Did Ward duck Bivol & Berbetiev?

[messi807]

I think he retired because he knew he didn't have many fights left in him, what with injuries and whatnot.

But maybe if the landscape looked easier, he might have battled through the injuries for a couple of more paydays. I think he was smart enough to realise he wasn't beating these guys at less than 100%.

I think Bivol would have beaten him at 175. Ward was a great fighter but never faced anyone with elite distance control and work rate to the level of Bivol, I think would have struggled to get to grips with Bivol. I think Bivol has the best distance control of any fighter north of 147 in the last decade. Its no coincidence he also statistically has the best defence too. He would control the distance too well for Ward to get close to him often enough and I don't think he outboxes Bivol from range because of his work rate, combinations and hand speed.

I think he may have struggled with Beterbiev too. Style for style I think Beterbiev is better for Ward than Bivol, but i think Beterbiev is way more physical and stronger than any of Ward's opponents. Ward wouldn't have been able to be physical with him in the way he liked to be. He wouldn't win that battle up close.


I rate Ward very highly though, so don't get me wrong, and I don't think he ducked these guys, but I think he knew he definitely wasn't going beat these guys at less than 100% and his body wasn't 100% anymore.

Just curious.. what performances against highly rated guys that Beterbiev & Bivol fought (leading up to Ward’s retirement) do you think made Ward *think to himself* DAMN that dude is scary!

Because Kovalev definitely looked scarier than either guy in performances, Beterbiev even declined the Kovalev fight twice because his handlers thought he wasn’t ready. Why do you think an inexperienced Berbetiev would’ve been too much for Ward?

[messi807]

The number one boogieman in the division was Kovalev. That's not even debatable.

Yup. Some definitely try revisionist history. Before Ward retired Beterbiev fought the likes of Maderna & Prieto, two guys nobody had ever heard of - nor can anyone remember those fights (I think they were on PBC).

Beterbiev even turned down a Kovalev fight

[messi807]

Ward was going to retire after the first kovalev fight and fought 1 more time just to beat kovalev more clearly.

Yeah, I think the people that push another narrative act like retirement wasn’t already on his mind.

[messi807]

No, that's crazy. You can't expect the current crop to know who the next crop will be. Is Bivol ducking some unknown fighter who'll be big **** years after Bivol is retired? Yeah, Ward didn't either.


Also daggum is among the dumbest ****ers here. Don't know why y'all waste your time on that idiot. Hell, I do not understand why you guys waste your time with any moron whose entire posting history is nothing but their opinions. Oh what great insight derived from the opinions formed by other peoples' work ****ing useless

For sure. Can’t expect to beat the #2 P4P Fighter in the world & then fight against teo unknown fighters who’s biggest paydays are 100k. Sometimes I HATE casuals

[messi807]

That was his team’s decision to not fight Kovi not Beterbiev
Ward avoided Superman like the plague so not really to far fetched to say he did the same with Gvodzyk , Beterbiev and Bivol when the became the mandatories in the other orgs
One thing I give credit to Ward is he retired and stayed retired

Evidence he avoided Stevenson? HBO & Showtime we’re not working with each other, impossible fight to get made. Not to mention Stevenson was ducking the guy that Ward stopped.

[champion4ever]

No, they weren't even on the radar when Andre Ward was fighting. The only bogeyman at the 175 division at the time was none other than "The Krusher" Sergey Kovalev

[AKAcronym]

Yup. Some definitely try revisionist history. Before Ward retired Beterbiev fought the likes of Maderna & Prieto, two guys nobody had ever heard of - nor can anyone remember those fights (I think they were on PBC).

Beterbiev even turned down a Kovalev fight

Beterbiev fought Campillo and Cloud, 2 guys who definitely had a name at the time. Not huge names but acting like he was fighting complete unknowns is disingenuous.

[MulaKO]

Evidence he avoided Stevenson? HBO & Showtime we’re not working with each other, impossible fight to get made. Not to mention Stevenson was ducking the guy that Ward stopped.

Evidence that Stevenson was avoiding Kovi ?
Or is that you’re opinion ?

[deathofaclown]

Just curious.. what performances against highly rated guys that Beterbiev & Bivol fought (leading up to Ward’s retirement) do you think made Ward *think to himself* DAMN that dude is scary!

Because Kovalev definitely looked scarier than either guy in performances, Beterbiev even declined the Kovalev fight twice because his handlers thought he wasn’t ready. Why do you think an inexperienced Berbetiev would’ve been too much for Ward?

Who is talking about in that moment? Do you think he didn't realise a couple of years down the line it may be a different story. That's the point isn't it?

Bivol dealt with Barrera easier than ward and stopped him.

to be honest, all these guys knew Bivol was a problem. Kovalev used to dismiss fighting Bivol all the time, even when Bivol had a belt.

Beterbiev ran away from DAZN as soon as Bivol joined, and has been hiding his new promoter since and letting Arum say Bivol is boring etc to avoid the fight for a few years. Arum and Beterbiev have only started getting interested in the fight since its been talking about as a Saudi fight.

The Russians already knew what the Mexicans found out the hard way, Bivol is a very hard man to beat stylistically and Ward probably sensed it too.

[Mammoth]

Nah he just retired. Ward’s body was breaking down.

Prime Ward would’ve beaten both IMO, shame they never fought, but it was never really realistic.

Plus Bivol had about 11 fights when Ward retired