Against Jerson Ravelo this Friday on Shobox. Ravelo isn't a great opponent, but he's certainly the most serious one Ward's faced in his 15 fight career.
Ward has delayed his career so much that it's not even interesting to me. He could fight anybody at 168 lbs and i won't care
I feel the same way. Its sad really because he has alot of talent. he should be at least in title contention by now.
That's for sure. Escobedo and Maritirosyan haven't exactly stepped up yet, either. I guess Dirrell has stepped up somewhat.
It could be a lot worse, bro. Our Olympians either turn out to be gobby scrubs (Harrison) or they sign their career away to Werren (Khan). Either way, signs of development are sacres, to say the least... :shit:
We're not asking for much...just that after four years you're finally out of the prospect level! The average fan is expected to keep an eye out on a prospect who was in the 2004 olympics, yet there's a whole new crop of olympians that will turn pro in the fall.
I think Ward will win and look ok but I'm not really sold on him yet.. kinda copies Roy's style.. and that's not good.. I had a long discussion about this the other day about copying styes of Roy and the like.. but that's a whole different thread
Andre Dirrell has better speed and natural talent. Andre Ward has the better track record. Anthony Dirrell looked like his brother with better power, but he's been fighting the big C. The US 2004 olympians have all looked pretty decent, but they are definitely taking the slow road and no one has stepped up to grab anyone's imagination, yet. Maybe none of them will, but Vanes and a few others like Dirrell and Ward seemingly could.
I've always been a big advocate of ShoBox, but this card is kind of ass. People are selling Ward-Ravelo like it's a pick-'em, which only goes to show how overrated Jerson's always been. Hearns has no business being on the broadcast, at least against the guy they have him matched up against (forget his name, but 'nuff said)
You think it's because Ravelo's overrated or people just really have doubts about Ward? I think it's an alright fight for Shobox. I'll put it this way, I think it's better on Shobox than this weekend's HBO card is on BAD. That shouold be a Shobox card, IMO.
isnt hearns too old to be a prospect? i like ravelo, but he's just not very good. this is an espn worthy card.
Ravelo was a good young fighter that just hit a wall and didn't pan out. He's being rated based on the potential that he had as a young pro.
I like Andre after this fight he needs to fight a top 10 guy. We'll soon find out if he has any heart and chin.
I know, I just think some people think Ward may end up like him. He picked up a lot of skeptics after the Kenny Kost fight. I do think he's improved a little bit by going up in weight, and perhaps he weakened himself at the lower weight. Still, his right hand has little power in it and I don't like his technique when he throws it. He's almost a purely left handed fighter, though that hand is about as good as his right is bad. His defense and ring intelligence appear top notch, so I'm very interested to see how he looks on Friday, because his opponents up til now have been pretty bad.
Well Ravelo lost when he stepped it up and had inactivity and injuries to deal with in his career. Ward has no excuses. He should be a contender by now. EDIT: Plus, Ward has hundreds of amateur fights and hasn't lost since the age of 12. If you ask me, the fact that he hasn't faced better opposition is why he hasn't gotten any better. Nobody's supposed to fight like RJ. Ward never fought like RJ...his style was like Mosley's, but he wasn't flat-footed. Put a guy with Ward's natural ability in the ring with molasses, and he wont fight in the finely tuned manner that he's supposed to be.
N REED's Case, he has SERIOUS Questions about Ward's CHIN...The Cat was HURT &/or DROPPED by PUTRID Opposition...The Kind of Guys U PAD your Early Record w/were DROPPING Ward... But the Cantrell Fight was a SLIGHT Upgrade N Comp...Rubin Williams was Another... Ravelo Certainly HASN'T Justified the Hype he's Got, but he SHOULD Test Ward's Chin, Eventually...Even N LOSING to Allan Green & David Lopez, Ravelo TESTED Them Prior to CRUMBLING... If NATHAN Else, Ravelo CAN Punch a Little & his Opponents "Feel" him @ Some Point... REED would Give Ravelo a 30% Chance of WINNING, Personally...Based ENTIRELY on Ward's SUSPECT, POINTY, MALNOURISHED Looking Whiskers... REED:hammert:
Ward looked pretty good. He's still a few fights away from being ready for the big boys at 168 though.
He's a poverty stricken, homeless man's RJ. He'll never be a fraction of the fighter Jones was, he probably wont even ever be "the man" at 168, but I can see winning a title in the future, if he's matched right.
It runs in the family, Micky never had the ability to absorb skills into his brain, his head was too bone dense and that's the way Andre will have to operate,to 'think' about how to box, while being snapped back in to reality with a good pause of a blow, a...Fred Savage special when it comes to implimenting knowledge through his knuckle edges.
Well, if nothing else, BAD has basically become the new ShoBox. In fact, ShoBox' next card (Torres-Holt II) and last month's (Bradley-Witter) is almost starting to resemble B.A.D.'s old template. But I disagree with you in the quality of fights this weekend. Witherspoon-Arreola should be better than Ward-Ravelo - in reality, and already so on paper. Berto-Rodriguez is a typical Al Haymon influenced HBO-entry. But honestly, Ravelo lived down to my expectations last night. Like Arben said, the industry still milks Ravelo's name based off of his bodybuilder physique and potential he had FIVE YEARS AGO... last night should make that go away once and for all, though he'll once again surface as a glorified opponent, I'm sure. "Former 2000 Olympian, once a highly touted prospect..." blah blah blah.
Guerrero-Litzau was a pretty good main event for Shobox, as well. I think they might've been special circumstances though. They didn't have a show the first week in May to avoid competing with DLH, and fourth of July weekend is usually a slow weekend for the sport.
