Andre Ward says Froch disappeared during fight discussions

By Boxing News - 06/19/2015 - Comments

ward44444(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos) By Scott Gilfoid: Andre Ward (27-1, 14 KOs) says the only reason why he chose to fight Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) this Saturday is because Carl Froch disappeared after they briefly started negotiations. Froch was the guy that Ward was hoping to fight next, not the 32-year-old Smith. But after Ward initially agreed to fight Froch in the UK, he was told that the fight would be taking place in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham in a 45,000 seat stadium.

That’s not where Ward was interested in fighting though. He was interested in facing Froch in the 80,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, and he felt that Froch was being disrespectful to the fans by choosing to put a fight as huge as theirs inside a smaller stadium.

“We were kind of forced to cross paths again [after the WBA ordered negotiations to take place between the two fighters], and then all of a sudden he [Froch] disappeared,” Ward said to Dailymail.co.uk.

I have a pretty good idea why Froch might have disappeared. It’s the same thing with Froch and Gennady Golovkin. He started up talk about wanting to fight Golovkin, and then when the Kazakhstan fighter showed interest, Froch disappeared and hasn’t been heard from since. I get the feeling that Froch didn’t fancy the job, because of the potential of him taking a knockout loss and ruining his legacy. I think Froch doesn’t want to retire off of a knockout loss, or any kind of loss like many fighters experience. I think he wants to retire off of his stoppage win over George Groves, even though Groves is totally unproven as a fighter and likely not going to achieve much in his career.

“He started to make these crazy mandates, where he wants me to come to Nottingham to a 45,000-seat arena,” Ward said. “That’s nothing against Nottingham, but if I come to the UK and risk everything coming over there, it’s going to be for the biggest prize and the biggest stadium, which is Wembley.”

I think the only reason why Nottingham was mentioned was because Froch wasn’t interested in the fight. What better way to turn Ward away then to tell him he has to fight him in Nottingham, the same place where Andre Dirrell lost a controversial decision in 2009 in a fight where he clearly out-boxed Froch for 12 rounds.

There’s no way that Ward would ever agree to fight Froch in a place like Nottingham, not after what happed to Dirrell when he fought there. Besides that. The venue is only half the size of Wembley Stadium. I believe Froch chose the smaller venue because if the fight did take place after Ward agreed to it, Froch would only be seen losing by half the number of people that would see him losing if he were to fight at Wembley. I mean, if you’re going to get whipped in front of your own fans, wouldn’t you want to get beaten in a smaller stadium than a bigger one?

“I think Carl Froch should show a little bit more respect to all the fans in the UK – don’t just limit it to Nottingham – give all the fans a chance to come and support a fight of that magnitude,” Ward said.

Ward doesn’t seem to be getting the hint that Froch wants nothing to do with fighting him. By Froch giving him the message that the fight needs to take place in Nottingham, it kind of tells you right there that Froch isn’t interested in the fight. Ward just needs to move on and relish whipping Froch in 2011, and know that he didn’t feel motivated/confident enough to try and avenge the losses like other fighters.



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