Comments Thread For: Andre Ward Talks Fighting on BET, Discusses PBC Impact

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Andre Ward first made his name as a pro on Showtime, where he won the “Super Six” tournament. Then he moved over to HBO, taking out Chad Dawson and Edwin Rodriguez.

But now, for his first fight with new promoter Roc Nation Sports and in his first appearance since November 2013, Ward will face Paul Smith in a June 20 broadcast on BET, a prominent and far-reaching network whose target audience is African-American viewers and which reaches a broad swath of homes in the United States.

“Obviously my relationship with Roc Nation Sports is extremely important to me. I had a rough last two years with lawsuits and different things. That stuff’s behind me. I’m glad it’s over with. Big things are up ahead,” Ward told BoxingScene.com on April 24.
[Click Here To Read More]

[mrjax]

Haymon might be the anti-Christ, but bringing boxing back to broadcast is pretty awesome.

[Deevel916]

Haymon might be the anti-Christ, but bringing boxing back to broadcast is pretty awesome.

There's more to it than just showing free fights on network television though. What good is it if many of the top fighters wont be able to face off against one another due to being aligned with rival networks and promoters who wont do business with one another.

Arum/GBP/Dibella/Main events don't have problems making fights together. It's Haymon who's trying to Isolate himself and his fighters from doing business with other networks and promoters. Sure its good for him and for his fighters but bad for the sport as a whole.

[Clegg]

Good to read that his deal with BET might just be for this fight. Him being back on HBO makes fights with some of the bigger names easier to make. I'm guessing being signed to Roc rules out fights against Haymon guys.

[Eastcoast]

Andre wishing he was with Al Haymon instead of James Prince.

[SUBZER0ED]

What I'm getting from this, is Ward may have screwed himself in signing with ROC Nation. He's an inactive fighter trying to make a comeback, yet he signed with an upstart promoter who gets him his first fight in 1.5 years on BET? That's like Manny Pacquiao taking off for nearly 2 years and having his comeback fight broadcast solely on TFC (The Filipino Channel), only worse.

[JJRod]

As long as Ward impresses he'll be invited back on HBO and other networks. As long as he impresses though. The guy he's fighting is not in Ward's class and shouldn't pose a problem for Ward. He needs to go out show killer instinct and take him out. Don't be content with getting rounds in and cruising to a UD. That will put the casual viewer to sleep.

[-PBP-]

As long as Ward impresses he'll be invited back on HBO and other networks. As long as he impresses though. The guy he's fighting is not in Ward's class and shouldn't pose a problem for Ward. He needs to go out show killer instinct and take him out. Don't be content with getting rounds in and cruising to a UD. That will put the casual viewer to sleep.

Paul Smith isn't great but he's tough. If Abraham couldn't knock him out I doubt Ward can. This will likely be a boring one sided 12 rounder unfortunately.

[Barcham]

As long as Ward impresses he'll be invited back on HBO and other networks. As long as he impresses though. The guy he's fighting is not in Ward's class and shouldn't pose a problem for Ward. He needs to go out show killer instinct and take him out. Don't be content with getting rounds in and cruising to a UD. That will put the casual viewer to sleep.

To get back on HBO, Ward doesn't need to impress, he just needs a decent, quality opponent and to reduce his ridiculous asking price. Ward has never had a killer instinct, he fights with a survival instinct. He does what he needs to do to survive and win, not to actively defeat his opponent.

[bigdunny1]

He is fighting on BET because HBO refused to air this fight. They didn't want to pay for this non competitive fight. So far I am not really impressed with Roc Nation. They had the fiasco with Gary Shaw who pulled out taking back all his fighters after less then one month working with Roc Nation. And they took months trying to find Ward a fight and finally got him one but it was so bad that HBO wouldn't buy it and Ward has a excellent relationship with HBO. Hopefully this is just a one shot deal and he is back on HBO.