By Allan Fox: HBO is going to let Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) take a tune-up fight for his first fight of his three-fight contract with them against 38-year-old #5 WBC 168lb contender Alexandre Brand (24-1, 19 KOs) in a fight that will be taking place in the light heavyweight division.
Why does Ward need another tune-up fight when he recently had one against Paul Smith last June? It doesn’t make much sense for HBO Boxing to be accommodating Ward by letting him have another tune-up fight by him facing a super middleweight at light heavyweight.
Ward should be trying to get used to fighting 175lb fighters because he’s moving up to the light heavyweight division and his third fight of his HBO contract is supposed to be against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. For that reason, it doesn’t make sense for Ward to be fighting another super middleweight at light heavyweight.
HBO could have played hardball by saying that they don’t believe in tune-up fights. I don’t think there would have been too many disappointed fans if they had said that to Ward, because the fans want to see quality fights, not tune-ups on HBO. The Ward-Brand fight is already seen as a mismatch by a lot of boxing fans, and this is going to be the co-feature bout on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto card on HBO PPV.
We don’t know yet who Ward’s second fight of his three fight contract with HBO will be. But if it’s another tune-up fight done to help Ward get the rust out or help him acclimate to the light heavyweight division, then I’d say that HBO isn’t getting a good deal with their three-fight contract.
We saw Floyd Mayweather Jr. face two good fighters in his six-fight contract with Showtime/CBS recently. He had two good fights against Canelo and Manny Pacquiao. The other fights were mismatches against Marcos Maidana [x 2], Robert Guerrero and Andre Berto. I don’t think Showtime got good value for their money, because if they had insisted on being in control of the picking of all of the opponents, we have seen Mayweather fighting Gennady Golovkin, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Tim Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and Jermall Charlo. Those would have all been good fights.
I don’t see how Ward needs to be taking tune-ups as part of his three-fight contract with HBO, because it’s really not needed. If Ward is going to be facing super middleweights in his tune-ups, then how is that seen as a tune-up fight to get him ready for a light heavyweight? It doesn’t make sense. It just looks like Ward is taking a soft opponent in a milking fight rather than someone who will ultimately help him get ready for Kovalev.
Ward has a nice contract with Roc Nation Sports, and this obviously makes it easier to take a tune-up fight than it would if Ward was getting very little money. He would then likely feel pressure to face quality guys each time out rather than spending the last half of 2015 fighting tune-ups in Brand and Paul Smith.
With Ward’s experience, he shouldn’t need a tune-up fight. He should be able to fight the best right now just based on the sparring he gets during his training camp.
It would be a pity if HBO lets Ward have two tune-ups in his three-fight contract with only the Kovalev fight being the only good one of the bunch. I’m hoping that’s not going to be the case, but I’m starting to wonder though because Ward will be facing his second tune-up fight on November 21st. I don’t think he needs another tune-up, especially with it being on HBO PPV rather than something like ESPN where it’s free.
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