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Well Ward is making me eat my own words, mad respect for taking this fight, hope he does well. He finally admits he can't make 168 and will definitely do well at 175 where he belongs.Comment
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Anyone still holding on to the Bute duck claim is just a hurt fanboy with an agenda, Bute is the purest example of a protected fighter getting exposed.... Only a Wilder loss against Povetkin would trump that level of exposure.this part really gets me. they ignore accomplishments and remember how they felt at the time when they were wrong about a fighter! they were wrong!
do they remember fighters according to how they actually performed, or by how scored europeans built them up and overrated them after andre ward pounded on their heroes? it's a ridiculous look.Comment
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won gold at the amateur world championships, which is the biggest tournament of the year other than the olympics in an olympic year, which it was. beat dawson in the amateurs. came up in cuba. those guys know how to fight in the amateurs.
as a pro he's considered an up and comer. his best win is probably a guy named karo murat, who was past his best and never a world beater, but he was a contender at 175 for a while. barrera wasn't moved softly early on, from what i can see. fought a few undefeated guys on his way up. his promotors probably wanted to see what they had. cubans really aren't coddled, as they don't have the marketing power of mexicans, blacks, PRs, brits, etc.
barrera isn't a fully proven fighter yet, and i wouldn't consider him a top 10 contender at this stage, but he's earned his status as an "up and comer."
he's a top 15ish LHW in the world, can punch a bit, and he's undefeated. i think it's a great fight for ward. great matchmaking if you are his handlers. you need rounds and to tune up. there's some element of intrigue for the fans. you need to get used to fighting 175 lbers, too. this fight accomplishes all of that while being an acceptable risk. props to rocnation for doing it right. the only thing i thought was excessive was ward's purse for smith. but if it's in a contract, it's in a contract, and you can't get mad at ward for commanding that kind of money. the market sets the price. surely he thought he could go elsewhere, and he'd have been right.Comment
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Ward is a 30+ year old gold medalist and a former champion....its been past time for PPV....If anything he should be one of the biggest stars right now....evrerybody knows he can fight, now its up to his team to show the worldi do assign a measure of blame to ward for his contract mess with goossen. so if people want to get on him in that regard for his inacitivity i can see where they are coming from IF they're talking about his contract issues. goossen got ward fights at home until the final of the SS, which he got on neutral ground. 2 million to fight edwin rodriguez. i really think ward had a godo thing going with goossen, and at the very least he shouldn't have extended in '12 if he didn't think goossen was the guy to take him to PPV.
i think somebody got into ward's ear about ppv about two years early. if you're not looking for PPV, goossen money and goossen opponets are a good deal. the time for ward to jump to PPV, or build toward that end or even hold out for it, was the retirement of floyd mayweather.
it's no surprise that lots of these guys have started to talk PPV now that floyd is retired, and manny is shot and close to finished himself.
but that's where the blame on ward stops. lucian bute didn't get by carl froch. ward pulled out of the pavlik fight with a legit injury, and then pavlik lost his mind and retired after talks of rescheduling. hurt his knee recently. had his shoulder completely rebuilt. broke two bones in his hand in the froch fight. DAWSON VOLUNTEERED TO FIGHT AT 168. froch blatantly wanted the rematch in his back yard.
bb-bbut ward doe
the king is back. they'll be kissing the rings, like it or not, on march 26th. then it's time to built toward the most meaningful fight in boxing, ward - kovalev at 175 lbs. and if you crap on that fight you're afraid. that's all there is to it.
I knew this kid was something special when I watched him in the olympics....Me and my best friend used to argue back in 08 who is the best fight since Mayweather retired...I told him it would be Andre Ward...he reminded me of a hybrid of Hopkins and Roy jones....give or take a little from certain areas....here we are 8 years later and he is still undefeated.....this Kid can be an all time great if he cleans up at 175....Im glad to be here to witness it, just like Jones prime, Mayweathers and Whitakers....all those guys were the best of there era...I always felt Ward would be the man in the new era...too bad he lost 2 years because of injuries and management problemsComment
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wilder womped a cople of contenders who are as good as anybody bute beat. stiverne was a top 3-5 HW when widler beat him IIRC.
i think with wilder everybody sees the flaws. you'd have to be crazy to pretend they're not there. big dude, big flaws some people were really enamored with bute. thought he was the goods. thought he could beat ward.
if there was a HW with the ability of andre ward there'd be no perceived threat to him aside from a puncher's chance. wilder's just not in that stratosphere.Comment
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wilder womped a cople of contenders who are as good as anybody bute beat. stiverne was a top 3-5 HW when widler beat him IIRC.
i think with wilder everybody sees the flaws. you'd have to be crazy to pretend they're not there. big dude, big flaws some people were really enamored with bute. thought he was the goods. thought he could beat ward.
if there was a HW with the ability of andre ward there'd be no perceived threat to him aside from a puncher's chance. wilder's just not in that stratosphere.
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