Comments Thread For: Andre Ward: I Don't Have To Fight Anymore, I Accomplished Everything

[Boxing lives]

I'd say Andre is just posturing for negotiations except he even brought up how he was going to pray with his wife for guidance about what to do... would he really bring prayer and his family into a negotiating tactic? That just seems so fake and two-faced...

Oh, I forgot. It's Andre Ward, so I guess it's possible. Still, there seems to be a ring of truth to this. Ward is not excited about fighting Kovalev again after taking so many hard shots and losing the fight. That much is clear.

If Ward retires, he is a legend!

In his own mind... only there.

Ward still does not have a legitimate victory over a prime A-level fighter his whole career, so he can't say he's accomplished everything. Fighters who accomplish everything have multiple wins over prime A-level fighters. Some have double digit ones. Ward has ZERO. As his own trainer said, Ward drained and "scaled down" to 168 for most of his prime to fight smaller guys, in the weakest division in boxing. He fought slow, overrated and/or past prime B-level fighters like Abraham, Kessler, and Froch, tailor made for his style. To really go down as a legend, he needed to actually compete in his natural weight class, 175, and beat actual high level athletes like himself, in a weight class with real talent. If Ward had gone through Kovalev, Stevenson, and Beterbiev, and cleaned out his natural division the way GGG is doing at 160, then Ward could go down as a legend. But he already tripped up at the first hurdle getting beaten by Kovalev, and now he's already talking about retiring.

Legend lol? Accomplished everything? Not even close. What kind of yes men do some of these fighters have that they can have 31 fights, 30 of them at a "scaled down" weight class below their natural, 30 of them against subpar opposition, but then they think they've "accomplished everything"? Bro if I didn't know better I'd say Ward was still 25 just starting his career, because that's how many fights he has, and that's the level of opposition he's fought outside of Kovalev. He's still in his prime years, and he wasted like 4 of them in the court room, so effectively he's 27 in terms of ring years, not 31, but he thinks he's accomplished everything at 27 lol?

I mean hell, Ward's real goal this whole time was to reach the top of the HBO hype-for-pound list, and he still hasn't even done that despite HBO letting him basically start at #3. He never beat one elite fighter but they already had Ward penciled in for promotion as #1 pound for pound... all he had to do was beat ONE top opponent legitimately and HBO was ready to call him Floyd Mayweather, but Ward STILL couldn't make the top.

In reality, he should be chasing all the top guys like Kovalev offered Stevenson and Beterbiev fights. Ward is younger than Kovalev! And he sat out for years! But you don't hear Kovalev talking about quitting. But assuming Ward won't even do that, at the VERY LEAST you'd think he would want to achieve his goal of headlining HBO's hype-for-pound list, and you know all Ward has to do is actually beat Kovalev, and HBO will put him there.

I mean isn't that crazy? This has been Ward's major goal for years. And because he's HBO darling, all he has to do is beat one guy. BUT HE STILL MIGHT BACK OUT! HBO is making it as easy as possible for Ward to achieve his goal, and Ward is still considering backing out. It's crazy man. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE NO FANS ANDRE! NOT RACE, NOT DOUBLE STANDARDS, THIS!!!!

Ward is a smart fighter and is not the type of guy that is going to fight past his prime years IMO. I don't think he should or will retire off of a close win but its sensible for retirement to be on his mind. I think this fight gets made and he shows everybody he's figured Kovalev out. I'm sure it bugs him that people don't give him credit for the remarkable comeback victory against Kovalev. He showed he could deal with true adversity and still win. He will fight and dismantle Kovalev to shut you guys up. I agree that LHW is a true division but once he unifies with Stevenson there won't be much left to get motivated for. If Beterbiev can't get to Stevenson before Ward does I think he will be the odd man out left to carry the torch for the next generation.

[hugh grant]

Ward must rematch. PAC gave jmm his. but ward sounding as if he lost.

[aztec_warriors]

Yesss! Retire

good riddance... retire already. pls

[observer]

good riddance... retire already. pls

exactly - he just proved again he doesn't care about the fans. If he's not fighting for the fans, what is he fighting for?

Kovalev won the fight in my book, and I won't be the least disappointed if Ward never fights again.

[robbyheartbaby]

No shame in retiring if he lost passion. Yes controversial BS decision win over Kovalev but don't get back in there if he has any doubt at all or he'll get killed.

[Earl-Hickey]

Cowardly fraud

Typical of his kind

[Bronx2245]

Oh stop already, the guy got $5 million despite all the things you said above... Bottom line is when you can't draw flies to sht you don't have the right to say you're underpaid when you made $5 fking million dollars....

If you can't draw flies to ****, then maybe it is time to hang 'em up! Ward wants to be at a Mayweather, Pacquaio, Cotto, level of fighter, but it's obvious that even with an Olympic Gold Medal, total domination of the SMW division, and still undefeated, he will probably never get there! So why continue? Because Kovalev is mad? That's not going to do the trick!

[M Bison]

Obvious leverage into getting paid more, I'll give a read into it now but that's my first thoughts.

[A.K]

Just here to drop this off for ward fans

The L-icopter delivery!
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[mapleleaf27]

Nice post! Here's some food for thought! Ward is an American Olympic Gold Medalist. How many Americans even know who he is? How many PPV's did he sell when he faced "The Krusher" in his home country? 160,000? Who gets more love in America: Pacquiao, GGG, or Andre Ward? He doesn't talk ****, he doesn't beat women, he's not a womanizer, and he's a devout Christian. Has that helped his image? He hasn't lost a fight since grade school, and where's the love? Now he's a coward and a villain? I know what he's doing, and I hope he gets PAID! If there's so much demand for a rematch...SHOW HIM THE MONEY!

The quicker he leaves this sport the better and then there will be one less diva bytching...the fight sold 160k and many who bought were SK fans too, probably a 50-50 split...devout Christian? Sued his dying promoter, ignoring a contract he signed which included a re match clause...holding out to get paid even more $$ then on 11/19 even though his promoter lost and did not make anything..this guy is a phony, just because he has SOG painted on his trunks this does not make him a devout Christian. The fans are not naive, how does he show love to the fans? SOG has one narrative to his life..."Feel sorry for me"