HBO's packaging of Andre Ward is DISGRACEFUL!!!

[zhubin]

I am not a huge fan of Ward's fighting style or religious talk (and i am a Oakland native!). But he is one of the 3 best fighters in the world right now...along with Floyd and Rigo. All three of them are technicians (with Ward, much like B-hop, being a skilled/cagey fighter who knows all the tricks in the book). But only Floyd is marketable because of his business acumen and brash personality. Lets not forget...if it wasn't for the fact that Floyd generates the biggest paydays for his opponents...his style and ability would scare off most opponents. This just points to the fact that boxing, like most other professional sports, is as much (if not more) a business than anything else. Lets see if the tide turns a bit for Ward IF he is able to fight guys like Kovalev, Chavez jnr., GGG, Stevenson, etc. But for most these guys, the risk/reward isn't high enough to face a guy like Ward (same problem for Rigo).

[ykdadamaja]

Ward needs a fight that can make him fight... Floyd had Corrales and Emmanuel Burton... Ward needs a starter....

[FinitoElDinamita]

Can we stop putting floyd and ward ij the same sentence though? Lol as somebody mentioned, their styles are totally different. Floyd makes you miss and he makes you pay.. he stays within punching range and boxes your ass off without clinching and all the other bs to make up for lack of skills.. he does everything correctly as a boxer and unlike ward, a lot of people do find him exciting and even to those who are thrilled, they stiill admire his work..

Fuck andre ward. He holds escessively like ricky hatton and has as much personality as Cotto which puts him in that wood status.

And that bible thumping nerd image is rubbish and shit aint gonna sell in boxing. Boxing fans wanna see fists flying, period. We dont give a shit about what he talks about with god or moses dividing rivers amd shit.

Andre wadd is rubbish

[ykdadamaja]

Former Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis talked about God all the time....

[bradlee180]

Sports are entertainment that the people pay their hard-earned money for, so maybe ward should try focusing on being more entertaining and exciting in his sporting events instead of focusing solely on winning in the shittiest, dirtiest, borefests in world-class Boxing today. The only guy that managed to become a Draw despite wall-to-wall borefests is mayweather, and that's only because he started getting arrested for woman-beating and he started spewing loads and loads of pure bull$#!t that the press ate up.

[powerpuncher]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

[ykdadamaja]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

He is one of the best to ever grace the sport, even at this stage. What has to happen is that he needs better promotions to make himself more attractive. Sure, he isn't exciting- i.e., doesn't get hit a lot, doesn't throw 5 punch combo's every 10 seconds and also doesn't talk a lot of crap, but he can be sold as what he is: A class act that is virtually unbeatable.

What he needs to do, and HBO needs to spend some money on this, is give him access to the mainstream. Floyd forced himself into mainstream and he doesn't even have any endorsement deals- Nike, Fila, etc...

Andre needs to go on the day time talk shows, night time talk shows, guest appear in roles in television and movies as himself, do the youtube thing, invite people into all access into his camp and start to become more regular on the boxing telecasts as he is doing.... there is a lot of things despite his fighting style that would cause people to wanna see him.

[ykdadamaja]

Ward needs better PR... as much as he does fight promotion. I think we get that little issue twisted- fight promotions and public relations are two separate issues.

Floyd is a MASTER at PR. He is a master now because of his personal lifestyle that clashed with his amazing ability, he had to learn how to handle the media. And, by extension, he learned how to tamp them down- but he also, by default, found out and knows how to whip them into a frenzy.

Andre can pull it off in a clean, way. Lookit Tim Tebow. As clean as they come, but everyone wanted a piece and he couldn't play a lick of QB.

And there are countless other sports stars that ain't gat spit in the ring, but made it due to the extra.

[erics44]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

i havent seen the rodriguez fights and only highlights of the Dawson fight so i cant really comment on those two

and to be honest his style has imrpoved, if you watch the kessler fight that was very frustrating and he did a lot of smothering and got away with a lot of roughness which should really have been stopped

watch the froch fight tho and he had refined his style a lot

his style was still based on smothering tho and wasnt very entertaining

[Silkeyjoe]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

He is one of the best to ever grace the sport, even at this stage. What has to happen is that he needs better promotions to make himself more attractive. Sure, he isn't exciting- i.e., doesn't get hit a lot, doesn't throw 5 punch combo's every 10 seconds and also doesn't talk a lot of crap, but he can be sold as what he is: A class act that is virtually unbeatable.

