Andre Ward's Trainer: "Catchweight was my call"

Move up to 175 after this and fight Pascal and then Kovalev. Why is gonna go back yo 168??? There nothing there for him. Smfh wards career is now revolving around the hopes of a fight with GGG.

Itzkowitz isn't in the gym with Ward, so I doubt he has all that effective a gauge at how, physically, Ward is doing at super middleweight, let alone a better gauge than the only trainer Andre Ward has known since he was 9 nine years old. And Hunter brings Ward's minimum up, to make it clear that Andre Ward brings sizable value to the table; Ward-Rodriguez drew 1.2m viewers in 2013, Ward-Dawson did $750k at the live gate at Oracle Arena, and Ward is an actual name fighter. For all this talk of Golovkin being the "A-side", how much has he ever brought in for a live gate? Dollar for dollar, tell me who's really the A-side? lol 750 k live gate and dude says he's the A-side? Because it was in Oakland? Wait...he's from the Bay Area and can't draw flies to sh1t?! Fcuk ward and his money demands. He has almost zero audience. /thread

My point is simply that there is no basis to argue objectively for Golovkin being the far bigger draw. You look at the TV ratings for Golovkin's last four fights and you can't objectively say that the trounce the number for Ward-Rodriguez, Andre's last fight on HBO. And, for all the talk of Golovkin being this massive draw, there's no publicly available information for the gates for Golovkin-Monroe or Golovkin-Rubio. Not sure how the tickets are moving, but if Ward-Smith ends up drawing a $1m gate on June 20th, what is there to say then? (Ward-Dawson did basically $750k at Oracle, without a whole heck of a lot of local promotion tbh, and RocNation Sports is already starting the promotional effort locally, with a month to go). The "nobody is curious of Ward" sentence is one of boxing biggest urban legends right now. They basically project their wishes. Ward is a dangerous party breaker element for them Golovkin and Kovalev stans, I mean just the rabid ones not the normal ones. Ward is easily a top 10 "not PPv" draw in the USA.

If Virgil had been able to say that Ward's lowest audience figures were higher than GGG's maximum, then yeah. But talking about the purses instead, when GGG is actually a bigger draw than Ward, just illustrates why GGG/Ward would make no financial sense for either right now. My point is simply that there is no basis to argue objectively for Golovkin being the far bigger draw. You look at the TV ratings for Golovkin's last four fights and you can't objectively say that the trounce the number for Ward-Rodriguez, Andre's last fight on HBO. And, for all the talk of Golovkin being this massive draw, there's no publicly available information for the gates for Golovkin-Monroe or Golovkin-Rubio. Not sure how the tickets are moving, but if Ward-Smith ends up drawing a $1m gate on June 20th, what is there to say then? (Ward-Dawson did basically $750k at Oracle, without a whole heck of a lot of local promotion tbh, and RocNation Sports is already starting the promotional effort locally, with a month to go).

GGG just brought in over 12,000 against WILLIE MONROE!!!!! They had to put in additional seating TWICE for his fight against Rubio. Enough with tales of what Ward did way back in 2013. That is ancient history in today's terms. Let's see how many people he draws in his next fight and what the number are for BET. Ward and his fans have been living on past glories long enough. Time to wake up and come into 2015. 12,000 people on $20 seats is still short of $250,000 in actual revenue, a third of what Andre Ward was able to bring in for a fight over three years ago. Canelo Alvarez likely had 40,000 people in Houston and I'd be shocked if the event ended up doing $1m in actual business. Selling $5 tickets isn't all that impressive. When Ward draws another strong gate, bringing in another large gate for the Smith fight, I'd hope you'd have the decency to admit your fault.

Personally I think it's a great move to comeback at 172. See how Wards body reacts and make the decision to move either up or down afterwards. Good move by Ward and Hunter.

yup thats what you are praying for. lmaooo you're praying for Ward to come to Cotto's rescue.

Per David Itzkowitz, it sounds more like Ward's moving up rather than what Virgil's saying that they don't need to make 168. Also not following why Hunter brings up Ward's minimum being more than what Golovkin made vs Monroe. That kind of proves the point why the fight's not happening. Golovkin's the A-side here, he's not going to move up in weight and draw the crowd just so Ward can make as much money. Itkowitz reminds me of Michael Corleone out of the "Godfather" If Haymon or Oscar ever meet up with him for dinner, and he gets up and goes to the bathroom, they better make sure they're not there when he gets back!

