Soooooooooooooooo Andre Ward was a 175lb Amateur Champion...

[Cutthroat]

ward only fought at light heavyweight in the olympics so that his close personal friend andre dirrell could compete as well in the middleweight division.

Yup, Ward is a ****ing warrior, I laugh when people say he's scared. He started off his career at 160, took him a few years to fill out his body so he obviously wasn't having trouble making weight.

He defeated guys like Clemente Russo, and 6'5 Makarenko who hadn't lost in 5 years to win gold. Then goes into the super 6 a massive under dog at age 26 against world class competition with some vicious power punchers all with far more experience. Capped off the super 6 with a dominating performance, heading into the fight with a broken hand against Froch.

Actions speak louder than words, Ward has proven to be one of boxing's ultimate warriors.

[Luilun]

Yeah he won a gold medal at 175 a decade ago. Sweated down to 168 as a pro. Spent his entire career there. Which was fine when 168 was deeper than 175. That's no longer the case. Andre has certainly proven himself at 168. Time to move up.

He's doing the Donaire Broner technique suck down in weight and fight someone smaller

[Pigeons]

He was a middleweight at the beginning of his career genius. He struggled with Boone early in his career... Became #2 P4P and Super Middleweight King. He cleaned out the division of everyone but Andre Dirrell. He whooped somewhat weight drained Dawson the Lineal light heavyweight King at 175 who beat Bhop lol at the time. Dawson asked and made weight 168lbs. Bhop wants none of Ward and Stevenson's kept quiet. Only the GGG fanboys talk **** on Ward. Ward beats all 160-175 fighters. Ward just wants the earned respect and paydays... I think if he ditches his manager and gets Al Haymon we will get good fights out of Ward. And Chavez Jr is a **** fight but a tune up for when Ward beats GGG after he beats the Canelo vs Cotto winner. Ward vs Anthony Dirrell would be a decent fight waiting on GGG.

Good post. Most of the casual fans on this website do not know that Ward was a MW for his first 10 pro fights. He is hardly a LHW, and it makes sense that he is no hurry to move up since there is nowhere to go after LHW. LHW is not WW. Ward still has Golovkin, the Dirrells, Groves, DeGale, Chavez Jr., etc. at SMW. He'll get to LHW just as its getting hot.

[Foreign Soil]

Ward isn't good enough for 175, which shows how overrated his P4P status is, and P4P in general.

[UTEP]

He's gonna have to move up soon. Making 168 must be killing him with all this inactivity. His next fight will probably be his last at super middleweight.

[Rostov Papa]

Yeah he won a gold medal at 175 a decade ago. Sweated down to 168 as a pro. Spent his entire career there. Which was fine when 168 was deeper than 175. That's no longer the case. Andre has certainly proven himself at 168. Time to move up.

This.

I mean, the dude completely cleaned out 168... AND THEN SOME (Edwin Rodriguez - who really is a decent little boxer).

He wants to cherry pick a big money fight (Chavez). I can't really say I blame him.

Sometimes after boxers do what he did - they get that 5-10 million dollar payday.

But Ward has gotta realize the boxing game doesn't always work like that.

Sometimes you gotta keep taking on the pure badasses at a higher weight.

[Rostov Papa]

There's no PPV money aside from Chavez. Even GGG isn't a PPV fight right now.

My best guess, if money is first and foremost (which it is, and I understand), and ruling out Chavez, here are his best options:

1a.) Kessler fight in Denmark. HBO would likely put up 2-3 million for this fight; and Kessler is a huge star in Denmark, and Danish PPV, and live gate, and possibly other European/Russian network money would likely bring in another 3-5 million. Realistically, Ward could make 3-5 million in this fight.

1b.) Froch fight in England. Again, HBO likely puts up 2-3 million for this fight... Now, I could be way off here, and this could actually be a more lucrative option than the Kessler fight in Denmark. It all depends on how much the Froch gravy train is rolling after his back to back exciting fights with Groves (the rematch reportedly drew 20 million in revenue).

Personally, I dont think this fight sells nearly that well on English PPV because the fans know Ward most likely beats Froch in a snoozer. However, I could be hugely mistaken here, and if they get behind this fight, this could make 10-15 millino, with Ward seeing at least 50 percent of that (Froch might have to concede more to get Ward to cmoe over to England). On the low end, I still see this fight doing 3-5 million. So I think Ward could make a good 3-5 million here.

2a.) Kovalev/Hopkins winner. Not a PPV, but I could see HBO paying out their ass for this fight, especially if it's Kovalev. I could see them willing to put up about 4 million for this fight, with Ward getting about 2.8 of it. So a 2.5-2.8 millino payday is possible here.


2b.) GGG. Again, not a PPV, but I could see HBO willing to put up 4 million for this fight, with Ward getting about 2.5 of it.

[The Hammer]

Bernard Hopkins said on ESPN the 168 division shouldn't exist, it didn't exist throughout most of boxing history.

He said it's a division where light heavyweight boxers who weren't anything special protected themselves from other light heavyweights.

[daggum]

This.

I mean, the dude completely cleaned out 168... AND THEN SOME (Edwin Rodriguez - who really is a decent little boxer).

He wants to cherry pick a big money fight (Chavez). I can't really say I blame him.

Sometimes after boxers do what he did - they get that 5-10 million dollar payday.

But Ward has gotta realize the boxing game doesn't always work like that.

Sometimes you gotta keep taking on the pure badasses at a higher weight.

edwin rodriguez sucks. ward wanted to fight dmitry sartison instead of bute or stevenson. he cleaned out the slow mid range boxers but anyone else with power, speed, etc...no.

[Rostov Papa]

edwin rodriguez sucks. ward wanted to fight dmitry sartison instead of bute or stevenson. he cleaned out the slow mid range boxers but anyone else with power, speed, etc...no.

Yeah you're right man. Heheh I was being a little euphemistic in Edwin's description.

He's so basic, and mediocre in every aspect - speed, power, defensive prowess, stamina, etc.