Nevada Commission says "no" to the Rohan Murdock vs. Andre Ward mismatch

[bojangles1987]

Frodo did it! He dropped the Ring in Mount Doom! Frodo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Hammer]

Wow, I figured once HBO got behind it Nevada would support it. I guess fighting Smith at 175 was just too much.

Surely you don't approve of mismatches like Murdock-Ward?

It's much worse than fighting Paul Smith coming off two losses, because at least Smith is an experienced boxer, while age 23 Murdock has never fought outside Australia.

Murdock hasn't even fought in bigger cities in Australia. He's been fighting in small venues in thinly-populated Western Australia where he grew up.

[boxinghead530]

Come on Ward. You are an amazing fighter. What are you doing? You are making yourself look so bad. Smdh

Thank you Nevada commission for doing this. Do this more often.

[HeroBando]

Because HBO is going to give him and Kov easy fights to build their matchup. They do not want to risk either losing and messing up their biggest TV fight planned for next year.

Come on Tunney, you've seen this before. You know the drill.

HBO wanted him to fight Yunieski. Doubt they're very happy with Murdock or Zac Dunn

[Lester Tutor]

Seriously though, it makes me wonder what's going on with Ward. He must have some confidence issues right now. Maybe his past injuries were worse than he led us to believe? No idea, but there has to be a reason for why he's trying to take on multiple soft touches and forcing these guys out of their own weight classes.

Out of their own weightclass? You make it sound like all fighters walk around the weight class they represent. It's actually more practical to be a few pounds over. This happens all the time in boxing who cares.

Julio Cesar Chavez was fighting dudes every other month, but it's not like they were top tier, he just wanted the work. Now all of sudden new boxing trollers get all emotional about it?

[FashionTV]

Conan Murderer... excuse me, Rohan Murdock has been banned.
sooo, who will andre ward fight?

[Luiz]

Do you recall why he would say that? Was it based on his performance against P-Smith or nah?

I have come under fire from many Facebooker's for saying Andre Ward is shot, even to the point of former amateur standout Eric Kelly mentioned my name in his Facebook post. Kelly even asked me "what's your connection to boxing" which made me really laugh. In watching Andre Ward, I saw a guy in there with a 70-1 underdog, not looking like he did when we last saw him 19 months ago. He was slow, pushed his punches, and didn't overall look good to me, including his body not looking "tight and right" I've always been a big believer of Andre Ward, including picking him to win the Super 6, but that was then this is now, and "now" is not going to be as kind to Ward as ''then was" Many, in wanting to believe that they were still witnessing greatness in Ward, concluded "he's rusty, his timing was off" Timing is throwing punches and missing those punches, this was his lack of speed and pushing punches. Those aren't signs of being rusty thru inactivity, those are signs of being "past it" not what you were. 300 amateur fights, 11 years a pro, are catching up to Ward. I'd like to see it another way, but I don't. I'm a true professional, and I'm very honest, straightforward, and candid. My eyes didn't deceive me while watching Andre Ward Saturday night. I know what I saw, and what I saw was a "rapidly eroding Andre Ward" It's just one man's opinion.

Maybe he just lost a step or two.

[deathofaclown]

Well yeah, he's always made some pretty stiff demands like fighting in the US and like when he refused to fight Bute. But for the most part he's fought good opposition. Now it's Paul Smith, Rohan, talk of four tune ups...what is going on here? This isn't the behavior of a fighter who's considered one of the best in the sport. It's the behavior of a guy who just got KTFO. And even then we don't typically see 3-4 tune ups!

Yeah. Besides he should be kicking on and progressing now now from the Smith fight. At least Smith had just been in twice with Abraham and in one of those he ran him very close. Smith isn't a bad fighter and was a fairly adequate comeback fight for a guy like Ward, although Smith did end up in terrible shape but nobody was to know that when the fight was signed.

So why go backwards and fight a guy like Rohan Murdock?

I basically think they are trying to promote Ward as a more exciting fighter. The casual fans still don't really know him, so wanted him on this big card which will have a lot of people who only tune in for the big fights and wanted him with a guy he could knock out and make him seem exciting while they tell everyone how great he is, the best american fighter after Floyd etc.. etc...you know the dance.

[Deevel916]

Conan Murderer... excuse me, Rohan Murdock has been banned.
sooo, who will andre ward fight?

I dont expect a quality caliber opponent as the fight is less than a month away. Maybe he should just sit this one out and put on his own card at a later date against a somewhat noteworthy opponent.

[NEETzsche]

so what does this say about the wbo who have him ranked in their top 10 (admittedly in the division below)

this is good news though. it would have been a waste of time and a waste of space on the cotto-alvarez ppv