Earlier this week, soon to be light heavyweight contender Andre Ward (28-0, 15KOs) officially withdrew from a scheduled slot as the co-featured attraction to the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul Alvarez HBO Pay-Per-View undercard. Ward suffered a knee injury during training camp.
Ward is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, but his inactivity is killing his momentum. He last fought June, where he stopped overmatched Paul Smith - and it was Ward's first bout since the fall of 2013.
His return has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2016.
When Ward announce his withdrawal from the Cotto-Canelo PPV - there was a lot of disappointment from some, but there were also a lot of fans and media critics who applauded his removal.
Ward is annoyed with the double standards that exist in boxing. He says a lot of pressure was placed on him, by fans and critics, to make a move in weight from 168 to 175 - but they won't place the same pressure on other fighters to move up - like Gennady "GGG" Golovkin.
“Those same [people] saying no one wants to see me fight, these are the same people who said I wouldn’t be a good pro or that I wasn’t the guy they thought I was the first time I got knocked down, who didn’t give me a shot in the ‘Super Six.’ It’s the same stuff, regurgitated,” Ward said to the Los Angeles Times.
“Everybody wants me to fight somebody who they deem as a threat. But look at my track record. I’ve fought the best competition that was out there. Edwin Rodriguez [in 2013] was the No. 1 contender. So then the critics say, ‘Well, he’s cleaned out the division, he needs to move up.’ But they won’t put that pressure on this guy or that guy ... because that’s their pick, the guy they want to succeed.”
Ward is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, but his inactivity is killing his momentum. He last fought June, where he stopped overmatched Paul Smith - and it was Ward's first bout since the fall of 2013.
His return has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2016.
When Ward announce his withdrawal from the Cotto-Canelo PPV - there was a lot of disappointment from some, but there were also a lot of fans and media critics who applauded his removal.
Ward is annoyed with the double standards that exist in boxing. He says a lot of pressure was placed on him, by fans and critics, to make a move in weight from 168 to 175 - but they won't place the same pressure on other fighters to move up - like Gennady "GGG" Golovkin.
“Those same [people] saying no one wants to see me fight, these are the same people who said I wouldn’t be a good pro or that I wasn’t the guy they thought I was the first time I got knocked down, who didn’t give me a shot in the ‘Super Six.’ It’s the same stuff, regurgitated,” Ward said to the Los Angeles Times.
“Everybody wants me to fight somebody who they deem as a threat. But look at my track record. I’ve fought the best competition that was out there. Edwin Rodriguez [in 2013] was the No. 1 contender. So then the critics say, ‘Well, he’s cleaned out the division, he needs to move up.’ But they won’t put that pressure on this guy or that guy ... because that’s their pick, the guy they want to succeed.”
... I could have sworn he said he wanted to move up after that, I'm guessing 5 years would be enough of a time frame.
nikkas blaming Floyd/Manny, bringing up t shirt sale and shyt 
