Comments Thread For: Merchant: Media Has To Pressure Ward, Stevenson

[g.goodman25]

About time

I agree a 100% with Larry Merchant, quit paying for these fights until we get the Floyd vs. Manny or the Ward vs. Stevenson. Pay to see what you want.

[boxingfeind]

Floyd didnt duck Margarita. He structured his whole career to get two big money fights. One with Oscar and one with Gatti. They werent dangerous beast, they were paydays that would help make him more mainstream. He went directly to those two fights, and haters accused him of ducking the fighters who were in between. Floyd ducked two fighters; Mosley and Pacman. But they both ducked him first, and he ducked them in return. BUT he still ducked. But all atg's have ducked one or two fighters. SRR ducked two fighters from the murderers row. And SRL had a habit of cherrypickin, and ducked Hagler rematch. Then padded his record with meaningless rematches and trilogies with everyone except Hagler.

Oscar was very dangerous fight for Floyd on paper in my opinion, because Oscar was very fast and a lot bigger then Floyd who came in at 150 on fight-night.Oscar must have outweighed Floyd by 15-20 pounds that night.

[hitking]

Ward was coming off a hand injury when he fought Chad Dawson.And after he came off the Shoulder injury,he wanted to fight Hopkins at 175.So stop with your excuses for Ward.

He fought Rodriguez, who was undefeated, about the highest ranked super middleweight out ther that he hasn't beaten. Still don't see what's wrong with him as an opponent.

[kej718]

I don't know why people keep bringing up Margarito. Floyd left Top Rank (Couldn't get him any big fights at the time like Oscar, Cotto, etc.) as soon as he leaves he face Baldimer the WW champ, then Oscar (Breaks the PPV record and becomes a star), Hatton the Champ @ 140, Marquez (top 5 P4P at the time), Mosley after he KTFO Margarito, and we all found out he was a cheater.

Back to the topic
If HBO wants theses guys to fight each other like Stevenson vs. Kovalev they need to put up the money (They should also give bonuses like the UFC for fight of the night or Knockout of the night which would be great for prospects), are they can just have a set amount on the side for the winner (This would be great for Stevenson vs. Kovalev) but they won't do it because they are all talk which is why showtime is killing them this year.

[danktrees]

wtf is merchant saying? stevenson calling out froch and hopkins is considered a duck as if those are easy fights to win? stevenson called for froch before he moved up to light heavyweight. only reason he moved up was cuz there was no fight for him at super middleweight. froch and hopkins would be a bigger money match as well so i dont see what the problem is. i get that everyone wants to see him fight kovalev and i do too, but choosing to fight froch or hopkins instead isnt exactly ducking someone...those are tough fights to win.

and stevenson didnt say he wont fight kovalev, he actually said he'd fight kovalev or anybody if hbo put up enough money. but he wants froch or hopkins cuz those are the biggest money fights for him. cant fault him for taking more money...most fighters do.

[mathed]

Merchant is just saying what you guys basically say. Give us the good fights, stop ducking the hard fights by calling out smaller guys or guys that you already beat, move up if there are no more good fights.

[thuggery]

I agree fully.

Ward wants to take easy garbage fights like him against Pavlik and Chavez Jr and Stevenson made is 100% clear last night that he wants NO part of KOvalev, and instead would rather fight an ancient feather fisted Poopykins and a off target looking Froch.

What a joke these guys are.

[Bigg Rigg]

Larry speaking the truth!! Ward sticking around at 168 is lame. He's cleaned it out. Go to 175 and win the WBC title. That would be great!

[Heru]

Merchant is misplacing his criticism...

HBO explicitly wanted and received Ward-Rodriguez. Before the Groves fight, Froch earned his position as the #2 of the division and deserved a potential rematch against Ward. He shouldn't have to move up to look for opponents, he's a Super Middleweight. He should wait for potential fights against Chavez, GGG, and Quillin, and fight top contenders in the meantime. Groves, DeGale, Stieglitz, and a rematch against Froch are viable opposition until they feel they want to challenge themselves.

Did Merchant have an issue with Hagler defending his titles and dominating his opposition? I guess so...

Stevenson just finished fighting 3 top 10 fighters consecutively in the last 6 months, but he has to fight Kovalev next? **** off...

Fighters have a limited window to earn good money, why would they not look for the most lucrative opportunities? To please a few critics? GTFOH with that bull****. Kovalev will e next if HBO is willing to pay more for that fight than a Hopkins or Froch fight.

[MurkaMan]

except he didn't. he turned down 8 mill to fight margarito then 3 months later accepted 8 mill to fight baldomir. if he was waiting to fight hoya why did he take this fight? cause baldomir sucks! easy 8 million dollars! margarito wasn't an easy 8 million dollars so he said no thanks.

floyd fought sharmba mitchell. was sharmba mitchell ranked #1? no margarito was.

floyd fought zab judah. was zab judah ranked #1? no margarito was.

then he retired when cotto and margarito were dominating the division. he had plenty of chances to fight margarito. he wasn't just waiting around for super fights. he was waiting around in cherry picker mode.

You just said it. If he's waiting for a fight against Hoya, then why would he fight Margarita? I know you desperately want to say that Floyd ducked him. But if it wasnt an actual duck like with Pac, then he doesnt deserve it.