If Ward defeats Smith, who would you like to see him in with before the end of 2016

[Scipio2009]

Kovalev

Froch rematch is pointless, first fight wasn't that close

GGG is too small whether he himself says so or not, he's barely big enough for 160 and despite his baby face he's 33...

Groves/DeGale are solid fights but nothing would have the buzz around it that Ward-Kovalev would.

Same height, Ward billed as 1 inch taller. Andre had an Olympic Gold medal at 178 lbs and is now fighting at a 172 pound catchweight so 175 will be pretty familiar ground. Kovalev-Ward should be the fight everyone wants assuming Andre looks good in his comeback.

I used to like him and I think people will put his bizarre mid career hiatus in the past if he can beat another top 168, fight Kovalev, he would have a great career.

note: Ward won the light heavyweight Olympic Gold medal fighting out of division (not able to find a source, but I recall Ward weighing in at 173 for the Olympic tournament, at basically his walk-around weight; Ward fighting up a division opened up a spot at 165 for Andre Dirrell, the other medal hopeful for USA Boxing. Ward immediately debuting, as a pro, at 160, should've been enough to dead such talk). oh well.

[Scipio2009]

• Groves, DeGale, Murray, Abraham, Steiglitz, Sturm can all make more money fighting in the UK/Germany than in Oakland.
  
• The Dirrells, Jack, Love, Chavez, Bute, Jackson, Benson are PBC fighters and won't be fighting Ward. RN & James Prince aren't friendly with Haymon.
  
• TR is in no hurry to throw away their prospects in Rameriz and Hart.

That leaves Ward to feast on Perriban, Rubio, Hadillah Mohoumadi, Christopher Rebrasse, or potentially weight drain some more LHW's like Oosthuizen and Askew.

If Ward and RN are truly hungry for a meaningful fight, they'll either move up to 175 and fight Kovalev or pony up something like a $4-5 million guarantee for Golovkin.

Smith on June 20th, followed by defending his WBA championship against wba champions Chudinov in the Fall/Winter 2015. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if Andre Ward;s next fight is held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Depending on how he looks in those two fights, he heads into 2016 ready to take on anyone. And, by that point, Cotto would've vacated the WBC middleweight title, and HBO would be looking at ponying up even more money for another nothing fight by Golovkin.

Golovkin would need a big fight (Golovkin just earned his first $1m payday, so harping about a $5m guarantee is a waste of effort), Ward would need a big fight, and HBO would need to make a big fight.

[Eastcoast]

Smith on June 20th, followed by defending his WBA championship against wba champions Chudinov in the Fall/Winter 2015. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if Andre Ward;s next fight is held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Depending on how he looks in those two fights, he heads into 2016 ready to take on anyone. And, by that point, Cotto would've vacated the WBC middleweight title, and HBO would be looking at ponying up even more money for another nothing fight by Golovkin.

Golovkin would need a big fight (Golovkin just earned his first $1m payday, so harping about a $5m guarantee is a waste of effort), Ward would need a big fight, and HBO would need to make a big fight.

Chudinov is in negotiations with Murray who just signed with Eddie Hearn. Murray should have no real problems beating Fedor, who's a small SMW with no real stand out abilities. Think Hearn would want to build a match up between Murray and DeGale for next summer where he can make some money off them. Additionally Murray is not able to fight in the US either.

As for Golovkin, he just made $1.5M for the first time solely from HBO, but he's been making over a mill per fight for over a year now due to foreign tv. Don't think his gate is doing too bad either. Golovkin's earnings are based on demand. Ward's are based on a tournament he won 4 years ago, thus the reason HBO turned down his recent fight and he's now on BET while pressing on the View.

[Scipio2009]

Chudinov is in negotiations with Murray who just signed with Eddie Hearn. Murray should have no real problems beating Fedor, who's a small SMW with no real stand out abilities. Think Hearn would want to build a match up between Murray and DeGale for next summer where he can make some money off them. Additionally Murray is not able to fight in the US either.

As for Golovkin, he just made $1.5M for the first time solely from HBO, but he's been making over a mill per fight for over a year now due to foreign tv. Don't think his gate is doing too bad either. Golovkin's earnings are based on demand. Ward's are based on a tournament he won 4 years ago, thus the reason HBO turned down his recent fight and he's now on BET while pressing on the View.

Sincerely doubt that the foreign TV numbers were all that massive for fights like Golovkin-Rubio (basically airing 2am-4am across Europe); fights from Monaco, at a far more hospitable time in Europe, were likely worth something on foreign TV. could be wrong, though.

If Chudinov-Murray happens, and Murray win, Ward misses out on the Chudinov fight (wouldn't count out Murray as a possible Ward opponent, especially considering that Degale vs Groves(if he can beat Badou Jack(c)) II is likely the big summer stadium fight; if the pot is big enough, I don't see Ward having an issue traveling for that fight).

Still, Ward would simply then go down the WBA's Top 15 challengers and pick a fight (#2 Froch doesn't want the fight outside of his literal home city, Top Rank isn't going to throw #3 Gilberto Ramirez in with Ward, #4 Sturm isn't leaving Germany, #5 Groves is targeting another title, and #6 Andre Dirrell/#8 Chavez Jr/#9 Julius Jackson are all with Haymon).

Patrick Nielsen(#7), Rogelio Medina(#10) and, if desperation sets in, Derek Edwards (#14, also assuming that he manages to beat Gilberto Ramirez) are basically the names available, if not the Chudinov (or Murray) fight.

Ward's next fight isn't on HBO because HBO is pinching pennies; laugh at BET picking up the fight if you want. Ward is likely to get the purse that he was asking for, have his fight available to triple the number of homes available to HBO, while marketing his own fight on a program that draws double the high watermark of viewers who watched Golovkin-Monroe.

If the BET move works out, Ward-Smith draws a similar number to Golovkin-Monroe, the promotional efforts increase the gate at Oracle, and the cross-programming opens the stage for Ward's next fight to be out of New York.