Video: Showtime Sports Recap of Ward vs Abraham

Does Ward have star ability? I think he’s well-spoken, charismatic, and eventually, will gain fans if he keeps on winning, because people love a winner.

I vote no. Boxing stars of the past two decades tend to be:
A.) Knockout artists, or at least willing to war (Pacquaio)
B.) Guys with a clear fanbase within their particular ethnic/national group, or
C.) Obnoxious loud mouth assholes (Mayweather fits in this category)

I personally love Ward. But I could never sell Ward to friends of mine who are not hardcore boxing fans. He strikes me as a humble guy who works hard in his craft, and because of his moral/ethical/religious beliefs he doesn’t talk trash, or feel the need to attract attention to himself. Which is great, as far as I’m concerned. It just doesn’t sell…

I would argue that most people who call Ward boring will never like someone who employs a good amount of the sweet science like a Mayweather. They are the people who are spoiled by all-action fighters like Pac, older Margo, JMM, Rios, Ricky Hatton, and Antillion. The type of fighter that has no defense, and just comes forward with a ton of offense hoping that the other guy can’t deal with it. Then there is the guy that picks apart your defense like Mayweather. It’s beautiful to some, boring to others who just want to see tons of punches and don’t care for feints and traps. Is Ward a star? Hells yes. Will he ever be a superstar? Probably not (he would need to develop some more power).

I think the point is he’ll probably never be a crossover star. He is the kind of guy who doesn’t need “something,” (other than his sometimes lackluster killer instinct.) He needs “someone.” He needs to build a rivalry of some kind with someone (preferably from overseas) and then he can build up some steam off of that, to make up for the lack of a solid fanbase here – and in one of the less popular divisions in the U.S. I think there are still a great deal of fans here who think of 18 as an unecessary weight class and a belt factory.

Also, there is the obvious point that while he can do a lot in a boxing ring, everyone likes a good finisher. I saw a bit of the Ward that fought Sugar Poo last night: yes he outclassed Abraham widely, but he also let him off the hook continually. There was never really a moment when I thought Ward was definitely trying to finish him off. It doesn’t make him a bad fighter: he is a very good, smart fighter. But it won’t win him over many new fans.

If I wasn’t from the Bay Area I probably wouldn’t be a huge fan. And Scott you’re right, the only ppl from Oakland who care about Ward are Oakland boxing fans, not the community at large. Since I’m a boxing fan and have followed Andre’s career while he was still an amateur I definitely am a big fan. I was even going to fly down for the fight but unfortunately had an obligation in Seattle the same day that I had to travel for instead. Yes, Andre is intelligent, charismatic, and a winner. But his nickname is also “Son of God” and without either knockout power or an all action style I don’t think he’ll ever approach superstardom. But that’s ok, there’s room for all types of fighters in the sweet science and he’s gonna keep being who he is. No more, no less.

I also wamt to add that I actually think Steve Kim (whose opinion I usually respect) overreacted on Twitter. The fight wasn’t a FOY candidate but I thought the pace and action wasn’t as dreadful as he’sade it out to be. Then again the atmosphere live might have influenced his reaction. I think part of the blame goes to Andre too though. He kept talking about how he was going to try for the KO. Whenever fighters say this (promoting a figjt or not) the expectation from fans is that they better do it or at least LOOK like they’re trying. I think Ward truly wants to be more crowd pleasing but he should probably wait until he starts doing it before he talks about it as much as he’s been doing.