The notion that Andre Ward would be more liked if he had a more offensive style...

[HarvardBlue]

Things took a turn for he filed the lawsuit against Goossen. In fact he did receive some love on this site before that. To make things worst he went and signed with RocNation. He might as well have joined The Nation of Islam. It would have been a lot different if he signed with Arum. The nail in his coffin was when he was pitted against Golovkin as a rival. If the choice is between him and Golovkin he's not getting any love no matter what his style was.

[dibzvincent143]

I think he'd be recognized more if he has an exciting style. He'd be breaking PPV records too. Thing is if you are boring in the ring, you tend to make up for it outside the ring. That's just prize fighting, you sell yourself, you sell your fight. But if you're okay with your purse popularity and recognigtion, then just do what you always do. But if you want to be big, loved and a winner to most people's eyes then do more than that. Boxing fans are 95% casuals.

Ward has an ugly style, and boring character. But yes he's good at what he does best.

[boxinggod101]

Ward is white

[Mr Objecitivity]

I can't speak for everyone but only for myself and a few others that I know.

Me personally, I'm neither black, nor white, nor am I a nationalist, nor am I a tribalist, nor am I a patriot. I may also add that I am color blind too.

With those things being stated, I really could careless about a boxer's background. I support a boxer based on how they perform during their bouts. A simple rule of thumb is this. I support any boxer that consistently boxes legitimately within the rules and wins against top level opposition by the biggest possible margin (via knockout or via inflicting maximum damage upon the opponent). On the other hand, I find a boxer unappealing that consistently cheats / performs illegal moves (like Andre Ward) and always has to win by the smallest possible margin (winning by decision and by inflicting very little damage upon the opponent). This is again something that Andre Ward falls under.

I love watching Roy Jones Jr and Alexander Povetkin whilst I totally dislike watching Andre Ward and Tyson Fury. What do Roy Jones Jr and Alexander Povetkin have in common? Both generally win their fights by knockout or by inflicting maximum damage upon their opponents. What do Andre Ward and Tyson Fury have in common? Both win almost all of their main fights against top level opposition by decision or by inflicting very little damage upon their opponents.

That's not to claim that I don't find technical boxers unappealing either, but they must fulfill those two standards I've outlined if they are going to appeal to me. If a boxer is technical but also wins consistently by knockout or by inflicting maximum damage upon his opponents, then I will find that boxer appealing. Thus, it might shock many people to learn that I love watching Guillermo Rigondeaux fight but I can't bare to watch Andre Ward fight.

The comparison between Andre Ward and Deontay Wilder is invalid. Any top level heavyweight boxer with decent power can have a 100% knockout percentage against EXTREMELY poor quality opposition. It doesn't mean much. The criticism against Deontay Wilder stems from the fact that he has had nearly 40 bouts and is still yet to fight a single opponent from the top 10 rankings. If you can't see why that warrants criticism, then you're either not knowledgeable enough or bias.

For example, I love watching Anthony Joshua and he is one of my favorite boxers. On the other hand, I don't find Deontay Wilder appealing. Why? Because Anthony Joshua is fighting better caliber of opposition and winning by a bigger margin against them than Deontay Wilder is against slightly lesser opposition.

My criteria for liking or not liking a boxer has nothing to do with the boxer's background but only to do with how they fight.

[boliodogs]

I hate Ward's style. He does way too much clinching, wrestling, mauling, and holding and hitting. That is legal and OK in MMA but not in boxing. His style is much different than Mayweather's style. Mayweather doesn't grab or hold guys first and then hit them. He doesn't have to have his hands on his opponent first to land punches. I like to watch Mayweather fight but not Ward I think Ward's style is the main reason many posters on here don't like him. It isn't his race if that is what you are implying.Wilder is fun to watch and it isn't the fact that he is black that many don't like him. It's the fact that in his years as champion he has yet to defend his title against a top 10 world rated contender that many don't like him. Again race has nothing to do with it.