He could have become undisputed champion by beating Bute, had a good defence by beating a top contender in Dirrell, then beat Dawson. He'd probably have been on the brink of getting on PPV then in 2013. A rematch with Kessler would have also been another good fight he had and then the rematch with Froch who would likely have the regular WBA belt.

Then he would be in place for Kovalev and Golovkin instead of being the clear B-side in any negotiations with them and other fighters like DeGale, Groves etc would have to come to him as he'd have all the belts.

 

for someone so "irrelevant" people sure cant stop talking about him
still a better fighter than George i lost 4 fights already groves

 

Spot on! :good

Ward always came across as being too stubborn and not very clever. And boy is that a bad combo in this game!

Man, if Ward would have followed the path you writ he'd have Carl Froch money by now! Would have been undisputed at SMW, been the man at LHW... We'd be talking of him being able to clear out CW, too!

But he MUST stop thinking he is the a-side, that the world revolves around him and that everyone else needs him, because they really don't.