What he needs to do, and HBO needs to spend some money on this, is give him access to the mainstream. Floyd forced himself into mainstream and he doesn't even have any endorsement deals- Nike, Fila, etc...

Andre needs to go on the day time talk shows, night time talk shows, guest appear in roles in television and movies as himself, do the youtube thing, invite people into all access into his camp and start to become more regular on the boxing telecasts as he is doing.... there is a lot of things despite his fighting style that would cause people to wanna see him.

Dribble. Rigo has a far better skill set, as does Floyd.

[powerpuncher]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

He is one of the best to ever grace the sport, even at this stage. What has to happen is that he needs better promotions to make himself more attractive. Sure, he isn't exciting- i.e., doesn't get hit a lot, doesn't throw 5 punch combo's every 10 seconds and also doesn't talk a lot of crap, but he can be sold as what he is: A class act that is virtually unbeatable.

What he needs to do, and HBO needs to spend some money on this, is give him access to the mainstream. Floyd forced himself into mainstream and he doesn't even have any endorsement deals- Nike, Fila, etc...

Andre needs to go on the day time talk shows, night time talk shows, guest appear in roles in television and movies as himself, do the youtube thing, invite people into all access into his camp and start to become more regular on the boxing telecasts as he is doing.... there is a lot of things despite his fighting style that would cause people to wanna see him.

Dribble. Rigo has a far better skill set, as does Floyd.

not true. rigo is good but hasnt at all proven to be on wards level yet.

[Silkeyjoe]

ward is the one person that i cannot understand the hate against. he is a class act, an awesome fighter, and has fought the best. personally, i love watching him fight. the rodriguez fight was great. if you didnt like that fight then i question your motives. i would assume that you choose to dislike ward fights. he isnt like rigo to where he just stays on the outside and jabs and the opponent does nothing. ward lands shots and throws power shots. he is a master boxer. he is potentially better than mayweather but mayweather is still #1 p4p because of legacy and he still hasnt lost or come close to it. ward hasnt had a close fight against any top fighter he has faced yet people still want to complain about him.

He is one of the best to ever grace the sport, even at this stage. What has to happen is that he needs better promotions to make himself more attractive. Sure, he isn't exciting- i.e., doesn't get hit a lot, doesn't throw 5 punch combo's every 10 seconds and also doesn't talk a lot of crap, but he can be sold as what he is: A class act that is virtually unbeatable.

What he needs to do, and HBO needs to spend some money on this, is give him access to the mainstream. Floyd forced himself into mainstream and he doesn't even have any endorsement deals- Nike, Fila, etc...

Andre needs to go on the day time talk shows, night time talk shows, guest appear in roles in television and movies as himself, do the youtube thing, invite people into all access into his camp and start to become more regular on the boxing telecasts as he is doing.... there is a lot of things despite his fighting style that would cause people to wanna see him.

Dribble. Rigo has a far better skill set, as does Floyd.

not true. rigo is good but hasnt at all proven to be on wards level yet.

How? You dont think at their weight Donaire is as good if not better then Froch and Kesseler?

[porkypara]

Am I the only one who likes watching Ward fight?

[Silkeyjoe]

Am I the only one who likes watching Ward fight?

His last few fights have been decent and the Froch fight was ok. But I like Rigo and Floyd fights too so what do I know

[FinitoElDinamita]

Am I the only one who likes watching Ward fight?

You are one of the very few, yea..

It's like saying badminton excites the hell out of someone but there might be few more who agrees.. just a few

Ward bores me more than Hopkins.. At least a young Hopkins was an animal..

Ward clinches, smothers, punches in the clinch... repeat.. he's a combination of John Ruiz, Hatton and Hops..

There is no smoothness or fluidity in his game yet he's being regarded as some P4P great.. smh he's no Ray Leonard, he aint no muthafuckin Gerald McCellan..

Floyd and Rigo are way more skilled than him..