Re: Andre Ward speaks on his lack of fights!
I'm not a Brit and I cant stand watching Ward. I'd feel the same if i lived in Oakland. Hell i'd feel the same if i was living in his basement. I've been a boxing fan for decades. It's not his wooden persona or his reluctance to be as d0uchey as mayweather. There are plenty of guys like that all across fight sports...no personality, no interesting quotes, no smacktalk. Hell some of them can't even speak the English language, so they really aren't given the opportunity. However when they get in the ring noone cares, because they make their statements there.
The issue with Ward, is that once upon a time he tried to be the next roy jones jr. He didn't have the reflexes or the athleticism for it and got dropped a couple of times. I applaud him on adjusting his style to fix those kind of errors, however rather than sure up his defense or sharpen his punches or speed up his footwork, he decided he just didnt want to risk any of it and adapted a spoilers style. I didnt have as many objections when he fought Dawson and ko'd him. It was a more open style and he threw counters and punched in combos. So why not fight everyone like that? Because Dawson was ripe, possibly drained and carried his hands low and couldn't take the punches.Everyone else represents too much risk. Now if we consider him a master technician for exploiting the rules and the refs presence with the punch grab smother and hit on the break, doesn't that also make John Ruiz a master Tactician for doing the same?
They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.
Roy Jones, Jr. "What I've Learned," Esquire 2003
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