andre ward- what went wrong?

[Prince Madison]

Whether you rated the competition or not, after winning the super 6 the stage was set for ward to be the next boxing superstar,to fill the void once mayweather left.. However, this hasnt materialised, with many boxing fans looking at errol spence as the guy to be the flagbearer for american boxing. Viewing figures have also been very disappointing for recent fights. It is safe to say that ward has not achieved the stardom he may have hoped for and many people do not rate him as p4p number 1, a mantle which many assumed he would take over from mayweather
So why has wards career not taken off? Is it due to inactivity, a lack of personality, or a lack of entertainment in the ring? Why has ward not capitalised on the momentum from the super 6? Can ward still become the american superstar or is it too late?
Discuss...

[GhostofDempsey]

He lacks a fan-friendly style and charisma. While he appears to be a class act outside the ring, that doesn't sell fights. Sabotaging his own career with inactivity while fighting lawsuits with promoters didn't help either.

[iamboxing]

You make it sound like he's a broken man. He's a world champion.

[New England]

Whether you rated the competition or not, after winning the super 6 the stage was set for ward to be the next boxing superstar,to fill the void once mayweather left.. However, this hasnt materialised, with many boxing fans looking at errol spence as the guy to be the flagbearer for american boxing. Viewing figures have also been very disappointing for recent fights. It is safe to say that ward has not achieved the stardom he may have hoped for and many people do not rate him as p4p number 1, a mantle which many assumed he would take over from mayweather
So why has wards career not taken off? Is it due to inactivity, a lack of personality, or a lack of entertainment in the ring? Why has ward not capitalised on the momentum from the super 6? Can ward still become the american superstar or is it too late?
Discuss...

one of hte biggest reasons floyd and manny were so popular was the value added to their promotion by the prospect of them fighting each other. their management on both sides did very well to promote a rivalry. ward doesn't have a popular rival like pacquiao. kovalev's a very good fighter, but he has no real personality, speaks little english, started late as a championship level boxer, and for those reasons he isn't a huge draw.


if ward and golovkin were just a bit closer in size and that fight was promoted correclty i think you could have seen half a million ppv buys, which was the gold standard for success until the mayweahter - pacquiao era.


there's also the factor of a relative unknown in "rocnation" trying to promote a fighter that some percieve as being the potential cashcow of american boxing. floyd was first promoted by arum, a guy who has been making american boxers into stars for literally decades. after arum floyd had oscar and richard schaeffer, and the benefit of building off of oscar's name when they fought in '07.


many of the more popular fighters in history have gotten there off of the strength of victories over past greats. they pass the torch. ward, coming up as an underdog in the SS in the relatively unknown and mostly european 168 lb division didn't have that kind of opponent on which to build. i guess the closest thing was an aging hopkins, but that fight never materialized for whatever reason.

[just the facts]

Whether you rated the competition or not, after winning the super 6 the stage was set for ward to be the next boxing superstar,to fill the void once mayweather left.. However, this hasnt materialised, with many boxing fans looking at errol spence as the guy to be the flagbearer for american boxing. Viewing figures have also been very disappointing for recent fights. It is safe to say that ward has not achieved the stardom he may have hoped for and many people do not rate him as p4p number 1, a mantle which many assumed he would take over from mayweather
So why has wards career not taken off? Is it due to inactivity, a lack of personality, or a lack of entertainment in the ring? Why has ward not capitalised on the momentum from the super 6? Can ward still become the american superstar or is it too late?
Discuss...

Again, due to your inability to view anything remotely related to Andre Ward with even a sliver of objectivity, your OPINION means less than nothing.

BTW, I'm still waiting for that link to something saying Andre Ward was a wife beater. Pretty serious accusation with no proof. Could you please provide that link? I'd hate to think you pulled that bullshyte out of your a$$ to fit your agenda.

[therealpugilist]

His style n dominance

Dude has had one competitive fight In his career

Casual fans want to see wars or a struggle.

That's why Whitaker, Jones never became the stars like JCC or ODLH was...they had true rivals in their prime


It took mayweather to change his persona and people investing in seeing him lose is the only reason he became a star

I doubt ward starts acting like mayweather or will purposely fight a dumb fight to entertain fans.... He may never be a big star but he can become a hall of famer and ATG....thats whwr truly matters

[GhostofDempsey]

You make it sound like he's a broken man. He's a world champion.

I don't think he's making him out to be broken or a failure. But when you consider Ward can only put 8K asses in seats in his hometown at the Oracle Arena (a venue that has a capacity of nearly 20K), it speaks to his popularity. Meanwhile, Danny Garcia can travel to Brooklyn which isn't even his hometown and fill the arena fighting the same level of no-name opposition. Even Crawford sells nearly 12K seats in Omaha Nebraska. A guy fighting journeymen in the middle of cornfields.

[SensFullViolenc]

Various reasons.

I agree that style is one. He has an ugly style. I dont even blame him for that. He has pillow fists. And no, he cant generate more power by sitting on his punches more. He just has no power. So he has to fight in an ugly style.

He torpedoed his own career by sitting out 2 years. I wont say he was wrong or right - that was his decision to make. But he had momentum, and lost it.

And the fights he took after his hiatus - Brand, Barrera, some other dude, did nothing to help his career.

If he fights a good fight against a top dude in Kovalev - even if he loses, it may elevate him. I hope so, because despite all his whining, his ugly style, I have to support the Eastbay homie.

[Squ□redCircle34]

Due to him showing half his real personality, I've seen the real Andre Ward when he was chilling with Andre Berto and he's a witty,obnoxious guy with a bit of sense of humor! That's the side he should've been showing more but for some reason once to flex this choir boy,God fearing man and humble image he loves to regurgitate to people and then he complains why he doesn't have more people backing him!

Newsflash, people love the bad guys and villains or an underdog!

NOT to mention his style is horrible to watch, his inside fighting is overrated and he doesn't like to travel to fight in other hometowns!

His resume at 168 is stellar but him showing his true colors by suing Goosen all the way into his deathbed, breaking out of contracts he agreed upon, refusing to fight at times, the Chad Dawson debacle, and then him acting like he beat Kov and not admitting that the judges gave him the belts not himself is beyond why he isn't a superstar!

Good thing Kov had a rematch clause or the man wouldn't have fought him again!

[WesternChamp]

its too late. unless he does something amazing but even so, it will be short live because ward aint got much left.