Andre Ward is the perfect fighter for CBS/NBC

[croz]

He's a big name to boxing fans and an olympic gold medallist yet he isn't overly full of himself or so over paid they can't afford him. He'd also attract plenty of attention from the religious crowds.

He's bound to attract bigger numbers than Santa Cruz or Adamek-Cunningham. If you consider that the Adamek-Cunningham fight reached 3.9 million in a horrid timeslot you can probably guess that it would have done sub 400k on HBO. So take someone who was in a 1 million plus fight on HBO and do the math for NBC and we could make Ward into a huge name very quickly.

[KickAzz]

Ward's style is too boring for prime time... Rios would be a good prime time fighter

[DoktorSleepless]

Ward already crossed the over the million dollar per fight threshold . Zero chance he's going to network tv.

[croz]

Ward's style is too boring for prime time... Rios would be a good prime time fighter

people don't care about boring. Mayweather and Hopkins have been successful ratings draws despite that claim following their career. All they need is a name to bring in numbers. If you can break 1 million viewers on HBO you can likely break 5 million on network TV.

[Ferrarijones]

people don't care about boring. Mayweather and Hopkins have been successful ratings draws despite that claim following their career. All they need is a name to bring in numbers. If you can break 1 million viewers on HBO you can likely break 5 million on network TV.

People do care about boring. Ward's one of my favorites, but his style really doesn't appeal to a casual audience. Of course us diehards like him, but that's a totally different demographic. The difference between him and Mayweather/Hopkins is that they had impressive KO/highlight reel type victories early in their careers and establish their fanbases amongst the African-American community. Not to mention their outspoken personalities. Ward's squeaky clean image won't win him any popularity contests. He doesn't have any real notable KOs except Dawson. So I doubt he'd be a good fit to even headline a PPV imo. Great fighter, just doesn't have the personality to be a star...at least not currently.

What he really needs is a rival. Someone to bring out the dog in him. Like a modern day Nigel Benn. Just a mean boxer who'll rile him up during the buildups. That'll get people talking for sure.

[croz]

People do care about boring. Ward's one of my favorites, but his style really doesn't appeal to a casual audience. Of course us diehards like him, but that's a totally different demographic. The difference between him and Mayweather/Hopkins is that they had impressive KO/highlight reel type victories early in their careers and establish their fanbases amongst the African-American community. Not to mention their outspoken personalities. Ward's squeaky clean image won't win him any popularity contests. He doesn't have any real notable KOs except Dawson. So I doubt he'd be a good fit to even headline a PPV imo. Great fighter, just doesn't have the personality to be a star...at least not currently.

What he really needs is a rival. Someone to bring out the dog in him. Like a modern day Nigel Benn. Just a mean boxer who'll rile him up during the buildups. That'll get people talking for sure.

Hopkins got big by fighting on network TV back around 2004-5 or some time like that. I think it was on FOX. Mayweather got big by being a gold medalist and beating DLH. Don't make this a race thing. People only care about brand awareness. Once you get eyes on someone they tend to stick.

[oscar_angels091]

Hopkins got big by fighting on network TV back around 2004-5 or some time like that. I think it was on FOX. Mayweather got big by being a gold medalist and beating DLH. Don't make this a race thing. People only care about brand awareness. Once you get eyes on someone they tend to stick.

when did mayweather win a gold medal?

[Earl-Hickey]

Er no.

Casual viewers would watch about 3 rounds of son of John Ruiz and switch over to CSI vowing " never again"

[A-Wolf]

ward's style is too boring for prime time... Rios would be a good prime time fighter

+1 ..........

[ShoulderRoll]

The Super Six should have been on CBS.

People would have had a chance to see him proving his clear superiority over Kessler, Froch, Abraham etc.