Actually in the amateurs light heavyweight is 178. But Ward wasn't a real light heavy. He fought at and was the #1 ranked 165er but he moved up to 178 because he wanted his cousin to make the Olympic team with him. Ward weighed in at 170-172 for light heavy in the amateurs and was actually a smaller 165er. One of our guys fought him at the US Challenge and he weighed in at 164 for a 165 tourney and then the next tournament we saw him at light heavy weighing in at 171 with socks and boxers on.
But with the Dawson fight he is not wrong because Dawson called Ward out and also said he could and would make 168. Dawson is even here stating that the weight cut is nothing and that he is only 178 with 5 weeks to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HSMTn8WfL0 After watching the fight I believe Dawson underestimated the cut and was indeed drained but he brought that situation to himself. Golovkin said he would go down to 154 for Mayweather, Ward and Hopkins both said they would go to 160 for Mayweather. If they underestimate the weight cut and are drained then you blame them not Mayweather. Though I doubt any of those fights will ever happen. But the other points of the original post such as Ward fighting outside of home is hard to ignore. At some point he has to give up home advantage. As far as the additional PED testing I think he should at least pick an agency of his own preference and join in with the other guys doing this. Its the only way boxing will get cleaner. Boxing bodies never try to correct boxing so the fighters have to take it in their own hands.
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