The “It” Factor
Whatever you thought about Saturday nights Fights at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California I think one point was made perfectly clear. Heavyweight Chris Arreola has the intangible “it” factor that will have the fans coming back for more and Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward does not.
Case in point: the crowd of 5,000 was clearly rooting for Arthur Abraham when the fighters were announced. Ward himself admitted it sounded like a 70/30 split in favor of Abraham. As the fight wore on it became clear that the Abraham fans were jumping off the bandwagon but it was also just as clear that none of them were hitching their trailer onto the Oakland bound Ward train.
Arreola on the other hand heard loud cheers before, during and after his dismantling of Nagy Aguilera. If you listen you probably can still hear those fans cheering just as loudly now.
Arreola has captured the hearts and imaginations of boxings fickle fans and they are sure to follow him wherever he goes. That can not be said for Ward and although he may end up winning the Super Six tournament he will have trouble garnering the same fan support.
At the post fight interview Arthur Abraham said he made a change in his game-plan around the 3rd round and it was a tactical error in judgement that cost him the fight. When pressed to explain the error Abraham said he decided he could not win a decision in Ward’s home so he decided just to go for the knockout.
Not sure how King Arthur came up with that idea when he did though. He was doing well through the first 3 rounds and the scorecards were close. This was an egregious error on his part and no one in the Abraham camp seemed very pleased with his flying by the seat of his pants tactical error.
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why do you guys hate ward so much??? the guy is talented and is willing to fight his opponents fight. i’m not a fan of him but the guy can fight. i know everyone is on the bute bandwagon and i think ward/bute would be a classic. i would give bute a close split decision
In both my report and blog I give Ward his credit for making it to the finals so I don’t think you can say I am “hating” on him.
Why do you come in here questioning our opinion on Ward and then pretty much echo our thoughts by picking Bute to beat him?
I think one of the reason that Arreloa has the fan support is because he is a Mexican fighter. Mexican fans support there fighters very strongly. I am a white boxing fan and I can see that mexican fans support mexican fighters unless they give less then 100% and even when they don’t sometimes like Arreloa not giving it his all in training. Now with Arreloa training hard and coming in in better shape he is sure to add to his fan base and the ones that were always here will be even bigger fans. Also Ward style just doesn’t make for great fights similiar to Tim Bradley both very talented fighter but rarley do you come away with a wow factor after watching there fights.
I was at the fight and there were a lot of Armenian fans rooting for Abraham, but for sure there were more Ward fans… I’m not a big Ward or Abraham fan… but how could’ve Ward impressed any one when all Abraham did was block the entire fight. Poor professianal performance on Abraham’s part. Now put Ward in the ring with Shawn Estrada and you’ll get a real fight….too bad the fight game isn’t like that though….let the promoters leech off there winnings some more before they ever step in the ring together.
I know Shawn kind of just started, but he’s an Olympian as is Ward. I’m tired of seeing him demolish lesser opponents too….needs to be tested.
As for Arreola…I give him props for doing what he SHOULD do to his LESSER opponents with LOSING records. Nagy was 16-5 and all the guys he’s fought had losing records too. I want to see him really tested again…actually I want to see him diet better and lose weight to fight at a lower weight class…where I think he has a better chance of fighting and beating elite fighters….Only a crowd favorite for Latin fans, becasue there are no good Latino heavy weights out there right now….They’re all trying to hump each other in MMA and get knocked out with lucky punches.
For sure both the promoter Goossen & Ward said after the fight that there were more rooting for Abraham than Ward,Andre himself said it was about a 70% advantage to Abe.
Yes, it is time to step up the competition for Estrada but you don’t go from D fighters to A fighters overnight.
Arreola just dropped over 30 pounds and you want him to lose more?? I believe was the second lowest weight he has ever come at and he looked good…very good. What do you want Jesse? How about we just staple his stomach for you, would that help?
I am firmly confident that if Chris can keep the focus he has now it won’t be long before we see him fighting for a title again.
Yes a fighter can go from D to A overnight…. their promoters are just scared to put them in with A fighters. A fighters spar all the time together… They just dodge challenging fights….This is a money game not a who’s better game.
As for Arreola check this out….past this link into your web address.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gos1_9V_Kb8
Don’t tell me this guy can’t lose more weight…it’s called laziness….
Don’t you watch biggest loser…. Plus he doesn’t work…he does have all day everyday to train…. no staples necessary….Never said Chris isn’t good…but he can be great if he trained harder to fight at a lower weight division.
A fighter can go from D to A overnight…. their promoters are just scared to put them in with A fighters. A fighters spar all the time together… They just dodge challenging fights….This is a money game not a who’s better game.
As for Arreola check this out….past this link into your web address.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gos1_9V_Kb8
Don’t tell me this guy can’t lose more weight…it’s called laziness….
Don’t you watch biggest loser…. Plus he doesn’t work…he does have all day everyday to train…. no staples necessary….Never said Chris isn’t good…but he can be great if he trained harder to fight at a lower weight division.
No…I don’t watch Biggest Loser :/
whatever will you guys are to andre ward as fox news is to president obama.
You mean “Fair & Balanced” ?
I could not agree with you more….thanks for the compliment!
lol you’re welcome