What's next for the winner of Ward-Kovalev II?

[-PBP-]

He's got no history of being a drama queen? Idk about that. And I'm not saying he hasn't fought top competition, but I felt he dragged his feet on Kovalev with all the warm up fights.

I'll be shocked if he fights Beterbiev or Adonis next, but if he fights them or another top 3, top 5 guy I'll have no problem giving him props for that, but I'd bet against that happening. And I'll be super shocked if he isn't throwing out the word retire in his post fight interview or within the 1st 10 tweets about his future after the rematch.

How you have more confidence in Stevenson than Ward I just can't understand. Stevenson had the perfect promotional and managerial situation and has fought nobody since getting his title. Stevenson hasn't taken the risks or have the names on his resume that Ward does. When he had his shot at greatness he ran to another network.

Beterbiev had his shot as well but backed out because they felt he wasn't ready. Both of these guys avoided Kovalev when Ward is fighting him twice.

Hell, they are with the same promotional banner and still won't fight each other. Just sitting around and waiting for Prince Charming to rescue them and hand them retirement money.

If anything they should get off their ass and fight each other to set up an undisputed match for king of the division later in the year. But I guess their promoter would lose out on 2 big fights by eliminating one of his own.

[Gillie]

I want to see the winner fight Beterbiev who will be the IBF mandatory. But I doubt either fighter will face him. I think Ward is looking for a bigger fight than the IBF mandatory. If the GGG fight is really a possibility at 168 I see him taking that fight. Or moving down to 168 to face DeGale or even bringing Froch out of retirement. I just don't see Ward taking that fight.

No way in hell Main Events is going to let Kovalev fight Beterbiev. They'll call a purse bid and lose it like they always do and pull out because they won't allow Kovalev to fight off HBO. Badou Jack would be a good fight but I don't see HBO spending the money it takes to make this fight without PPV. I don't think it'll take a lot of money but they won't pay it.

I can't see Froch coming out of retirement only to lose on points again. I would think that Froch would rather face a more stationary target to make for excitement ie...Kessler 3.

[Chuckguy]

If Ward moves down he can get kod
He has some miles on him and it's not healthy at this point boxing wise

[Eff Pandas]

How you have more confidence in Stevenson than Ward I just can't understand.

Got no clue what you mean here. I threw out some names along with saying Ward won't fight a top 3, top 5 guy after Kovalev II. I'm not talking about confidence for or against anyone except in Ward not drama queening his way kicking & screaming like he did with Kovalev into his late 2017, early 2018 future.

And sh^t respect to Ward for fighting Kovalev & respect to Ward for rematching him, but lets not act like he hasn't been dragging his feet towards challenges since he won the Super Six tournament.

Boxing isn't a win a tournament or a fight & be king forever sport. You gotta keep earning your keep & like I said respect to Ward for earning his keep right now, but I just don't believe it'll continue & if not for the rematch clause I don't think it would be continuing now.

Maybe I'll feel different after Kovalev II & feel he can deserves a whatever fight, but I kinda feel like he's in a hole with me & most fans for his lack of doing much worthwhile for the last several years before Kovalev I.

[-PBP-]

Got no clue what you mean here. I threw out some names along with saying Ward won't fight a top 3, top 5 guy after Kovalev II. I'm not talking about confidence for or against anyone except in Ward not drama queening his way kicking & screaming like he did with Kovalev into his late 2017, early 2018 future.

And sh^t respect to Ward for fighting Kovalev & respect to Ward for rematching him, but lets not act like he hasn't been dragging his feet towards challenges since he won the Super Six tournament.

Boxing isn't a win a tournament or a fight & be king forever sport. You gotta keep earning your keep & like I said respect to Ward for earning his keep right now, but I just don't believe it'll continue & if not for the rematch clause I don't think it would be continuing now.

Maybe I'll feel different after Kovalev II & feel he can deserves a whatever fight, but I kinda feel like he's in a hole with me & most fans for his lack of doing much worthwhile for the last several years before Kovalev I.

I see it both ways. You can say he should've fought Bootay for example cause he was the next highest ranked guy by default. But at the same time, Bootay didn't participate in the Super Six and had no good wins. So does Bootay automatically leap over Froch and Kessler just because they lost from fighting each other while he skipped out on difficult fights?

Same situation here. Ward and Kovalev are the only fighters in the division trying to be the best. So whatever they choose to do after this fight I can live with until some of these other guys get off their ass and prove they are next best in line.

[Eff Pandas]

I see it both ways. You can say he should've fought Bootay for example cause he was the next highest ranked guy by default. But at the same time, Bootay didn't participate in the Super Six and had no good wins. So does Bootay automatically leap over Froch and Kessler just because they lost from fighting each other while he skipped out on difficult fights?

I mean sure, but to me at some point when its not just one or two things than there is a problem.

Thats my problem with Ward's overall history post the Super Six. Thats my problem with Adonis since the Fonfara fight. Thats my problem with Canelo lately.

You can go ham on Floyd over the Margarito fight, like many do, but overall he was fighting top guys in whatever division when they were ready to fight him through out his career. Until lately Manny had been doing the same overall. Oscar was fighting top guys overall once he got rolling in divisions with many players.

I just can't get behind these cats who wanna be or think they are already the face of the sport & continue with bs fights left & right.

And I'll be glad to be surprised if Ward starts fighting the opponents like the guy he probably thinks he already is should be fighting, but I just feel like he's a zebra who's not gonna change his stripes in this regard & we got a bunch of bs fights post-Kovalev II ahead of us.

Same situation here. Ward and Kovalev are the only fighters in the division trying to be the best. So whatever they choose to do after this fight I can live with until some of these other guys get off their ass and prove they are next best in line.

