Ward and Froch fought on virtually neutral grounds

[4Corners]

People are dumb. Ward is from California, not New Jersey, or even the East Coast.

People that aren't from the US don't understand of course, that California and the East Coast is like two different worlds.

Ward fighting in England against Froch would be like Froch fighting Ward in Oakland.....which of course isn't and hasn't happened.

[Barry Halls]

Great, then we can have Canelo vs. Floyd somewhere in Mexico, far away from where the ginger was born.

[4Corners]

That being said, I'm cool if they do a rematch, Ward doesn't have many legit options at 168 anymore, and I'd be fine if they never did either. It's not like the first fight was actually close, Ward won a comfortable UD.

[Barry Halls]

Lets put the rematch in Wales then. Surely that would be neutral grounds.

Eastcoast, westcoast, blablabla, you still identify yourselves as Americans, vote in the same election and root for the same national teams. Both sides wave their guns and cry at the national anthem because.. **** ye America!

US is not neutral grounds, not that it necessarily means it will be corrupt and biased. Same is the case with UK.

[Joey_Torreo]

The Kessler was one thing, but people need to stop pretending like the ref/judging had any impact whatsoever in the first Ward-Froch fight. He outclassed Froch front to back so he doesn't owe him any favors. The only thing it becomes a question of is if Ward needs the money or wants to increase his international profile that badly.

Yes great point. I like froch a lot. But you can't deny he got outclassed but I think both guys want this fight. Froch cuz he wants to erase the blemishes on his record and ward is obviously entertaining the idea cuz of the payday otherwise he could just ignore froch altogether because he already beat him decisively. Rematches are only meant to happen is there was some doubt. Here was no doubt in who was superior in the first fight

[4Corners]

Lets put the rematch in Wales then. Surely that would be neutral grounds.

Eastcoast, westcoast, blablabla, you still identify yourselves as Americans, vote in the same election and root for the same national teams. Both sides wave their guns and cry at the national anthem because.. **** ye America!

US is not neutral grounds, not that it necessarily means it will be corrupt and biased. Same is the case with UK.

Well I couldn't careless what happens, I'm not even sold a rematch needs to happen, the first fight wasn't really close. If a rematch happens, it's only because 168 is dry with contenders to fight Ward right now.

But anyone who really thinks Ward had some sort of advantage in Jersey is nuts. Jersey and Vegas are probably two of the most neutral places to fight in the world for big fights.

[Levity]

Lets put the rematch in Wales then. Surely that would be neutral grounds.

Eastcoast, westcoast, blablabla, you still identify yourselves as Americans, vote in the same election and root for the same national teams. Both sides wave their guns and cry at the national anthem because.. **** ye America!

US is not neutral grounds, not that it necessarily means it will be corrupt and biased. Same is the case with UK.

I think it's a mistake to make the country the bout occurred in the determinant of whether the bout occurred on neutral grounds.

It makes little sense to consider the location non-neutral when virtually none of the usual sources of advantage for the 'home-fighter' were present; Ward didn't have more crowd support, he didn't benefit from unfair officiating, he wasn't more used to the venue, etc.

Let's say the bout was fought in Atlantic City, but everyone in the crowd was an ardent Froch supporter, the ref and the judges favored Froch, and Froch had fought at the venue more times than Ward had. Does this count as being non-neutral in Ward's favor because he is an American?

[*CHAMPNAS*]

*Let me preface this by noting, in an attempt to pre-empt red herrings, that I'm addressing how the location of Ward-Froch impacted their bout, not the more general issue of whether it's fair or unfair that Andre Ward has fought only in the US, while other top boxers had to come to the US to fight him.

I think it's reductive to claim that fighting in one's country is significantly advantageous to the home-country fighter in bouts against foreign boxers. The interaction between cultural factors and bout specifics, such as where in the country the bout is occurring and who is fighting, is too varied to make such a blanket statement.

Boxing support in the U.S. tends to be localized (e.g. Philly fans supporting Philly fighters) or linked to ethnicity in certain cases (e.g. boxers of Mexican descent tend to be supported my Mexican fans regardless of where in the U.S. or whether they are American or fighting an American). It doesn't seem to be true, however, that nationality usually leads to broad American support for American boxers in contests against foreigners. I thought this was evident in Ward's bout against Froch, as there was hardly great support for the former in an absolute or relative sense; it may even be that Froch had more support at the fight than Ward did.

There are other advantages commonly gained by being the hometown fighter, but I'm not sure if those were relevant to the Ward-Froch outcome. Ward didn't benefit from unfair officiating, as the referee didn't interact with the fighters such that it benefitted Ward, and two of the judges' scores were harsh to Ward. If Ward did have hometown advantages, they were probably small and stemmed from Froch having to travel a greater distance to reach Atlantic City, and presumably having to make larger adjustments. However, Froch already had big-fight experience in the US and more specifically Atlantic City (unlike Ward) which likely helped him adjust more readily to the different environment and time-zone.

So, Ward didn't have hometown support, hometown officiating, or hometown experience in his favor. So why do some people think that to give us a better idea of how they truly compare, Ward needs to rematch Froch in England, where Froch would probably have prolific and vociferous support that Ward didn't have in Atlantic City, and where Ward would face a level of hostility that Froch didn't face in Atlantic City?

Andre ward beat froch pretty easily and froch is just looking for an excuse and I'm from England.

[gmc_rfc_06]

Fighting in your home country is always an advantage.

People who haven't been to both the US and the UK may not know, but they are very different in a lot of ways. Being in your own country and being used to everything there is most definitely an advantage, not just in the ring, but also in terms of prep and level of comfort.

[The Surgeon]

People are dumb. Ward is from California, not New Jersey, or even the East Coast.

People that aren't from the US don't understand of course, that California and the East Coast is like two different worlds.

Ward fighting in England against Froch would be like Froch fighting Ward in Oakland.....which of course isn't and hasn't happened.

Take it to Scotland then