Quote Originally Posted by Ron Swanson View Post
The big difference with asking Ward to move up and asking GGG to move is that Ward has already cleaned out the super middleweight division and GGG hasn't done the same with the middleweight.

I'd say the big differences are

1)That Ward has taken on top guys thus earning the right to do what he wants
2)Ward is not moving up because he wants to make a huge fight. GGG is not moving up because he doesn't want to make a huge fight.

It blows my mind how boxing fans are significantly harder on the guys that have made big fights than they are on the guys that haven't. It's bass ackwards.[/QUOTE]

You're twisting my words. Ward has big fights with Kovalev/Stevenson/Hopkins/Pascal at light heavyweight. All are bigger fights than Rodriguez or the Pavlik fight he was chasing before it. They are also arguably bigger fights than GGG.

The main difference in our opinion of GGG is that I haven't seen GGG duck any fight at 160. To me, I don't blame someone for not moving up in weight if they can still make weight legally and safely and there are still opponents for them to fight there.

I feel the same way about Ward frankly, but I also think Ward is out of options at 168 and he should thus consider moving up. Would I blame him for not moving up though? No. I just don't think he can demand 7 figure purses for fighting the Rodriguez's of the world (not that there is anything wrong with Rodriguez).

GGG has options at 160. He hasn't cleaned out the division, unlike Ward. I want to see him do that first. He's genuinely attempting it at least. He fought four times last year and is on pace for the same thing this year.