Beterbiev vs Smith

Whether Ward did retire to duck Beterbiev or not, I don't think it's something anyone can publicly come out and accuse him of doing, because if he did, it was so well done.

Kovalev had already had the vodka rumours going around at the time of the Ward fight and I'm sure he had the inside scoop. Kovalev seemed to have elite power and solid fundamentals though and Ward got in there with him so it's a strong argument. Kovalev was also pretty much the number 1, I think most thought he was better than Stevenson.

It's just a theory but perhaps a flawed one. It's just pretty good timing from Ward and nobody can ever reasonably accuse him of ducking Beterbiev because he can make the arguments you just made. Beterbiev definitely had a higher am pedigree and higher skilled than Kovalev and punched just as hard. Ward just may not have fancied the fight and having been set up financially from the Super 6 he might have thought it was better to retire on top and preserve his legacy than take the risk. Something Roy should have done after the Ruiz fight. I was watching a rerun of the British version of the Lewis Vitali fight and the pundits in the aftermath are pretty much saying Roy would beat Lewis so imagine if he retired at that time. Going back to Ward, maybe there werent many opportunities left at 175 and he wasn't exactly going to make great money fighting Beterbiev, Gvosdyk or Stevenson. I think he definitely would have fancied the Stevenson fight. Maybe if the Saudi money was on the table he might have stayed. Also, thinking back, Stevenson would have been the fight that people would have preferred to see. I'm not sure what Wards mandatory oligations were or the political side of things at the time.

 

Vodkavalev fights on the usyk Furry undercard