Andre Ward goes on full blast mode for a change on social media and drops some home truths at the hype that often exists in boxing.
Boxing and bull crap often go hand and hand, after all, it’s the hype business isn’t? Well, professional boxing at the highest level that is.
Fighters need to sell tickets, promoters need to sell out arenas and get TV companies to be interested in the sport to make it a worthwhile exercise for the brave men and women looking to fight their ways to the top.
It’s not only an incredibly risky career path, but a very short one too.
But when does hype and social media go too far? At what point does it create a false illusion for a fighter that they might have achieved something when in fact they have not, at least just yet?
Andre Ward is a guy who’s literally done it all in the ring. Amateur and pro. Hands down. Unquestionably.
An Olympic Gold medallist and multi-weight world champion as a pro, never beaten in his professional tenure, he knows a thing or two it’s fair to say.
He’s retired from the sport now but even when he was active, he was never much a man for Twitter or press, or as some might refer to as nowadays as being “Insta famous.”
However, in a break from the norm, he’s gone on the front foot so to speak on social media. He’s dropped some genuinely insightful information no less:
You don’t know what you really have until you’ve faced the best in the sport over an extended period of time. Then stop look at your resume and go from there.
— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) December 4, 2017
Then when a guy doesn’t perform or do what they boasted they would do before the fight…they start the blame game. It’s everybody’s fault but theirs. That’s weak. You won’t grow like that.
— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) December 4, 2017
You don’t have to announce “your coming” just come. You don’t have to announce “I’m Next” just be next. You don’t have to scream “give me my respect” you have to earn that.
— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) December 4, 2017
Social media, entourages, media hype can give you a false sense of security. Causing you to believe you’ve made it, before you’ve actually done anything. Sad but true.
— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) December 4, 2017