Comments Thread For: Andre Ward: Nobody Wants Kovalev - That's The Guy I Want!

[sirron000]

If Ward really wanted to fight Kovalev, he could have done it last weekend. He was offered the fight, but "what's the rush"? right?

How could he be offered the fight when Pascal initiated his rematch clause, which he had put in the contract for the first fight.

Just don't make ***** up..

[Irony123]

taking on 1 bet for all my points (not very many).

4-1 odds that Kovalev KOs Andre Ward if this fight happens. Whoever is taking this bet with me PM me. Am i being greedy? i don't know but hey if you think Ward will school Kovalev then its an easy bet to take.

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

Clock is ticking on the Kovalev bandwagon. Nothing against the guy but all the people that hyped Sergei up over shallow wins will ditch him just as quickly.

no we wont we will just hurl racist slurs to ward #KOVALEVSTYLE

[SterlingStained]

watch this fight not happen because ward has to have it in oakland.

but ward a G doe.

he so OG that he needs to have multiple tune ups to fight at 175lbs despite beating a 175 champ in dawson and being an amateur 175lb champ.

[Strive 4 Truth]

Dan Rafael tweeting that Ward Barrera are "still talking" according to Kathy Duva. Duva talking about how difficult it is to deal with Ward.
Ward vs Barrera is not even official.

Exactly! Ward pulls the same move on everyone. Yea ill fight him no problem. Makes it almost impossible to get a deal done then says the guy didnt want to fight. Guys like him need to go so boxing can once again grow.

[Jubei]

Ward is a slimy piece of ****. Fought 3 times in 4 years and acts like he is something special. Paul Smith, Edwin Rodriguez and drained Dawson.

Trying to fight opponents who are so bad that they get rejected by commissions.

That guy is not a fighter, he is a coWard and a pussay.

He probably tries to get every damn advantage against Barrera (gloves, ring size, judges, ref, etc) and wants to squeeze every single dollar out of Sullivan.

[firstborn]

no we wont we will just hurl racist slurs to ward #KOVALEVSTYLE

At least your honest, thats all anyone can really ask for these days.

watch this fight not happen because ward has to have it in oakland.

but ward a G doe.

he so OG that he needs to have multiple tune ups to fight at 175lbs despite beating a 175 champ in dawson and being an amateur 175lb champ.

Ward didn't fight Dawson at 175lbs. Also there's obviously a big difference between fighting amateurs at LHW than facing someone of Kovalev's caliber in the professionals.

Don't you want to see the best version of Ward versus the best version of Kovalev? Ward being able to properly acclimate himself to the division provides that opportunity.

Or do you simply want to see Ward lose by any means necessary?

[kafkod]

How could he be offered the fight when Pascal initiated his rematch clause, which he had put in the contract for the first fight.

Just don't make ***** up..

Pascal didn't have a rematch clause, Kovalev did.

Pascal would have had to fight Kovalev again if he'd won, but not the other way round. Pascal was the challenger and Kovalev is the champ, remember.

Kovalev fought Pascal again because he had no other options. If Ward had wanted it, I'm sure Kovalev would have fought him instead of Pascal.

[Jubei]

ESPN just posted an article

http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/p...still-not-done

After six weeks, Ward-Barrera still not done

The way the negotiations have gone you’d think the proposed fight between Andre Ward and Sullivan Barrera was some massive pay-per-view world title fight with a deal as complicated as Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao.

Nothing could be further from the truth, although the talks have been ridiculously complicated for no real reason.

It’s a notable fight, of course, as Ward (28-0, 15 KOs), the former super middleweight champion, is moving up to light heavyweight to take on an undefeated contender in Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) in a fight being planned for March 26 on HBO at the Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, California.

Ward is looking to get comfortable in his new weight class against a quality opponent and move a step closer to a fall showdown with unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev, a fight already agreed to as part of their HBO contracts.

Kovalev won one of his interim bouts last Saturday when he beat down former champion Jean Pascal for seven one-sided rounds in their rematch and moves on to a probable summer bout in his native Russia. Ward was ringside in Montreal on Saturday, theoretically to scout the fight and talk to the media to pump up the fall showdown.

But Ward, other than very brief interview in HBO, bailed on the press and even left before Kovalev’s fight ended. Go figure.

Meanwhile, his promoter, Roc Nation Sports, and Barrera promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events, continue to go around and around trying to nail down what should be, relatively speaking, a very easy and very basic deal to make.

But this is Ward we’re talking about, with whom nothing is ever easy. Everything is made more difficult than it needs to be, which is why he has fought only three times since defeating Carl Froch to unify super middleweight belts in December 2011. Ward preferred instead to fight a losing battle with his late promoter, Dan Goossen, whose contract was deemed rock solid at every legal turn.

After Goossen died, his family settled with Ward, who signed with Roc Nation, which is now finding out how tough he can be to deal with. He has fought once on the deal -- a meaningless fight against no-hoper Paul Smith in June. Then Ward pulled out of a Nov. 21 fight on the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto card because of knee soreness.

Then talks intensified with Barrera, after Barrera looked very good in a fifth-round knockout of former title challenger Karo Murat on Dec. 12.

But despite some reports swirling that Ward-Barrera is a done deal, it is not yet. They’ve been at it for about six weeks to make a fight that is now seven weeks away. It should have been done weeks ago, although both fighters are in training camp in anticipation of it being finalized some day.

Duva is as frustrated as anyone.

“Believe it or not, we are still talking. Leonard-Hearns, Holyfield-Foreman and Whitaker-Chavez all put together didn’t take this long to make,” Duva told ESPN.com, invoking three megafights her company was involved in promoting.

Those were complicated fights that legitimately took time to make. They were not Ward-Barrera.

Duva, who has about 35 years of experience in the fight game, is not too happy with the way Roc Nation/Ward are conducting their business.

“It is literally a different issue every day,” Duva said. “It’s a wonder that these people can put a four-rounder together.”

Roc Nation declined to comment on the he negotiations but, ideally, they’ll get around to finalizing the 12-rounder for March 26.

[HughJass]

taking on 1 bet for all my points (not very many).

4-1 odds that Kovalev KOs Andre Ward if this fight happens. Whoever is taking this bet with me PM me. Am i being greedy? i don't know but hey if you think Ward will school Kovalev then its an easy bet to take.

Lolol,what planet you from man?Ward will shut Sergey out