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I was looking for some feedback on what people think of Andre Ward? The guy has absolutely undeniable talent of course but he is destroying his career, I feel like he is bordering on becoming a big disappointment.
Before people label me as a hater lets start from the beginning. I knew Ward from being an olympic gold medalist but I was really introduced to him when he fought and beat Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six. I have to admit I ate up the Super Six the way Showtime intended the masses to. I absolutely loved it and wish either HBO or Showtime would consider bringing something like that back again. As they promoted it as very country vs country and being from America I was hoping for either Ward Taylor or Direll to win it. After the Kessler fight, Ward was the guy I was backing. So going into the finals I was a huge Ward fan (one of my top 2 or 3 favorites in all of boxing) and after he won I thought I was going to be witnessing history; he just won a big tournament against great fighters, he was a top p4p guy who was willing to fight anyone (he fought the best in the S6), I though he could unify the divsion the way Hopkins did at MW, he just unified the ring the WBC and WBA belts and I thought Bute's IBF strap was next and then he would either reign supreme there for a while and then go up or move up shortly after and try and do the same at LHW.
Ever since then it's been nothing but disappointment. I know he hurt his hand in the finals so that stopped him from coming back immediately but he also started fighting with Goossen and it ended up taking him 10 months to come back. So when he finally did, did he go after the IBF belt, nope he went after Dawson. I would have liked to see him go up and take the lineal LHW belt from him but instead he drained Dawson down to 168. Despite being upset about the opponent and weight choice I did have some renewed hope for him because he dominated and people started to really realize how good this guy is.
Then came an announcement that he was fighting Pavlik, I thought to myself oh come on Ward, you went from fighting killers to a weight drained Dawson and alcoholic Kelly Pavlik. That ended up being called off because of a surgery and combined with more promotional issues kept him out of the ring for another 14 months. In those months we heard that a contract was agreed on with Dimitry Sartison. Thank god HBO scrapped that.
So finally he agreed to a fight. Who was his big return against? Edwin Rodriguez. Now, I know there were issues securing a top guy and that this was HBO's suggestion but I feel like times like this was the perfect reason to move up and get in the mix with the heating up LHW division. Instead he did what we all thought and shutout Rodriguez in front of a lackluster crowd and it did very low ratings. After that? More promotional issues keeping him out of the ring again.
So what should we expect in the upcoming year?
He'll most likely fight only once for the third year in a row and that's only if this lawsuit gets sorted out in time. He'll face another over matched guy in a division that was hot 2 years ago but is no longer exciting. He'll demand huge money from HBO, demand to be the a-side of any fight and make superstar demands on his opponent even though his rating are poor and he does not draw outside of Oakland. Then he'll do interviews claiming that he should fight guys on PPV and speak like he's the smartest person in boxing.
I'll admit I sour on guys a lot more when they are inactive and will probably end up rooting for him in his next fight (depending on the opponent), but lately this guy has just irritated me so much. Goossen has been good to him, he got him every possible opportunity, plenty of belts, and more money that he really deserves considering his fanbase. Yet he is wasting away his career by continuing to try and break away. This is a guy who could have been building a tremendous legacy after the Super Six and instead his biggest fights have taken place in court. What kind of moron is advising this man? He made $2 million for his last fight against an opponent who had never been on premium cable and for a show that had less than a million viewers. Does he really think another promoter will do better?
I know he is still fairly young and when he gets the promotional issues straight he can get back on track but he is wasting away his prime. Also he has said on numerous occasions that he doesn't plan on sticking around for a long time he wants to be out of the sport around 32. That's only two years away and by the looks of his career only about 2 or 3 fights away. Does he have any respect for the sport? If managed correctly he could go down as an all time great but instead it just seems he was a few more big money fights and then get out of the sport
Before people label me as a hater lets start from the beginning. I knew Ward from being an olympic gold medalist but I was really introduced to him when he fought and beat Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six. I have to admit I ate up the Super Six the way Showtime intended the masses to. I absolutely loved it and wish either HBO or Showtime would consider bringing something like that back again. As they promoted it as very country vs country and being from America I was hoping for either Ward Taylor or Direll to win it. After the Kessler fight, Ward was the guy I was backing. So going into the finals I was a huge Ward fan (one of my top 2 or 3 favorites in all of boxing) and after he won I thought I was going to be witnessing history; he just won a big tournament against great fighters, he was a top p4p guy who was willing to fight anyone (he fought the best in the S6), I though he could unify the divsion the way Hopkins did at MW, he just unified the ring the WBC and WBA belts and I thought Bute's IBF strap was next and then he would either reign supreme there for a while and then go up or move up shortly after and try and do the same at LHW.
Ever since then it's been nothing but disappointment. I know he hurt his hand in the finals so that stopped him from coming back immediately but he also started fighting with Goossen and it ended up taking him 10 months to come back. So when he finally did, did he go after the IBF belt, nope he went after Dawson. I would have liked to see him go up and take the lineal LHW belt from him but instead he drained Dawson down to 168. Despite being upset about the opponent and weight choice I did have some renewed hope for him because he dominated and people started to really realize how good this guy is.
Then came an announcement that he was fighting Pavlik, I thought to myself oh come on Ward, you went from fighting killers to a weight drained Dawson and alcoholic Kelly Pavlik. That ended up being called off because of a surgery and combined with more promotional issues kept him out of the ring for another 14 months. In those months we heard that a contract was agreed on with Dimitry Sartison. Thank god HBO scrapped that.
So finally he agreed to a fight. Who was his big return against? Edwin Rodriguez. Now, I know there were issues securing a top guy and that this was HBO's suggestion but I feel like times like this was the perfect reason to move up and get in the mix with the heating up LHW division. Instead he did what we all thought and shutout Rodriguez in front of a lackluster crowd and it did very low ratings. After that? More promotional issues keeping him out of the ring again.
So what should we expect in the upcoming year?
He'll most likely fight only once for the third year in a row and that's only if this lawsuit gets sorted out in time. He'll face another over matched guy in a division that was hot 2 years ago but is no longer exciting. He'll demand huge money from HBO, demand to be the a-side of any fight and make superstar demands on his opponent even though his rating are poor and he does not draw outside of Oakland. Then he'll do interviews claiming that he should fight guys on PPV and speak like he's the smartest person in boxing.
I'll admit I sour on guys a lot more when they are inactive and will probably end up rooting for him in his next fight (depending on the opponent), but lately this guy has just irritated me so much. Goossen has been good to him, he got him every possible opportunity, plenty of belts, and more money that he really deserves considering his fanbase. Yet he is wasting away his career by continuing to try and break away. This is a guy who could have been building a tremendous legacy after the Super Six and instead his biggest fights have taken place in court. What kind of moron is advising this man? He made $2 million for his last fight against an opponent who had never been on premium cable and for a show that had less than a million viewers. Does he really think another promoter will do better?
I know he is still fairly young and when he gets the promotional issues straight he can get back on track but he is wasting away his prime. Also he has said on numerous occasions that he doesn't plan on sticking around for a long time he wants to be out of the sport around 32. That's only two years away and by the looks of his career only about 2 or 3 fights away. Does he have any respect for the sport? If managed correctly he could go down as an all time great but instead it just seems he was a few more big money fights and then get out of the sport
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