Ward talks about what it takes to get a big fight done and negotiating with Duva

[A.K]

I may be a Mayweather fan but I don't speak Ebonics. What makes Prince a "real niigga"?

If you gotta ask you failed the task

[OnePunch]

Hey, those merchandise deals can be a bi*ch and you know SOG likes to dot the i's and cross the t's. lol

lol i know right?

[Scipio2009]

Kinda makes me wonder what kovalev's people were like when they were the "A side" and what those negotiations were like compared to these. Ward seems to really want to impose that fact on them and the fans. I have to believe some people are easier to work with than others...and ward seems like he would be on the more difficult side.

Duva ran the fake press conference in LA, Duva apparently rejected every suggestion made by Roc Nation for the event, Duva used the press availabilities to slight Ward, Duva made sure that all Ward and his camp did was show up and sit while she dictated things to them.

It's clear that Ward is a religious man, but having to sit and deal with that has a way of creating spite.

With the shoe now being on the other foot, Ward and his camp are insisting on letting Duva understand that she's not in control of anything.

Ward-Smith, Ward-Barrera (even though Kathy Duva tried to get Barrera to push tactics to try and make some extra money), and Ward-Brand didn't seem to be all that contentious (Paul Smith missed weight, yet Ward gave him his share of the weight penalty back). Heck, once Chad Dawson agreed and settled on the weight, Ward-Dawson wasn't all that contentious either.

Duva stepped out of line, and Andre Ward and his camp are letting her know that she stepped out of line; there's no doubt in my mind that, when the negotiations happen Michael Yormark (Roc Nation Sports) and Yvon Michel (GYM) will have very little issue negotiating Ward-Stevenson

[Scipio2009]

Yeah that's nice and all, but he did sign the rematch clause. And now he wants us to respect him for finally fulfilling the legal contract he signed after months of stalling and threatening to retire. This dude is hilarious.

The rematch clause was simply an option for Sergey Kovalev to have the immediate next fight with Andre Ward; as this entire things played out, it's pretty clear that near nothing else had been agreed to, beyond the option to have the fight again.

[Real King Kong]

Duva ran the fake press conference in LA, Duva apparently rejected every suggestion made by Roc Nation for the event, Duva used the press availabilities to slight Ward, Duva made sure that all Ward and his camp did was show up and sit while she dictated things to them.

It's clear that Ward is a religious man, but having to sit and deal with that has a way of creating spite.

With the shoe now being on the other foot, Ward and his camp are insisting on letting Duva understand that she's not in control of anything.

Ward-Smith, Ward-Barrera (even though Kathy Duva tried to get Barrera to push tactics to try and make some extra money), and Ward-Brand didn't seem to be all that contentious (Paul Smith missed weight, yet Ward gave him his share of the weight penalty back). Heck, once Chad Dawson agreed and settled on the weight, Ward-Dawson wasn't all that contentious either.

Duva stepped out of line, and Andre Ward and his camp are letting her know that she stepped out of line; there's no doubt in my mind that, when the negotiations happen Michael Yormark (Roc Nation Sports) and Yvon Michel (GYM) will have very little issue negotiating Ward-Stevenson

Yea i guess that's the difference between being lead promoter and playing second fiddle. It seemed to work out well for him on the money end. I suppose that was part of the negotiation...if kovalev won then main events would still lead the promotion.

[Scipio2009]

Why is Ward obsessed about being the A side? He isn't a ppv star. He isn't some major draw either. This guy is a damn diva... somebody needs to tell him he isn't Floyd, Canelo, or Pacquiao. This KOvalev fight and the last should've been on normal HBO. It's only ppv because of people wanting too much $. Duva might be hard to work with but I believe Ward and his team are worse.

Because he's 31-0, former super middleweight kingpin, current light heavyweight king, America's last male Olympic gold medalist for boxing and has a pretty decent fanbase in his own right (having sold $700k in ticket revenue for at least 3 fights in Oakland, while also seeming to have the bulk of the fan support from the $3.5m in ticket revenue in his first fight in Las Vegas).

On principle alone, Ward has earned a certain level of respect that he's seemingly come to insist on folks recognizing.

Kovalev-Ward cleared $5m in PPV revenue (after paying the distributors/HBO their fee), double what HBO would've paid for the rights fee.

Golovkin-Lemieux and Crawford-Postol are more of what you're looking at, lol.

[Scipio2009]

Yea i guess that's the difference between being lead promoter and playing second fiddle. It seemed to work out well for him on the money end. I suppose that was part of the negotiation...if kovalev won then main events would still lead the promotion.

Pride seems to have a significant value to Ward, beyond just the money

[Real King Kong]

Pride seems to have a significant value to Ward, beyond just the money

Yep...a religious man shouldn't let it get the better of him. The sport definitely lends itself to big egos tho...and as humble as he comes off, i think he has a huge ego.

[Jewish-Reptile]

[QUOTE=Motorcity Cobra;17594129]

Kinda makes me wonder what kovalev's people were like when they were the "A side" and what those negotiations were like compared to these.
They wanted Ward to come to a press conference less than a week after he'd just fought. Nobody does that. That shows you how difficult they were to work with.



I believe he's a tough negotiatior but he always gets his way and he always gets good fights. If being difficult to work with means a resume like his then more fighters should be difficult to work with instead of easily accepting bums

Superb post.

Ward being the challenger in the first fight and his purse compared to the champ at the time the champ only earned forty percent of what the challenger did, call me whatever but I call that dumb on Kovalev's part but I expect no less from a Russian.

[OnePunch]

Because he's 31-0, former super middleweight kingpin, current light heavyweight king, America's last male Olympic gold medalist for boxing and has a pretty decent fanbase in his own right (having sold $700k in ticket revenue for at least 3 fights in Oakland, while also seeming to have the bulk of the fan support from the $3.5m in ticket revenue in his first fight in Las Vegas).

On principle alone, Ward has earned a certain level of respect that he's seemingly come to insist on folks recognizing.

Kovalev-Ward cleared $5m in PPV revenue (after paying the distributors/HBO their fee), double what HBO would've paid for the rights fee.

Golovkin-Lemieux and Crawford-Postol are more of what you're looking at, lol.

Here's a hint. People either respect you, or they dont. You cant "insist" on anything when it comes to respect.