Ward asked for all 3 of his fights to be in his hometown?

[Allucard]

Yes, all of his fights will be in his backyard.

If he's fighting other americans next why would he travel? When is he fighting froch?

[Hitman932]

Yeah Its true. why else would kessler travel to wards hometown when he was the champion?

I don't think all 3 of Ward's fights are in his hometown.

They are all in America, I thought all the fuss was because he was the only guy who wouldn't have to cross the ocean?

It's not really Ward's fault as he likely would have been forced travel had DiBella and Taylor decided they would rather travel twice to make more money.

When Ward and Dirrell meet in the 3rd round the fight will likely land in New York, Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Not Oakland.

I also haven't seen any confirmation that Taylor-Ward will be in Oakland, obviously it will be in the States in which case any location besides Oakland is advantage Taylor.

[dstew]

I'm betting Ward would fight wherever he was told to, but it seems his promoter is insistent on him staying in the US and as close to the Bay area as possible.

It sounds like the Taylor fight will be in Oakland, but mainly because that is where the most money can be made. Taylor's fanbase in Little Rock isn't so great right now with him having dropped almost completely off the local radar after having lost 4 of his last 5 fights. And Oakland is loving Ward at the moment. It seems Taylor has instructed Lou Dibella to do whatever it takes to make his paychecks as big as possible, even if it means travel, so it wouldn't surprise me to see this fight where it can sell the most tickets... which is Oakland.

[Crazylegs77]

Is this true?

yes so the refs can accuse his opponents of the holding.

[mushahadeen]

How could Ward do this!??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM OMG OMG WHY WOULDN'T WARD WANT TO FIGHT IN ENGLAND IN FRONT OF CORRUPT RACIST UK JUDGES? OMG OMG.

[Pullcounter]

Is this true?

i don't think ward would've been in the tourny without the hometown advantage...

[S A M U R A I]

Forgot about this thread.

Right... cheers for the replies. I read somewhere on here that Ward asked for the fights to be in his backyard and wondered about that. Seems a little odd.



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[shadeyfizzle]

On the bright side....there were over 10,000 fans in attendance at oracle arena for the ward-kessler fight.

[The Hammer]

Is this true?

Yes. It's discussed here:

[-Antonio-]

Oh well, I'm glad. Andre Ward is an uprising talent. Oakland has a great fan base. How many American fighters can sell out arenas? I bet you Andre Ward's next fight has a big crowd. If he keeps winning he'll only get bigger.