Andre Ward's path to PPV stardom ... ?

[Scipio2009]

that's a lot of IFs .you are assuming ward beats all those guys and with his activity level being pretty low who knows how many years it would take for him to even fight all those guys which would kill all momentum. I don't think ward will ever come close to being a ppv star his last fight did an embarrassingly low number 300k views on bet which is just regular cable and is in a lot more homes than hbo and showtime put together. ward went from 1.3 mil views on HBO to just 300k on bet.

BET had never, in the history of the channel, aired a single fight card, let alone a fight; to sit and try to compare that to a broadcaster that's been in the boxing business for 30 years is a bit disingenuous.

Activity level has nothing to do with Andre Ward at this point, for the simple fact that he's kept in the gym and taken care of himself the entire time. You can't earnestly look at the Andre Ward who fought Carl Froch in 2011, and say that he was markedly better than the Ward that fought Dawson in 2012, the Ward that fought Rodriguez in 2013, or the Ward that fought Paul Smith in 2015.

Until Ward shows any real signs of slippage, I'm laying my money on the guy who was deemed as the #2 p4p fighter to Floyd, against any fighter light heavyweight and below.

[Scipio2009]

It's difficult to sell PPV fights up there with no dance partners. None of those guys are A-sides really, like enough to carry a PPV. You're looking at B-sides all over the place. When two B-sides fight each other, you get disappointing numbers. Ward v Kovalev, Ward v Stevenson, Ward v DeGale are all good fights but not fights that the mass will pay $60 for. I still want to see them, I personally would pay to watch them, but not enough people would pay for them to call them a success.

Personally, I think Andre Ward has more room to crossover than people realize; he's not an A-side now, but he's got the sheer talent to basically push him into achieving that status. Ward, at this point, simply needs the marketing push to get him there; HBO throwing some marketing weight behind the promotion of his fight would help, but Roc Nation getting Andre Ward significant media exposure in New York would actually be worth more.

It's a process, but I think Andre Ward gets there.

[b00g13man]

GGG trolls...running to every Ward thread

The fear is real. Unbelievable.

[bigjavi973]

PPV Stardom? That's a little far fetched when you can't even sell out in your own back yard, isn't it?

6/18: Cotto's generating the hype. Ward's just part of the package.

November: vs. Kovalev. Here's fight with 2 elite fighters who aren't proven commodities in the ppv market. Die hards will purchase this PPV. That's it.

Mar. 2017: If Ward beats Kovalev, a fight with Stevenson is a non-issue. Unless Stevenson is willing to jump ship to HBO.

says the fan of Mr.97k

[PK3434]

Ward will never be a ppv star. His ratings on BET were laughable and his last fight on HBO, which was in 2013 had license fee from HBO over more than $3 Million (should have been a fire-able offense). He had a chance to get back in the public eye on the cotto-canelo card but dropped out because of minor swelling in his knee. He doesn't understand what it takes. It is more than just winning decisions.

[soul_survivor]

Preface this discussion with the fact that Andre Ward's first fight on HBO did 1.3m viewers for Ward-Dawson and 1.2m viewers for Ward-Rodriguez (a bygone era for HBO, but there's still a base to work from). The path, though, seems to be pretty straightforward:

-3/26, against Sullivan Barrera, on HBO [Oracle Arena, Oakland]
-6/18, against TBA, on HBOPPV [support to Cotto's fight, Barclays Center, NYC]
-Nov 2016, vs. Sergey Kovalev, on HBOPPV [Mandalay Bay EC, Las Vegas]
-Mar 2017, vs Adonis Stevenson, on PPV [Bell Centre, Montreal or Oracle]
(with Ward's HBO done at that point, fight is free to go to whatever channel that puts up the money)

By that point, with four belts around his waist, and the hype behind delivering three PPV shows, Andre Ward (depending on how the shows do) is in position to call some major

I just can't see Ward fighting 4 times in less than 12 months. If he does, it's all down to the level of his performance. If he goes 9 rounds with a journeyman, his PPVs will suck.

His best bet is to beat Kov in an entertaining affair.

[The Problem Child]

Cowards can't be PPV stars unless they talk trash (ex. Mayweather). Otherwise, you create zero interest in your fights. Floyd made it a point to make people WANT to WATCH HIM LOSE. Ward doesn't create that urge.

[Pigeons]

Hopefully Ward continues delivering 1.2M average viewers at a minimum.

[about.thousands]

I don't think the Stevenson fight is PPV worthy. Stevenson has made himself irrelevant with his inactivity an unwillingness to fight anyone decent. I also don't think Roc Nation has what it takes to make Ward a PPV fighter.

[Jsmooth9876]

he will never be a PPV star... His fight vs Kovalev is probably the best fight in boxing but it still won't sell great most likely..

ppv hopefully will die out except for huge fights...who the fk wants to pay in April(pac Bradley) may (khanelo) June (Cotto) June-July (Crawford) September (Canelo) November (Ward-Kovalev)

It's ridiculous, only Ward-Kovalev is a PPV worth fight honestly between 2 great fighters who haven't seen better days or are ducking better competition.