Comments Thread For: Beterbiev's Promoter: Kovalev Would Face Us, Ward Not Likely

[ThatDude44]

This is why anyone rooting for Ward is not thinking of what's best for boxing. Historically the sooner fighters like Floyd, Ward, Danny Garcia, etc lose their 0's, and lose their network favoritism that allows them to dictate and cherry pick fights, the better it is for boxing, because then they actually have to start fighting the best and continually prove their skills in the ring against the best, which is what is best for boxing. But as long as they are in that position, it's like Breadman says, they only fight once or twice a year on purpose so that the threats to them will have to fight other fighters instead of them, and potentially move weight classes, while they prolong their period of relevance and their standing in the sport simply by not fighting.

That's why Floyd "retired" when he did. That's why Ward seemed happy to go five years without fighting anyone good. Now he can say "I've been doing this at the top of the sport for ... years!" when really he had one quick tournament in the pros, the Super Six, one or two easy fights after that, and then another five year period of half-retirement. He basically has two-three years of actual pro boxing competition at the B+ opponent level, that's it, but he will try to sell that he's been dominating the game for 10 years.

It's like Breadman says, they do it on purpose to create that illusion. In terms of top level bouts in pro boxing, Ward is still a rookie, but by fighting so infrequently, by cherry picking, by having all these conveniently timed injuries and court battles, he can sell to boxing fans that he's been at the top of the sport for a decade.

This is the exact playbook many boxers today use. That's why smart fans can see the difference between the pretenders and the real fighters who believe in themselves and will fight anyone. Kovalev was actually willing to fight Beterbiev as a warm-up for Ward. Think how crazy that is! Many fighters like Stevenson wouldn't even fight Beterbiev as the main fight, the money fight, but Kovalev was willing to risk his main fight, his money PPV fight with Ward, to fight Beterbiev as the tune-up!

That's why I hope Kovalev wins this. He will continue to make more great fights for the fans! If Ward wins I predict he would try to milk the win for the next five years full of inactivity and cherry picks.

And when Ward beats Artur he'll get no credit like with Floyd vs Canelo. People begged for that fight and after Floyd schooled him it was "Canelo was too green". Imagine what they'll say after Ward beats a guy with 10 fights.

[Ake-Dawg]

Neither Kovalev or Ward will fight him right away. Why? He will be an 11 fight guy who isn't a mando. If you're going to fight a voluntary you at least try and make some money. Ward will likely immediately try and make a big fight against Stevenson. Kovalev would look for a rematch or maybe Beterbiev in an Eastern European match up. Bottom line, it's a conversation not worth having. Beterbiev isn't there yet. So he needs to build himself up before he or his team talk about who won't fight him.

[Boxing Logic]

And when Ward beats Artur he'll get no credit like with Floyd vs Canelo. People begged for that fight and after Floyd schooled him it was "Canelo was too green". Imagine what they'll say after Ward beats a guy with 10 fights.

If Ward going to drain Artur to 173? I have no idea who you're saying said Canelo was too green. He wasn't too green, he was too white. As in the blood was gone from his face and body because he was drained. Floyd fought Cotto at 154 and literally said it was because it wouldn't be fair below the low weight, because no one can be fresh and have energy to fight if they are weight drained. Then he went out and weight drained Canelo to 152 but all yall hypocrites conveniently forgot everything Floyd said before.

Yall went from saying Pacquiao's wins over Cotto and Margarito were illegitimate because he weight drained them, and giving Pacquiao no credit for beating them because they were "drained by the Catchweight King," then then criticizing other fans for giving Floyd no credit for beating Canelo. Canelo, who already had stamina problems at 154, and whose best performances have come at 155, but who Floyd at 152.

Maybe you can tell me how that works. Yall say other fighters should get no credit for beating drained fighters, but then yall give credit to your fighter for beating a weight drained fighter. How does that work, really?

Your entire outlook is wrong. Fighters who actually accomplish real things in fair fights against top opposition get credit. Pacquiao got credit for beating Morales, Marquez, Barrera, etc. GGG got credit for beating Lemieux. Even Canelo got credit for beating Lara although he barely did. But he took on a prime elite boxer at that boxer's best weight and fought a good fight with him.

SRL got credit for Hearns. Hagler got credit for Hearns. Ali and Frazier got credit for their wars.

The reason Floyd doesn't get credit is because the majority of his career is an illusion. Sure, people who are biased or don't pay attention won't know that, so they will have conspiracy theories about why people won't give him credit. But everyone who actually looks into it won't give him credit.

Let's just go backwards, the wins he is supposed to get credit for lately.

