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

[turnedup]

This site has just gotten sad...the topic is ward and stevenson and yet it turns into a manny and floyd verbal fight as usual. Those two men paid all of their dues and some...they have some very impressive names on their resume...now let's get back to adonis and andre....

[Ray*]

Hypocrisy at its best by the ignorant Merchant.

[Ray*]

Adonis fought Dawson, cloud and then his mandatory in bellew, I have zero complaints about him in terms of level of competition, Ward was coming off a lay off due to a number of reasons so am expecting him to fight a marquee name next.

[DosRounds]

So lemme see if I'm comprehending this right. Stevenson fights a guy ranked by Ring magazine and has beaten three current Ring rated fighters to date. Ward comes off a procedure, fights an undefeated, Ring ranked fighter. And has pretty much wiped his division out. Yet he says they're fighting easy opponents. But Kovalev fights an unranked guy on the same card with Stevenson. And has one Ring ranked opponents on his resume. GGG fights a total bum in Curtis Stevens. And has one Ring ranked fighter on his resume. Manny Pacquiao, who is supposedly an elite fighter. Fights a second tier jr welterweight, coming off a loss, and making his welterweight debut. Yet Merchant sees no need to call them out. I think Floyd summed it up best in the Ortiz postfight interview.

excellent post
Larry is a piece of shit

[hitman smax]

I agree with Larry Merchant. The media should pressure fighters to take on the very best, and so should the fans.

Anyone who doesn't agree with that obviously doesn't care whether fights are truly competitive or not.

The reason that Mayweather fought Alvarez is because the fans didn't really support his previous fight against Guerrero, and Mayweather has been accused by the media of ducking top fighters.

With that, pressure was on Mayweather to fight a well recognized top fighter.

If you are okay with Stevenson walking right through Froch and Hopkins, more power to you. Personally, I want to see him face a real challenge.

Maybe that's just me though.

[Bigg Rigg]

Guess guys are ok with Ward sticking around and fighting what ever is left of that division. Good for ya!

[hitman smax]

So lemme see if I'm comprehending this right. Stevenson fights a guy ranked by Ring magazine and has beaten three current Ring rated fighters to date. Ward comes off a procedure, fights an undefeated, Ring ranked fighter. And has pretty much wiped his division out. Yet he says they're fighting easy opponents. But Kovalev fights an unranked guy on the same card with Stevenson. And has one Ring ranked opponents on his resume. GGG fights a total bum in Curtis Stevens. And has one Ring ranked fighter on his resume. Manny Pacquiao, who is supposedly an elite fighter. Fights a second tier jr welterweight, coming off a loss, and making his welterweight debut. Yet Merchant sees no need to call them out. I think Floyd summed it up best in the Ortiz postfight interview.

What you are failing to understand here is that some fighters aren't fighting the best because the best simply won't fight them.

Why should Larry Merchant call out Kovalev or GGG or Manny when they've openly stated, and demonstrated, their willingness to fight anyone.

Kovalev has called out Stevenson and Hopkins. GGG has called out Martinez and Peter Quillen. Manny has called out Mayweather.

Of course Larry Merchant isn't going to take issue with the side of the equation that wants to make these fights. He's taking issue with the cowardly and selective tactics of the fighters and promoters on the other side of the equation.

You want big time fights at the top level, you have to stop supporting the lopsided ones.

[Weebler I]

Why is it ok for Kovalev to fight Sillakh but it's not ok for Ward to fight the guy who beat Grachev who beat Sillakh?

Especially given that Ward was coming off a long injury layoff?

Larry was criticising Ward for targeting fights with Chavez and Froch instead of moving up to the fight Stevenson and Kovalev.

Anyway, no one else wants to fight Kovalev.

I hate to say it but Larry Merchant is clearly biased and possibly borderline racist as some posters have mentioned.

Or, he just wants to see good competitive fights.

[firstborn]

Not every fighter can bounce up and down between divisions, Ward makes the 168lb weight comfortably and wants to explore all options before he decides on a permanent move to 175lbs. If Ward moves up before seriously looking into the possiblilty of rematching Froch or facing GGG then people will whine and cry about him "ducking."

Personally, I'd love to see him take on GGG sometime next year then move up in 2015.

[Mr. Philadel]

Golovkin vs Stevens was perfectly fine, but we need to call out Ward for fighting Rodriguez (who was a ranked opponent). Ok Larry.

Kovalev vs Sillahk was perfectly fine, but we need to call out Stevens for fighting Bellew (who was his mandatory). Ok Larry.

Damn these boring boxers and there easy fights!

So lemme see if I'm comprehending this right. Stevenson fights a guy ranked by Ring magazine and has beaten three current Ring rated fighters to date. Ward comes off a procedure, fights an undefeated, Ring ranked fighter. And has pretty much wiped his division out. Yet he says they're fighting easy opponents. But Kovalev fights an unranked guy on the same card with Stevenson. And has one Ring ranked opponents on his resume. GGG fights a total bum in Curtis Stevens. And has one Ring ranked fighter on his resume. Manny Pacquiao, who is supposedly an elite fighter. Fights a second tier jr welterweight, coming off a loss, and making his welterweight debut. Yet Merchant sees no need to call them out. I think Floyd summed it up best in the Ortiz postfight interview.

Green k

Larry Merchant been a transparent mother****er....but he has a cult following because some cats THINK he keep it real...the old ****er is real distorted with his thoughts....sophisticated evil old dude!!