Yea but the thing is even "Chickenson" as you call him p#ssies out there are still 4 more top 5ish guys that Ward hasn't fought in the division. Whoever those 4 guys are he should be fighting them next. I don't think this is anything crazy to suggest of the clear number 1 guy in a division (assuming he beats Kovalev again) & a discussed P4P caliber guy.

The classic with great power comes great responsibility line applies in these cases. If x wants to be a ***** let him be a *****, but you can't make your goal be to be merely outperforming the guy doing ***** sh^t & act like that makes you the man. The man FAR outperforms the ***** in every way & doesn't even get lumped into conversations with those types of guys by serious & reasonable fans & pundits.

[Scipio2009]

I want to see the winner fight Beterbiev who will be the IBF mandatory. But I doubt either fighter will face him. I think Ward is looking for a bigger fight than the IBF mandatory. If the GGG fight is really a possibility at 168 I see him taking that fight. Or moving down to 168 to face DeGale or even bringing Froch out of retirement. I just don't see Ward taking that fight.

No way in hell Main Events is going to let Kovalev fight Beterbiev. They'll call a purse bid and lose it like they always do and pull out because they won't allow Kovalev to fight off HBO. Badou Jack would be a good fight but I don't see HBO spending the money it takes to make this fight without PPV. I don't think it'll take a lot of money but they won't pay it.

Either the Beterbiev-Koelling winner (IBF 175lb mandatory) or the apparent Cleverly-Jack winner (WBA mandatory).

Andre Ward's never going back down to 168lbs, for the simple reality that the terms for such a fight won't be worth the grind of trying to get his body back down to 168lbs. Andre Ward is apparently going to get 60% of the take on the Kovalev rematch, after getting a massive take on the first fight (how the split was actually broken down is beyond me); Golovkin and his camp's stalling on the Alvarez fight gives the impression that they may actually be looking at taking 40% of the pot (off of a fighter who does 4 times the business that Golovkin does).

James Degale would be an interesting fight, but even that has it's issues; as good a fight as it is, I don't think Ward-Degale is a big enough fight for Emirates Stadium (Degale's home team's ground, seating 60k-70k).

Andre Ward is under no further obligation to HBO (now only owing this rematch option to Kovalev). On the open market, with viable fights in their fold (Stevenson, Beterbiev, Jack, Joe Smtih Jr, Monagan is with DiBella, etc), Ward signing a longterm deal with Showtime/CBS (Ward signs for 3 years and up to 10 fights, working with Showtime/CBS to best place the events, with Roc Nation also picking up 4-5 ShoBox dates per year for their prospects, and maybe options for Showtime dates for the prospects who break through) isn't an unheard of proposition.

[Scipio2009]

I want to see the winner fight Beterbiev who will be the IBF mandatory. But I doubt either fighter will face him. I think Ward is looking for a bigger fight than the IBF mandatory. If the GGG fight is really a possibility at 168 I see him taking that fight. Or moving down to 168 to face DeGale or even bringing Froch out of retirement. I just don't see Ward taking that fight.

No way in hell Main Events is going to let Kovalev fight Beterbiev. They'll call a purse bid and lose it like they always do and pull out because they won't allow Kovalev to fight off HBO. Badou Jack would be a good fight but I don't see HBO spending the money it takes to make this fight without PPV. I don't think it'll take a lot of money but they won't pay it.

vs Beterbiev (assuming he beats Koelling in the eliminator) at Barclays Center, or vs Jack (assuming he beats Cleverly) at one of the MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas (Mandalay Bay EC, MGM Grand, T-Mobile Arena).

if Cleverly wins, you end up with Ward vs Cleverly from Oracle Arena

[Lester Tutor]

Beterbiev likes to Turtle up on offensive strikes. I see Ward gutting him out to the belly, spear jab to the stomach every round. Easy fight for Ward

[Scipio2009]

Andre Ward is under no obligation to HBO, and MGM Resorts is still looking...

Alright, don't quote me on this, but if Ward were to win the rematch, what is there for him at 175? I don't think he's in it for the long haul to fight up and coming guys like Gvozdyk, Beterbiev, Bivol and so on. Maybe he goes after Stevenson to try to unify. But I'm not sure Stevenson takes that fight or they can work it out for numerous reasons.

I know Ward has mentioned in the past the desire to try to get a belt at HW like RJJ did. Well, if he's the WBA 175 super champ, could he possibly work himself into a title fight against the winner of Briggs/Oquendo?? There's never going to be an easier chance for him to win a belt at HW than that fight. I know the WBA has that tournament planned, but Ortiz is looking other directions, Ustinov is doing god knows what and the winner of Joshua/Klitschko could elect to fight Pulev, who is the IBF mandatory. I know it's highly unlikely, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Ward could be fighting Briggs or Oquendo for the WBA HW title at some point.

and Las Vegas may end up in the Andre Ward business (Kovalev-Ward did almost $3.5m at the gate, and the rematch is set to be staged to top that number).

Beterbiev is there, the Cleverly-Jack winner is there, Joe Smith Jr in NYC is an option, Adonis Stevenson to unify is there, and then you've got the top prospects (Marcus Browne, Thomas Oosthuizen, Dmitry Bivol; not including Oleksandr Gvozdyk because of Bob Arum) and 168s coming up (Degale, Eubank Jr, Andre Dirrell).

Add NYC (Barclays Center was put up with Jay-Z's direct input), and Ward has 3 top markets to stage his events from.

The difference in ability is what it is, but Shannon Briggs is a 250lb-260lb man when fighting fit; if Ward walks around 190lbs, I'd be shocked.

Now, Fres Oquendo is the type of guy that Ward would likely be looking for to pick off; 6'2, ~220lbs, not a monstrous heavyweight puncher, clearly below Ward in boxing ability, aging, etc. timing is off now, though