This sums up Andre Ward perfectly, he'll never be respected, EVER

[Madison Boxing]

i said it before the fight and i'll say it again, ward was always overrated. World class?- without a doubt. Elite, p4p number 1 level - No, just no. I said this all before the kovalev fight, his skills are nowhere near the level of someone like roy jones (who people were saying he would beat), or mayweather or someone like that. Winning the average 6 was a 'good' achievement not something that amazing. He stepped up to fight kovalev and it was his boxing ability that let him down. He looked so good because he was fighting fighters who were jsut not up to the job, froch was smashing through people in that 168 division and i hardly look at froch's skills and think, wow he was a tremendous fighter.

[#1Assassin]

Fred

Do you remember a fighter in recent memory who has engendered the apathy and indifference that Andre Ward has from the boxing public?

Dan Rafael, King Fight Freak (11:49 AM)

I don't.

Ward did it to himself, Rafael has been around boxing for ages.

do you even know what respect means?

failing to get fans excited doesnt make you less respectable as a fighter or a human being. tyson, floyd, broner etc all draw a strong response from fans, specifically because they are not respectable as human beings. except for the respect you have to hold for them as ppl who pulled themselves up from nothing and thrived in the toughest sport in the world.

but still, in terms of character which is far more important, their lack of it is apparent. im not sure there is any boxer in the world with more character than andre ward, not sure if there is any fighter more widely respected among fighters, trainers and other ppl within the sport for that matter.

you want to talk ppl who hold no respect in the industry, start with dan rafael. he has very little character, no journalistic integrity and is just plain awful.

you can certainly dislike ward, i think thats the word you were looking for to begin with. he isnt likable. but he is probably the most respectable individual in the sport. he has shown the utmost character inside and outside the ring. nobody who knows what it means to be a man could fail to respect ward.

[buckfuddy]

Ward doesn't need no respect from idiots, he is in HoF already

[original zero]

None of the guys you mentioned won their title from a robbery, except ward

If you thought Kovalev won, that's fine. Most people did. But it was a close fight and very respected reporters from Yahoo Sports, ESPN, USA Today, New York Post, LA Times, Sky Sports, Ring Magazine, etc had Ward winning.

So to cry "robbery" is absolutely ridiculous. You lose all credibility.

[Lester Tutor]

Yes, troll. I even know more about the guy you're named after than you do. Guaranteed. LOL @ Ward "taming" Kov. You don't know what the definition of propaganda is, either. When it came time to select the 2016 "Fighter of the Year" every single major publication denied Ward in his own country and across the globe. He lost both the popular and the electoral vote, aka the fan & media vote.

Find a new hobby Tinker Bell. I knew you were ****** when you came into my thread and tried to crash it by bashing Loma (who is more accomplished than Rigo as an am and pro) and proclaiming Rigo to have 500 fights, which he doesn't, he actually had less amateur fights than Loma. You've been listening to Freddie Roach too much. That's who you got that figure from. Sad, Beavis. I can read you like a poorly written book and appropriately punish you for your predictability.

again, what does any of that have to do with Ward taming Kova? why don't you post punch stats... start somewhere!

[Pugilisticuffs]

Most wanted him to win, hence the reason they were desperate for him too. Nothing more to be seen. I can't tell if they're genuine Kovalev fan boys or Ward haters, one thing I believe is though is that the core of the media and biased HBO commentary team were rooting for Kovalev and didn't like that Ward proved them all wrong.

Another "genius". HBO clearly wanted a Russian fighter with broken English at a time like this, with the Russians hacking into the (US) govt and making headlines everyday, than our own Olympic champion & hero Andre Ward. We haven't had this much tension with US-Russian relations since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Pugilisticuffs]

again, what does any of that have to do with Ward taming Kova? why don't you post punch stats... start somewhere!

Punch stats aren't needed. Fights are scored round by round. All 3 judges gave Ward round 10 which was clearly a Kovalev round. There's no debating that one, even Ward hardcores admit it. If you concede that round then you give Kovalev the fight. The judges got caught grabbing rounds that belonged to Kovalev and gifting them to Ward, not just toss-up/close rounds. The pattern was that obvious in how they scored the second half of the fight. The American establishment, NSAC in this case, got exposed for favoritism (with an All-American ref & judging panel), but they are the most corrupt State Athletic Commission in the world. Do you not keep up with boxing news? I guess not.

[Lomasexual]

Respect as a fighter? Or respect as a person?

As a fighter he is very, very good. He lost a very close fight to Kovalev, who is extremely good. Managing to hold his own against Krusher means Ward is, at the very least, and excellent fighter.

As a human being? Well, he isn't a criminal s**t-stain like Adonis. So people need to keep that in perspective. But he gets no respect because he is a total princess. He is basically like a water balloon that is shaped like a person but filled with estrogen instead of water.

Boxing fans, generally speaking, respect courage as much as they respect skills. No other sport requires the combination of both so much as boxing does.
If you just respect skills, you might as well be watching soccer.

Boxers who show skills, but who don't also show courage, will never be respected by the boxing community. Boxers who show courage, but who have lesser skills, will be respected.

Compare Froch, who is a contemporary of Ward. No-one would say that Froch was more skilled. He objectively wasn't. But he was also objectively much, much more courageous - while also being skilled in his own right.

Froch got respect, Ward doesn't. It isn't rocket science. This is how boxing works, this is how it always has worked and always will work. If you don't have courage, you don't have true respect.

[Lester Tutor]

Punch stats aren't needed. Fights are scored round by round. All 3 judges gave Ward round 10 which was clearly a Kovalev round. There's no debating that one, even Ward hardcores admit it. If you concede that round then you give Kovalev the fight. The judges got caught grabbing rounds that belonged to Kovalev and not just toss-up/close rounds. The establishment/system got exposed for favoritism. Do you not keep up with boxing news? I guess not.

cute late registration to the site... these cute little topics have been done rinsed far too much. don't mess with the troll cop, you will get arrested. considering the thread title....yeah you come off from left field...

you should write a letter to Ward in pink ink. let him know how you truly feel. just make sure the ink is pink.

[Jewish-Reptile]

Another "genius". HBO clearly wanted a Russian fighter with broken English at a time like this, with the Russians hacking into the (US) govt and making headlines everyday, than our own Olympic champion & hero Andre Ward. We haven't had this much tension with US-Russian relations since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Look at how much is invested in Kovalev, Ward was brought in as a sacrifice to build up Kovalev. It failed.