Why are they waiting till the end of next year to make the Ward-Kovalev fight?

[FrankieClutch]

Neither Kovalev nor Ward are with Haymon. He isn't involved in this at all.

Roc Nation are Ward's promoters. They want him to fight Kovalev, but Ward hasn't said that he wants the fight, and neither has his trainer, Virgil Hunter.

Imo, it isn't going to happen.

You misunderstood my point, I know Haymon doesn't manage either.

[Barcham]

Glad someone is talking sense.

The whole point of getting these guys a few fights first is to get people talking about them & preparing for their returns. Every time they fight they're exposed to bigger audiences and word-of-mouth buzz. People on this forum don't represent the vast majority of ticket-buying boxing fans out there, to reach those people it takes a fight or two or three. Joe Public isn't buying tickets to a guy he's only seen once on TV, and he's certainly not buying PPVs for it. Give these guys a few fights to build some hype.

You do not build hype by fighting people no one has ever heard of outside Australia, unless Ward intends to fight Kovalev down under. If RN and HBO want to build some hype around Ward, he has to get in the ring against some top 10 ranked fighters that the fans are aware of and wipe the mat with them. Anything less is a total waste of time and money.

[MDPopescu]

You do not build hype by fighting people no one has ever heard of outside Australia, unless Ward intends to fight Kovalev down under. If RN and HBO want to build some hype around Ward, he has to get in the ring against some top 10 ranked fighters that the fans are aware of and wipe the mat with them. Anything less is a total waste of time and money.

My 'guess' is that (for the moment) Ward isn't really heading towards a Kovalev fight.

[Barcham]

My 'guess' is that (for the moment) Ward isn't really heading towards a Kovalev fight.

I agree completely. I will believe it when I see an official announcement from HBO regarding the three fight deal. I just cannot see HBO accepting Rohan as an opponent for a PPV match and promoting it as co main event. Makes no sense to me at all. I know that I would not buy the PPV based on that fight alone and would go watch it in a bar. Fights like that are a insult to real boxing fans, not an incentive to watch.

[jqSide]

This is the same crap that PBC is doing it makes no sense I understand one gimme fight but why do they need two?

HBO would do it right away if it were up to them. Ward is making things difficult. HBO is not in the business of protecting fighters. Don't know why this is not obvious to some people. It's clear as day.

[-PBP-]

Do we really need to see these guys fight two stiffs before they fight each other?why are they milking this? Make the fight for early next year or in the summer.

Because if it happened today it would generate 2 PPV buys, me and you.

[MDPopescu]

I agree completely. I will believe it when I see an official announcement from HBO regarding the three fight deal. I just cannot see HBO accepting Rohan as an opponent for a PPV match and promoting it as co main event. Makes no sense to me at all. I know that I would not buy the PPV based on that fight alone and would go watch it in a bar. Fights like that are a insult to real boxing fans, not an incentive to watch.

Fighting the likes of Smith and Rohan is as if you don't fight at all.

[xhiddenx87]

Because Ward is a god gifted masterpiece and deserves to do whatever he wants in boxing. If he wants 3 tuneups, he can have 3 tuneups. But GGG doesn't need 3, he must fight at 168 against the best right away

Theres were some others that considered GGG-Froch offer , a ducking move to not fight Ward.

Now all of sudden Ward fights some top 40 SW at LHW and "nobody" says nothing...SMH.

I also don't expect Ward to fight Kova right away, but come on 3 tune ups, and against nobodies. Sad to see that, hopefully his third tuneup is good.

[The Ninth Layer]

You do not build hype by fighting people no one has ever heard of outside Australia, unless Ward intends to fight Kovalev down under. If RN and HBO want to build some hype around Ward, he has to get in the ring against some top 10 ranked fighters that the fans are aware of and wipe the mat with them. Anything less is a total waste of time and money.

You build fight by having guys on TV period. A lot of fighters depend on word-of-mouth to keep them in the public consciousness. They need people like you and me to say to their friends and roommates, "hey this guy is fighting, he's from Oakland and is the last American boxer to win a gold medal, wanna watch him?" so that those same people we invited are later willing to buy tickets for the Big Test or whatever.

[VERSION1 (V1)]

Do we really need to see these guys fight two stiffs before they fight each other?why are they milking this? Make the fight for early next year or in the summer.

because if he move up and ko's the two stiffs and kov does the same no casual fan will care and it would be the two top fighters one p4p number 2 and the other near the top ten fighting