So who's the next "great American hope" in boxing?

[Kirkland Laing]

I'm not disputing what you're saying... but don't you think the promoting side bears some responsibility as well? I think promoters in general have done a piss poor job in promoting someone like Andre Ward. I also think the division itself doesn't help, in the sense that there's lesser known quality at that weight than at a more popular weight, like welter or middle. But yeah... unfortunately Andre's personality doesn't help promote him. It's refreshing to see someone like Andre, but many fans aren't going to tune in unless he starts acting like a jerk and calling people out.

Getting him into the Spuer Six and all his fights at home then getting him the light heavy champ on HBO isn't too shabby a job of promoting him. But you've got to have something to promote. A quietly-spoken respectful guy isn't the easiest thing to work with. If Ward had been a total cunt at the start of the Super Six, telling people the rest of the six were shit and he was going to beat the shit out of them then he would have been off to the races. He could have stood in the ring after the Kessler fight and made his mouth go. He'd just beaten the favourite and people would have started to take notice. You'd get a lot of people loving him and a lot of people hating him but they'd all tune in. Unfortunately for him he's not that kind of person, he's throwing away millions by not being a cunt.

Exactly.

Olympic gold medal winner, unbeaten, Super Six champion, WBC/WBA champion, P4P ranked no.3 and has 140,000 twitter followers.

The days of quiet/nice guys becoming stars has gone.

I would agree with this up to a point. Unless you have some kid come along with SRL-type skills and a megawatt nice personality and win gold at the Olympics then it's hard to see any boxer making the kind of breakthrough into the mainstream where he's going to get TV and press coverage, endorsements etc. But De La Hoya was marketed that way and had the skills to go with the hype, so it isn't completely impossible for it to happen again.

But basically all boxers can forget about getting any mainstream media coverage and becoming known to sports fans. Ward is a perfect example. Hasn't lost since he was eleven, won the Olympic gold, unbeaten world champ, etc etc and nobody knows him. So really the only way these guys can seriously promote themselves to a point where people get to hear about them is with their mouth/behaviour. Ward needs to start telling people he really is the son of god and as god's son he's unbeatable in the ring, get some bling, punch his wife, maybe shoot his dad in the leg or something.