1. Manny Pacquiao. Floyd waited until he was way past his prime to fight him, then admitted it in the post fight press conference. No fighter gets credit for waiting out another fighter and fighting them past their prime if the opportunity was there to fight them earlier.

2. Andre Berto - never an elite fighter, lost to Ortiz, Guerrero, and Soto Karass, three other non-elite fighters. The matchup was a joke.

3. Robert Guerrero - a blown up junior lightweight who has never beaten even a B+ fighter at 147. This matchup was another complete mismatch.

4. Canelo - Canelo was weight drained and had no energy or snap to cut off the ring and use his power advantage. When he fought Lara at 155, after Lara outboxed him the first few rounds, Canelo turned up the pace and started throwing hard body shots on Lara's way out. But against Floyd, he had no energy to do anything other than stand around and get hit all night. That's why Canelo constantly talks about no longer "giving any advantages" in his career because he says he "already did that" against Floyd. He is talking from experience because now he knows Floyd conned him and how much of a disadvantage he was at that night.

5. Maidana - Maidana is a slow B+ fighter who was easily outboxed by Devon Alexander. Maidana's one and only advantage in the fight to make it interesting was his power, and Floyd took that away before the fight even started by making him wear pillow gloves, something Floyd had never done with any other opponent. Whenever Floyd sees a risk in his opponent, he doesn't diffuse it in the ring like a great fighter would, he either ducks the opponent or forces stipulations in weight or gloves to take away that opponent's advantage. That's not being a great boxer, that is ensuring you never fight anyone good unless you have made them not good by the time you get in the ring with them.

Suddenly, Maidana's punches no longer hurt Floyd at all. We have seen Floyd dropped by lesser punchers like old Mosley... Maidana hit Floyd with the perfect shot in the second fight, the same shot Marquez hit Pacquiao actually if you look at it, and while it staggered Floyd, it didn't even drop him. In the slow-mo replay, you can see the pillow glove compressing and absorbing most the damage of the shot, otherwise that was a textbook KO shot. I have Floyd-Maidana at 1-1, 1 win for each, with Maidana's by KO in the 2nd fight, because as a boxing aficionado I know what would have happened with Maidana's normal, commission approved gloves. But most boxing fans don't pay enough attention to know what really went down. Floyd is able to create these illusions for his fans, and they believe them completely, which is why they are always so confused and frustrated when they hear fans telling the truth about it. See they really think he outboxed Marcos Maidana, the guy who beat Adrien Broner. They don't understand that the Marcos Maidana who beat Adrien Broner was a power puncher who could hurt you with any shot, while the Marcos Maidana who Floyd beat was a slow, pillow fisted plodder, a totally different guy.

Who else is Froid supposed to get credit for beating? Marquez? He pulled Marquez up in weight, then still came in overweight. Who else? Corrales? Also weight drained. It's well known he was like a zombie coming into that fight. Cotto? Froid waited for Pacquiao and Margarito to slow him down.

So you keep talking about Floyd getting credit, but he will get credit when he gets a top win on his resumé. Not a top name, a top win. When he actually beats an A-level welterweight, at welterweight, in the opponent's prime, with neutral rules. When he actually beats an A-level super-welterweight, at super-welterweight, in the opponent's prime, with neutral rules.

He has literally never, ever done that. He has only fought once or twice per year, artificially prolonging his career to make it seem like he has "dominated for a long time," another illusion, and he has promoted subpar opponents and hyped up "names" who were either past their primes or drained. He has literally never beaten a top prime welter or a top prime undrained 154 with neutral rules.

I mean some fans don't want to give GGG credit for beating David Lemieux which is the funniest part of it, because David Lemieux is literally a better win by GGG than any win Floyd has since moving up to 147. Just think about it. GGG fought a PRIME knockout artist, who also has speed, who is bigger than GGG, and he did it in his opponent's ideal weight class, and his opponent was allowed to wear puncher's gloves. Floyd has literally never done that. Never. He could have fought a Keith Thurman instead of Berto or Guerrero, but he always found reasons not to fight those guys. He could have fought Cotto or Margarito when those fights were hot, but told Margarito to his face it was about business and he wasn't ready to fight him yet.

So stop saying we won't give Floyd credit. It's not our fault you haven't looked into the history. It's well known Floyd ducked handfuls of guys all the way back to Paul Spadafora who kicked his ass in sparring and was known around the gyms as the guy Floyd couldn't outbox. Floyd made a career of cherry picking, ducking, and "business moves." Some people know about that history, while some people either don't know or choose to ignore it because they are fan boys. That is their choice but don't blame the people who know the history of his career just because you don't.

