Forgetting About Dre

It sure does feel that when looking back at the career of Andre Ward it could very well start off with "Once Upon a Time." The former Olympian and current WBC Super Middleweight champion's rise through the sport was nothing but sensational as Ward unexpectedly tore through the best of the 168 pound division with almost no resistance to become the main man.

He reinforced his skill, and even showed a bit of promotional muscle by convincing then Light Heavyweight champion Chad Dawson to move down in weight to receive a beating that he very well may never recover from. One would figure that Ward would have a big bullseye on his back and that many formidable foes would come his way and that his talent would propel him to superstardom.

Ward instead turned his attention to escape the clutches of his promoter Dan Goossen, who he's been affiliated with his entire career. Through the past 10 months, Ward has failed to convince the California commission to void the agreement with Goossen two separate times and even after the latest setback, there is still no urgency for Ward to continue his fighting inside the ring, rather the ones outside of it.

The most glaring issue with Ward, and the main reason his career is stalling out, is a sense of elitism and arrogance that hides beneath the good natured person he is. When questioned about having difficulty finding fights and presented with the option of moving up to Light Heavyweight, Ward said there was no reason because he was the 168 pound champion. Surely fights with Bernard Hopkins, Adonis Stevenson or Sergei Kovalev would be more financially advantageous than fights with Edwin Rodriguez, wouldn't they?

Instead of potentially talking up the chances of fighting red-hot Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who is becoming a much bigger deal than Ward as HBO is investing heavily in him, his responses have been tepid at best. As a matter of fact, the only fighter that Ward has tried to publicly draw out has been the long retired Joe Calzaghe. Not to mention that Ward lobbied hard for HBO to match him up with the likes of ho-hum fighters such as Caleb Truax and Dmitri Sartison before having to settle with beating up Rodridguez last fall.

As he tries to bite off the hand that feeds him, he's been watching his conquered foes find themselves in one monetary opportunity over another. Carl Froch destroyed Lucian Bute, avenged a loss to Mikkel Kessler and have had two very big fights with fellow countryman George Groves all after Ward soundly outpointed him in the finals of the Super Six. Froch-Groves II will take place in an 80,000 seat stadium, which is probably more seats than Ward will ever fill at this rate, and Ward dismissed the magnitude of the fight saying it was a "domestic fight."

The problem with this "domestic fight" is that the winner presents a big money fight for anyone daring to try between 160 and 175 pounds, far bigger than Ward. Golovkin, who is well known in Europe would have no problem facing off against the winner, and a UK vs. Mexico showdown in Las Vegas pitting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr against either man is a fight that would hemorrhage money. Along with his resistance to moving up in weight to make the bigger fights, Ward has shown an unwillingness to pursue a fight overseas in lieu of the fact that he is competing in a division with a heavy European presence.

Ward is the best, but his continued state of non-existence is costing his marketability and will undoubtably present him with unattractive matches that will continue to hammer the point that he is wasting the prime years of his career. It's not too late for Ward to get in the mix for the big fights he feels he deserves but at this rate he's becoming more of a boogeyman than a blockbuster, and in boxing, nobody wants to fight a boogeyman.