How Popular is Ward?

Ward's ratings are good as far as it goes but considering he is unequivocally p4p #2 and has been fighting and beating the best in his division for about 4 years he isn't yet the draw and the star he really should be. He has neither the personality nor the fighting style to be a proper boxing star. He needs to travel and get the Froch and/or Kessler money before they are no longer an option. His pigheadedness and pride could do himself out of a lot of money.

I was at the fight on Saturday and he had a good size crowd chanting S.O.G. throughout the fight. I think he drew pretty well especially considering the lack of a name opponent.

ward actually has a good following at home. ppl dont realize it takes time for non punchers to develop a following these days regardless of how good their p4p credentials are. as much as ppl criticize him for boxing at home its a smart move, not to get an advantage in fights (because he doesnt need it) but to gradually build a fanbase starting at home. like mentioned he is quite popular in oakland atm, now it needs to grow further.

Ward does draw well at home. But people don't want him to make money by doing that even though it's seemingly ok for everybody else. (Ricky Burns, Adonis Stevenson, Scott Quigg, etc.) :dunno:

I was at kessler, bika, green, and dawson. From what i saw it seems he draws pretty good at home and Dawson was the best crowd. Is it true that the crowd booed him ferociously when he landed all those flying headbutts on Kessler?

Yes. I don't see thread after thread on NSB calling out Burns for not traveling. Do you? And that's just one example. Jean Pascal fights almost exclusively in Quebec and no one says anything. That's obviously where the money is for him and more power to him for getting paid, but why are they allowed to do this while Ward is held to a different standard? Is it just because he is American? Jean Pascal went to war with Froch in Nottingham. The whole travel thing with Ward stemmed from the Super 6 where everyone travelled to another country to fight except him. It didn't just come from nowhere. I was at kessler, bika, green, and dawson. From what i saw it seems he draws pretty good at home and Dawson was the best crowd. A 'name' US opponent. There aren't too many of those at 168. He could really do with the Hopkins and Chavez fights.

I don't think he's even that popular in the bay area imo. I was at kessler, bika, green, and dawson. From what i saw it seems he draws pretty good at home and Dawson was the best crowd.

ward has single-handedly destroyed the good reputation of oakland :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

ward has single-handedly destroyed the good reputation of oakland I know im afraid to drive through it at night

If Ward was at the Oakland Wal-Mart everyone in the store would think he's just a regular brother. He would basically have to ask people hey do you know who I Am. Most White would probably confuse him with Stevie Wonder

Hes popular around my parts but im a Bay Area boy so i can only go on that ward has single-handedly destroyed the good reputation of oakland

Hes popular around my parts but im a Bay Area boy so i can only go on that

I'd seriously like you to expand on this. The super six was on Showtime and Chad was obviously the draw in their fight. So what ratings were good the Shelby Pudwill fight?. dawson was not the draw against ward. dawson gave in to all of ward's demands and it was even in ward's hometown.

he's not popular because he's ****ing sh-it! would jordan be popular if all he did was drove to the hole and his paid off ref called a foul on the other team every possesion and jordan shot 40 free throws a game? what skill!

ontario california is a seven hour drive from oakland. it's almost 1000KM, for the perspective of you english guys. you need to get a hotel room if you want to go there from oakland. some states are f#cking big, dog. that wasn't a fight in his hometown for sure. he can sell around 10,000 tickets at the oracle arena in oakland. ward's very popular on HBO. his ratings are always good. they're also clearly banking on him being one of the driving forces for american boxing when mayweather retires, whether that's appropriate or not. I'd seriously like you to expand on this. The super six was on Showtime and Chad was obviously the draw in their fight. So what ratings were good the Shelby Pudwill fight?.

I don't think he's really popular but everyone respects his sh1t. He needs to stop grabbing so much though.

Heard he can't even sell out his home venues. Was reading on twitter that local gyms were handing out tickets to the event. Also what're his viewership like? Saw somebody talking about Mike McCallum and how he had to be a traveling champ.... if Ward can't bring in the views and the people, will he have to do that? Or is it just the case of his promoter and things get better when he goes to Arum? ward doesn't seem to attract many fans. Its crazy because he hasn't lost since he was a kid, fought for the US in the olympics, and by all accounts is a religous man who conducts himself properly and honorably. Unfortunately for Ward boxing is a sport. In the US the biggest sports heroes are ali, jordan, tyson, babe ruth, magic, LT-not exactly choir boys. Look at floyd-when he was a smiling kid he made little-when he was an ******* he became the biggest earner in all of sport. I guess thats a sad commentary on what drives popularity in the US.

i have no idea why they put it in ontario california, but i'm never above speculating! low site fee perhaps? casinos always have low site fees, but i'm not sure if the ontario venue was a casino. goosen keeps his costs low, and the HBO money is almost always the same, wherever the venue. scheduling conflicts at oracle / hbo could have factored in as well. Yeah it was in Ontario because of bad timing/scheduling. There were really no major available venues. The Oracle (ward's backyard), LA, and NY(MSG) were all booked for NBA games that night, and Vegas had the UFC

He's really not that popular, we can attribute it to his personality or fighting style, but it's hard to pinpoint one exact factor. It's a shame because a guy with his accolades (Gold medalist, Tournament winner, recognized weight division champion, P4P#2) should in theory be a huge star.

Yes. I don't see thread after thread on NSB calling out Burns for not traveling. Do you? And that's just one example. Jean Pascal fights almost exclusively in Quebec and no one says anything. That's obviously where the money is for him and more power to him for getting paid, but why are they allowed to do this while Ward is held to a different standard? Is it just because he is American? Pascal has become a non-factor the past couple of years. I forgot he fought this year. As for Burns, people only ever criticize him around fight time, especially after the Beltran fight and possible Crawford fight. Died down because people just stopped caring.