Per David Itzkowitz, it sounds more like Ward's moving up rather than what Virgil's saying that they don't need to make 168. Also not following why Hunter brings up Ward's minimum being more than what Golovkin made vs Monroe. That kind of proves the point why the fight's not happening. Golovkin's the A-side here, he's not going to move up in weight and draw the crowd just so Ward can make as much money. Itzkowitz isn't in the gym with Ward, so I doubt he has all that effective a gauge at how, physically, Ward is doing at super middleweight, let alone a better gauge than the only trainer Andre Ward has known since he was 9 nine years old. And Hunter brings Ward's minimum up, to make it clear that Andre Ward brings sizable value to the table; Ward-Rodriguez drew 1.2m viewers in 2013, Ward-Dawson did $750k at the live gate at Oracle Arena, and Ward is an actual name fighter. For all this talk of Golovkin being the "A-side", how much has he ever brought in for a live gate? Dollar for dollar, tell me who's really the A-side? lol If Virgil had been able to say that Ward's lowest audience figures were higher than GGG's maximum, then yeah. But talking about the purses instead, when GGG is actually a bigger draw than Ward, just illustrates why GGG/Ward would make no financial sense for either right now.

Only champions are obligated to fight at a certain weight which is why I am disgusted with Cotto for changing the 100 year old weight limit of 160 to 157 customizing the weight class just for himself. If you aren't a champion you can fight at any weight you please and it harms nobody, If Ward wants to fight at 172 that's fine. Ignorant Canelo haters need to quit complaining about him fighting at 155. He is not a champion and his fights are not title fights. If he wins a world title and defends it at a wrong weight limit that would be just as bad as what Cotto is doing. Canelo would never do that. Itzkowitz isn't in the gym with Ward, so I doubt he has all that effective a gauge at how, physically, Ward is doing at super middleweight, let alone a better gauge than the only trainer Andre Ward has known since he was 9 nine years old. And Hunter brings Ward's minimum up, to make it clear that Andre Ward brings sizable value to the table; Ward-Rodriguez drew 1.2m viewers in 2013, Ward-Dawson did $750k at the live gate at Oracle Arena, and Ward is an actual name fighter. For all this talk of Golovkin being the "A-side", how much has he ever brought in for a live gate? Dollar for dollar, tell me who's really the A-side? lol GGG just brought in over 12,000 against WILLIE MONROE!!!!! They had to put in additional seating TWICE for his fight against Rubio. Enough with tales of what Ward did way back in 2013. That is ancient history in today's terms. Let's see how many people he draws in his next fight and what the number are for BET. Ward and his fans have been living on past glories long enough. Time to wake up and come into 2015.

Per David Itzkowitz, it sounds more like Ward's moving up rather than what Virgil's saying that they don't need to make 168. Also not following why Hunter brings up Ward's minimum being more than what Golovkin made vs Monroe. That kind of proves the point why the fight's not happening. Golovkin's the A-side here, he's not going to move up in weight and draw the crowd just so Ward can make as much money. Itzkowitz isn't in the gym with Ward, so I doubt he has all that effective a gauge at how, physically, Ward is doing at super middleweight, let alone a better gauge than the only trainer Andre Ward has known since he was 9 nine years old. And Hunter brings Ward's minimum up, to make it clear that Andre Ward brings sizable value to the table; Ward-Rodriguez drew 1.2m viewers in 2013, Ward-Dawson did $750k at the live gate at Oracle Arena, and Ward is an actual name fighter. For all this talk of Golovkin being the "A-side", how much has he ever brought in for a live gate? Dollar for dollar, tell me who's really the A-side? lol

Per David Itzkowitz, it sounds more like Ward's moving up rather than what Virgil's saying that they don't need to make 168. Also not following why Hunter brings up Ward's minimum being more than what Golovkin made vs Monroe. That kind of proves the point why the fight's not happening. Golovkin's the A-side here, he's not going to move up in weight and draw the crowd just so Ward can make as much money.

I would like to see ward against degale or groves yet but it's doubtful he would go to the uk for either fight.

Ward wants at least two tune up fights, maybe three. Do not expect him back in the ring with a top contender for the next year or so. yup thats what you are praying for.

Only champions are obligated to fight at a certain weight which is why I am disgusted with Cotto for changing the 100 year old weight limit of 160 to 157 customizing the weight class just for himself. If you aren't a champion you can fight at any weight you please and it harms nobody, If Ward wants to fight at 172 that's fine. Ignorant Canelo haters need to quit complaining about him fighting at 155. He is not a champion and his fights are not title fights. If he wins a world title and defends it at a wrong weight limit that would be just as bad as what Cotto is doing. Canelo would never do that.

Ward wants at least two tune up fights, maybe three. Do not expect him back in the ring with a top contender for the next year or so.

So Andre Ward is going to fight at 172 then he is going back to 168. Good to hear that. I hope he gets more fights and more often. So we can have the SOG vs GGG clash on one or two more years.(Yep, no ****ing way we are going to have it right now) What fight after Smith will be good for Ward? Degeale? If he's dabbling with 172, surely it means KOvalev is the likelier fight? Ward is high risk for both, no doubt.