The End Of An Era.....

[Taansend]

Of boring brilliance.

Wards retirement has closed the book on an era of four Hall of Fame fighters who I really didn't enjoy watching.

Great fighters. I have nothing against them as people but they represented an ugly (from a spectators point of view) face of the sport.

Floyd Mayweather
Bernard Hopkins
Wladimir Klitschko
Andre Ward

I was fans of all four of them earlier on in their careers but by the latter stages would just think to myself "F*ck off"

Wlad went out with a bang against AJ so fair enough but the ten years before that.....

Mayweather was brilliant but his style from 2008ish was horrible. Brilliant but horrible.

Hopkins. I did pick him to beat Pavlik and everyone at work thought I was crazy. After that they thought I was a boxing god But I hated watching him. I was at one of his fights and just knew he was looking for a DQ win from the off.

Ward. Any bloke named after a room in a hospital needs to be avoided like the plague.

I am very glad they are all retired.

[Stuarty]

Good post. I've enjoyed a handful of fights from Hopkins, Mayweather and Wlad but on the whole they've been a bore! I can't think of any Ward fights I've really enjoyed! Dawson maybe but Chad was made to cut weight in that one and it was dull early on.

[Boxerbeetle]

Mayweather was fantastic to watch early on in his career. Wlad was pretty entertaining too until he got ktfo. And I actually don't mind watching Ward, never have done.

Hopkins was terrible to watch for much of his career though, I don't really remember ever enjoying watching him apart from the Pavlik fight.

[gilgamesh]

I enjoyed the careers of Mayweather, Wlad and Hopkins. Never liked Ward.

[dirk2686]

Ward has had such a strange career. Was beating elite level super middleweights without losing a round, then just vanished for a few years, before two odd fights with Kovalev who was, in fairness, seen as an absolute beast and Ward has two wins over him.

I know he overrates himself but I'm slightly surprised he didn't fancy a crack at Bellew for WBC cruiser. I don't think Ward had many money options in the States but that was winnable and would do a stadium over here. World P$P number one contender fighting Bellew may seem odd but christ, look at some of his fights of late.

[Taansend]

I enjoyed the careers of Mayweather, Wlad and Hopkins. Never liked Ward.

I loved Mayweather up until Welter.

I can understand why he chose his later style but I just hated watching his fights.

To me it was as if Usain Bolt decided to trip other sprinters instead of running fast. Just so boringly negative.

Again I get why he did this. I just didn't enjoy watching it.

[gilgamesh]

I enjoyed the careers of Mayweather, Wlad and Hopkins. Never liked Ward.

I loved Mayweather up until Welter.

I can understand why he chose his later style but I just hated watching his fights.

To me it was as if Usain Bolt decided to trip other sprinters instead of running fast. Just so boringly negative.

Again I get why he did this. I just didn't enjoy watching it.

He probably had to fight like that as he was getting older. You can't always be a spectacular force in the ring as you age, sometimes you have to fight smarter not harder. Hell that goes for other professions as well for that matter.

[Taansend]

I enjoyed the careers of Mayweather, Wlad and Hopkins. Never liked Ward.

I loved Mayweather up until Welter.

I can understand why he chose his later style but I just hated watching his fights.

To me it was as if Usain Bolt decided to trip other sprinters instead of running fast. Just so boringly negative.

Again I get why he did this. I just didn't enjoy watching it.

He probably had to fight like that as he was getting older. You can't always be a spectacular force in the ring as you age, sometimes you have to fight smarter not harder. Hell that goes for other professions as well for that matter.

I get it. Completely understand. Fighting bigger, younger men. He did what he had to do to bee successful.

Just didn't enjoy watching it. Having the biggest name in the sport fight so negatively hurt the game in my humble opinion. I know so many people tune in to some of his fights because of the hype only to be turned off of boxing because of the way he fought. It was like watching my cats play with each other. For $60

[boxingknockout]

Hardly an era..... a very good but very boring and uncharismatic fighter. And who got gifted a decision against Kovalev the. Was allowed to cheat to a big win in the rematch. I'll not miss him. Can't stand fighters like him and Gayweather, who are defensive and rely on protection from ref and judges.

[rd350lc]

I think Wlad deserves a bit of credit for bringing it against Joshua .

