Duva: Kick Off Presser was planned weeks ago, T-Mobile Arena was agreed on last year!

[New England]

Boxing fans keep letting people like Duva and Arum negotiate through the media. With Mayweather there was some doubts as to the reason: he's a bit of a prick so the hatred that clouded judgement could be justified. With Ward, it becomes clear that race is a significant factor; nothing about his personality warrants the hate some have for him.

I will go ahead and say f.ck Duva. As far as I'm concerned, she is just another b.tch cashing in on the underlying hatred for black folks.

oh yeha, you're impartial


ward doesn't show: fine. he just trained for 10 weeks and fought 12 rounds.

ward's people don't show up for their own f#cking presser: uhh


ward's people tell duva not to announce ticket sales or venue: this is cause for legit concern. the fight may very well not happen.


racism doe, amiright?

you probably can't stand white people

[New England]

That is hilarious. I can't believe that.

Ward the pretender had his whole career manufactured for him. Will he ever take a fight where he does not have every advantage out there? I doubt it. Now he is even talking racist shit like that and then tries to sneak out of the fight?

this isn't fair, and this kind of rhetoric is what makes this place toxic.

ward signed the SS when he was relatively unknown and won. beat carl froch, a liekly hall of famer, and mikkel kessler, a guy who may have his name on the ballot at some point, along the way.


you guys need to stop with this all or nothing rhetoric. it makes you look like children, and leaves you with no credibility.

ward has had a very good pro career. he's one of the best 168 lbers ever. that doesnt' excuse what looks like it is happening right now, but that doesn't take away his accomplishments, either.

[From Russia]

He even ducks press conference, smdh

[The Big Dunn]

This is not how business should be done. I think Kov is a racist and DUva is full of crap but they have every right to be outraged with this.

I even give RN the benefit of the doubt with their concerns about ticket sales and the optics of empty seats in a large arena. the fight should be in a smaller arena or in Oakland seeing as Ward is a draw there

Anyway I cut it this is unprofessional and not the way you do business. Ward should be embarrassed that he and his team are doing things this way. This is wrong and they need to get this fixed immediately.

Didn't Dan Rafael report the fight was signed and the T Mobile agreed to? where did he get this from?

[SilverMiles]

That part about the venue is not true, all the headlines made about the fight normally had the date but the location was never a sure thing, I hadn't heard of the arena being mentioned till maybe the last month or so.

It doesn't make Ward look good in that he didn't turn up to the presser but he also gave them a weeks notice that he wouldn't be there, he just fought a few days ago. I can't recall anyone having to do a presser so soon after having a fight.

I like Ward and have belief in him winning this fight so I guess I will see things more from his point of view, those who dislike him will obviously see things the other way and that's fine... they have a right to criticise his actions because the bold fact is that he didn't attend the first presser (no matter how poorly organised it looked).

Presser was agreeded to weeks in advance and Dre pulled out a couple days ago. He should participate in the event to promote the biggest fight in his career.

[FeFist]

oh yeha, you're impartial


ward doesn't show: fine. he just trained for 10 weeks and fought 12 rounds.

ward's people don't show up for their own f#cking presser: uhh


ward's people tell duva not to announce ticket sales or venue: this is cause for legit concern. the fight may very well not happen.


racism doe, amiright?

you probably can't stand white people

You don't think race plays a role in the hatred some people have for Ward? He does not have a history of avoiding challenges nor does he behave like a hooligan but people are jump at the opportunity to trash him.

He had a fight a couple of days ago. How about waiting to see how things play. How about some professionalism.

Any agreement worth millions will have finer details to trash out because any agreement worth money will. Duva's action is an unprofessional attempt at putting pressure on her opponent to get what she wants. It is effective because when people want to hate they will never consider what goes into reaching an agreement.

If the fight doesn't occur due to unreasonableness on Ward's behalf (refusal of Vegas, weight, anything morw than 50:50) people will be right in giving him grief. Less than a week after a fight, patience should be expected along with the benefit of the doubt.

[TheCell8]

Team Ward likely wants the fight in Oakland. Especially after the numbers came out.

[Eff Pandas]

If Kathy negotiates anything like she does interviews ("We wanna put the fight on at TMobile *weird/creepy/nervous laugh*") I'm not surprised there are always issues with her working with others. But both of these promotional teams are constantly involved in contentious fight talks/situations so I mean is anyone really surprised this is happening?

[Eff Pandas]

Presser was agreeded to weeks in advance and Dre pulled out a couple days ago. He should participate in the event to promote the biggest fight in his career.

But then they canceled 5 or so days before the event.

I mean this whole thing is ****** on both sides to me. Why is Ward's side not moving forward as planned out of the blue? Seems like everything was agreed to & if he wanted to wait a week or something after the fight & let some swelling go down or just relax a few days after a fight fair play with that. But if thats the case, make that known. If you don't want the fight now, make that known.

And why is Kathy Duva having a presser for a fight that she seems to have solid doubts of it happening now? She should be on the phone talking to Roc Nation & resolving whatever the issue is & if thats not a issue that can be resolved she should be fishing for a new opponent for Kovalev instead of having a presser on f#cking bar stools & without a table like they are on a MTV Spring Break dating show.

[soul_survivor]

http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_...rena-las-vegas


"The Kovalev-Ward fight, which was signed long ago but is contingent on each remaining undefeated through interim bouts, will take place November 19 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas."

lol well that's that

i wonder what all the homeboys think about this