Comments Thread For: Andre Ward: The Best At 168 And Looking To Get Better

[Bhopreign]

So if HBO organised a Jr Welterweight Super 6 that excluded Bradley and Alexander, would that make the winner the #1 Jr Welterweight? Or if they had a heavyweight Super 6 that excluded the Klitschkos, would that make the winner the #1 Heavyweight? Showtime were idiots for excluding Bute. It just compounds the felony if the winner doesn't fight Bute for all the marbles.

Bute didnt want to be in it. He was happy fighting lesser competition while making a killing in Canada all the while keeping his title.

[Dave Rado]

Bute didnt want to be in it. He was happy fighting lesser competition while making a killing in Canada all the while keeping his title.

Provide a link to the quote where he says that, or stop making stuff up.

[BattlingNelson]

So if HBO organised a Jr Welterweight Super 6 that excluded Bradley and Alexander, would that make the winner the #1 Jr Welterweight? Or if they had a Heavyweight Super 6 that excluded the Klitschkos, would that make the winner the #1 Heavyweight? What if they had a Light Heavyweight Super 6 that excluded Dawson - would that make the winner the #1 Light Heavyweight? Showtime were idiots for excluding Bute. It just compounds the felony if the winner doesn't fight Bute for all the marbles.

If Bute was avoiding the best fights in his division, then his ranking should suffer. But if he's being excluded by a broadcaster from facing the best fighters, then only that broadcaster's credibility should suffer, not his ranking.

Bute was not the no 1 at the time the tournament started. Kessler was and that's a big difference.

[daggum]

Headbutting Kessler into submission in a horribly biased reffed fight doesn't make you the best at 168.

Not even close.

Lets see where Billy Goat Gruff is by the end of the tournament before we get ahead of ourselves.

how can you complain about biased reffing when bute should have been ko'd by andrade and lost his title?

[Dave Rado]

Bute was not the no 1 at the time the tournament started. Kessler was and that's a big difference.

He was the #2 back then and he was the #1 by the time Green was invited to join.

And even #2 is high enough to make his exclusion ridiculous and to mean that the tournament could not credibly claim to be to decide who the #1 fighter is, unless on the basis that the winner would fight him for all the marbles, or unless he loses or looks bad in the meantime. He would have to slip to at least #3 in the rankings before any fight not involving him could be for The Ring title.

But in any case, as I say, he was #1 by the time Green was invited in preference to him.

[Bhopreign]

Provide a link to the quote where he says that, or stop making stuff up.

"But Bute is one glaring omission from the tourney and the Montreal-based Romanian is fine with his career choice to refrain from the tournament".

[LeadUppercut]

Given that the fighter currently rated #1 isn't even in the Super 6, that makes no sense. Bute should have really been in it, but he wasn't invited, for whatever reason, and so the winner of the Super 6 has to fight Bute before anyone can be called the best 168 pounder in the world.

We seem to be talking about The Ring rankings here, which is fine.....

By the time the Super-6 winner has been determined, that fighter will have at least two belts, and will have beaten most of the top competition at 168.

The same will not apply to Bute, because within the next 18 months he cannot face anybody of that calibre in order to fairly keep him ranked at number 1.

Bute will not have faced anywhere near the level of competition that the Super-6 winner will have faced.

But I agree..... it is almost inconceivable that Bute was not included in the Super-6 as he was more credible at 168 than at least 4 of the current/former participants.

Unfortunately for Bute, the responsibility will be on him to fight the Super-6 winner to prove that he is the best at 168, not the other way around.

The Super-6 winner will have walked the gauntlet to become the man at 168.

[Bhopreign]

We seem to be talking about The Ring rankings here, which is fine.....

By the time the Super-6 winner has been determined, that fighter will have at least two belts, and will have beaten most of the top competition at 168.

The same will not apply to Bute, because within the next 18 months he cannot face anybody of that calibre in order to fairly keep him ranked at number 1.

Bute will not have faced anywhere near the level of competition that the Super-6 winner will have faced.

But I agree..... it is almost inconceivable that Bute was not included in the Super-6 as he was more credible at 168 than at least 4 of the current/former participants.

Unfortunately for Bute, the responsibility will be on him to fight the Super-6 winner to prove that he is the best at 168, not the other way around.

The Super-6 winner will have walked the gauntlet to become the man at 168.

Let's see if Booty mans up and fights Hopkins.

[Dave Rado]

"But Bute is one glaring omission from the tourney and the Montreal-based Romanian is fine with his career choice to refrain from the tournament".

That's spin, it's not a direct quote of anything he said. What he actually said in an interview in The Ring was that he wanted to rematch Andrade and if he was forced to choose between that and the Super 6, his priority was the rematch with Andrade. And if he hadn't given Andrade a rematch, after what happened in their first fight, he'd have been called a ducker. But Showtime shouldn't have forced him to choose - they should have reserved a place for the Bute-Andrade winner.

[Dave Rado]

Unfortunately for Bute, the responsibility will be on him to fight the Super-6 winner to prove that he is the best at 168, not the other way around.

Both fighters will need to make the fight at that point, in order for there to be a clear world champion - unless Bute loses or looks bad in the meantime.

As long as Bute doesn't slip below #2 in The Ring's rankings, no fight not involving him can be for The Ring title.

If either fighter (Bute or the Super 6 winner) clearly kills the fight at that point, they deserve to be called a ducker and their ranking should suffer.

It's a bit analogous to the Mayweather-Pac situation now - Mayweather has moved to #1 in the rankings, but boxing needs them to fight each other, and there will be no clear Welterweight champion (or Ring champion) unless they fight - and the onus is on both fighters to make the fight happen.

Or another analogy is when Tyson had cleared out the Heavyweight division except he hadn't fought Spinks. Tyson was ranked #1 but he wasn't regarded as the undisputed champion until he beat Spinks.