[Boxing Logic]

Neither Kovalev or Ward will fight him right away. Why? He will be an 11 fight guy who isn't a mando. If you're going to fight a voluntary you at least try and make some money.

Sorry Ake-Dawn but you're wrong. Kovalev already sent Beterbiev an official offer back when he only had 10 fights I believe, and Beterbiev turned him down. That's what makes Kovalev a true champ, he will fight anyone right now, not try to wait people out for bigger money later. The bigger money later will be there if you keep winning now. There will always be new names to fight, you don't need to save up names like duckers these days do. Maybe with GGG and Canelo its worth the 50 million dollars more but at light heavyweight with a Russian guy in Beterbiev, there's only so much marinating is going to grow the fight. Kovalev doesn't seem to care either way. He was willing to have Beterbiev as the tuneup, then fight Andre Ward. He was willing to risk LOSING all that PPV money if he lost to Beterbiev, but he was willing to make the fight anyway, because he's a true old school champion. Yvon Michel is explaining that Andre Ward really hasn't been, and he doesn't expect him to be in the future if he does beat Kovalev.

[whatismyname]

Why is nobody going after Stevenson? And will Beterbiev become latino champion of he wins? How can a chechen be a latino champ?

[-Kev-]

10-0 with Cloud as his best win, he has to step his game up before calling the big dogs, be more active, fight some top 10 LHW's. Cloud was no longer a top 10 LHW, he was removed after back to back losses to Hopkins and Stevenson

While Froch was the last big name Ward fought, there's no shortage of big names on his resume. While Beterbiev has only one name there. Soon Ward may add another big name to his res and Beterbiev will add another no name on his resume. I was excited when he demolished Cloud because I thought he was going to stay really active, not fight twice a year like a superstar. These fighters think big fights are owed to them without merit, and they get good fan backing of course because certain fans would root for anyone who's going after dudes they don't like

[daggum]

lol everyone knows ward is a coward and impossible to deal with.

[Bronx2245]

Beterbiev is fighting in Montreal, and he's talking about Kovalev vs. Ward? Why? His target should be Adonis Stevenson! They have the same advisor, and there's no network issues! First things first!

[NaijaD]

Can we get past one fight at a time? Too much jumping ahead, who knows how the division is gonna shape up. Truth is Michel should be trying to make a fight between Beterbiev and Stevenson. But he has the nerve to talk about Ward sitting on titles. Laughable.

Right on the money, if anyone has been sitting on a title then it's Stevenson ( a guy right under his nose). Beterbiev should be fast tracked to a Stevenson fight but Michel would rather have both guys fight non-compelling fights.

[elgu]

10-0 with Cloud as his best win, he has to step his game up before calling the big dogs, be more active, fight some top 10 LHW's. Cloud was no longer a top 10 LHW, he was removed after back to back losses to Hopkins and Stevenson

While Froch was the last big name Ward fought, there's no shortage of big names on his resume. While Beterbiev has only one name there. Soon Ward may add another big name to his res and Beterbiev will add another no name on his resume. I was excited when he demolished Cloud because I thought he was going to stay really active, not fight twice a year like a superstar. These fighters think big fights are owed to them without merit, and they get good fan backing of course because certain fans would root for anyone who's going after dudes they don't like

Its very telling when your own promoter throws you under the bus. What you're seeing here with stevenson is very similar with what was seen with eubank jr. Their promoters threw them under the bus because they are ducking cowards that are impossible to deal with.

Stevenson has clearly shown he had no interest in fighting the top guys in his division. This was seen very clearly when he fled to showtime rather than fight kovalev. This here solidifies my theory that stevenson wouldnt have fought kovalev even if they had won the purse bid.

Im sure Yvon michel is dying to get beterbiev/stevenson. Ever since his move to showtime stevenson has lost all his momentum and fought bums getting subpar ratings. Stevenson at this point is a waste of money. If michel could get stevenson/beterbiev he would. The problem is stevenson doesnt want it.

Kovalev already send an offer to beterbiev, so we know hes not afraid. We also know this because kovalev has no history of ducking. Cleverly, hopkins, stevenson, ward, pascal, and beterbiev all got good offers whether they accepted or not.

Ward on the other hand ducked bute, stevenson, degale and many others. Bute would have been his biggest payday at that moment and it would have been the 2 guys regarded as the best at the moment.

As for beterbiev wanting the big fights, i really dont see the problem. So long as the boxer has the talent and is not looking to cash out. The problem is when guys dont want to fight the best. Beterbiev is top 5 in his division. Nobody hates on loma or rigo for having titles despite very few matches. The problem is that they cant get fights!