Agreed, if he was confident on his inside skills he wouldn't need to hold/maul. One thing I found astonishing from watching previous Ward fights was his tendency to put his head down like a rhino, grab his opponent, immobilising his arms and plough him back into the ropes, then take a half step back and land a flurry while the guy is sorting his guard out. I thought there was no chance he would be able to do that to Froch but he did, repeatedly. It's a disgrace that this is allowed, he is basically holding and charging the other guy across the ring like a bulldozer without punching, it is a foul pure and simple.King Geedorah wrote:He isn’t that good on the inside. He landed some short left hooks whilst leaning or stepping away but in general Smoger would tell both men to work away as their arms were free only for them to instigate a maul. Guys who are genuinely skilled on the inside can punch with both hands and put out combinations, Andre didn’t do this because he doesn’t have that ability and was made to look like he does by Carl’s ineptitude when close.arlovski wrote:Just watching a few rounds again, he was very very good on the inside! His 'mauling' was educated i thought and perfect against a rangy, physically strong opponent like Carl -
he controlled Froch's arms, created space to throw his own shots, tucked up and stayed in the pocket hitting Carl with loads of short hooks and uppercuts, and HE decided when to break the clinch. Masterclass
Ali often ‘controlled’ his opponent’s arms on the inside by grabbing it but that doesn’t equate to being able to fight there.
I don't get why Froch waited till the last round to flip Ward around when he did this, or lean on Ward when he was planning to charge. Let the ref say something and Froch could easily have made him see it was Andre instigating that crap.
D