Was a memorable heavyweight title fight .

[Taansend]

I think Wlad deserves a bit of credit for bringing it against Joshua .

Was a memorable heavyweight title fight .

Absolutely and I mentioned that in the opening post

[Taansend]

Hardly an era......

The four fighters I named were among the top of the game for over a decade.

That's the exact definition of an era

[TheLeprechaun]

Klitschko has a fraction of the talent that those lads have and shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence

[stujones]

I think Ward will be back - I think he is just trying to make it appealing.

A really strange career - could say we missed his prime years cos of inactivity. I still don't think he is a light heavy and think he can do Super Middle.

I think a little more the coincidence that he's announced his "retirement" when it looks like two of his most viable "Super Fights" opponents look to be tied up... GGG (in a rematch with Canelo) and Bellew (vs Haye)... it was apparently on a few weeks ago he was calling out Bellew.

[rd350lc]

I think Wlad deserves a bit of credit for bringing it against Joshua .

Was a memorable heavyweight title fight .

Absolutely and I mentioned that in the opening post

And I think it was an excellent opening post

Won't be too sorry myself to see the end of the negative spoiling etc , but I suppose some will see that as a skill in its right .

[Taansend]

Klitschko has a fraction of the talent that those lads have and shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence

So we can only talk about boxers within their own leagues as defined by you

They're mentioned together for the reasons I laid out in the first post. Try to keep up, mate.

[dr_devious]

A Stevenson fight would have been another big fight for Ward. Good riddance to him, he's ultra boring and dirty with it. Unfortunately I don't think we've seen the last of him.

[TheLeprechaun]

A Stevenson fight would have been another big fight for Ward. Good riddance to him, he's ultra boring and dirty with it. Unfortunately I don't think we've seen the last of him.

I wouldn't have minded seeing him school Bellew

[dr_devious]

I don't think I'd support Ward against anyone but he would have clowned Bellew

[stujones]

I can see what the original poster means - I would also add Rigo to the list, he aint gone yet.

[Crease]

Hopkins was terrible to watch for much of his career though, I don't really remember ever enjoying watching him apart from the Pavlik fight.

I have big respect for Hopkins, mainly ecause after becoming a World Middle Champ, he proactively set out to unify the belts. In the end, he was the first man to hold all four. And on top of that, he's the first man in 15 years to set his mind and actions to the task.

[Boxerbeetle]

Hopkins was terrible to watch for much of his career though, I don't really remember ever enjoying watching him apart from the Pavlik fight.

I have big respect for Hopkins, mainly ecause after becoming a World Middle Champ, he proactively set out to unify the belts. In the end, he was the first man to hold all four. And on top of that, he's the first man in 15 years to set his mind and actions to the task.

He was still awful to watch.

[Loynesy]

Nicely thought out topic. I was chatting to a couple of my hard core boxing buddies about Ward, and they pointed out, he's probably the only future Hall of Fame boxer ( or now current HOF) from the last 20 years that we didn't see live. Guess that must say something about my attitude towards him, even if not deliberate.

[Crease]

Mayweather was brilliant but his style from 2008ish was horrible. Brilliant but horrible.

I loved Mayweather up until Welter. I can understand why he chose his later style but I just hated watching his fights.

Agreed gents, though I was never a big fan of Mayweather.

I have found over the past 4/5 years that there is a fair amount of snobbery when it comes to Floyd and his nuthugging fans. If I say that I don't like his style of fighting (as I have done many times) people frown at me and criticize me that I "don't understand the complexity of what Floyd's doing" and that I "don't appreciate it his defensive mastery". And with this, that automatically means that others know far more about boxing than me.

Mayweather's fans are the most difficult to stick.

[davie]

Hopkins was terrible to watch for much of his career though, I don't really remember ever enjoying watching him apart from the Pavlik fight.

I have big respect for Hopkins, mainly ecause after becoming a World Middle Champ, he proactively set out to unify the belts. In the end, he was the first man to hold all four. And on top of that, he's the first man in 15 years to set his mind and actions to the task.

I think there's a lot to respect and admire from all 4 of these guys and what they achieved
But with every piece of praise comes a legitimate piece of criticism regarding how they achieved it
their fighting style, their dirty tactics what oponents they faced (or didn't face, when they faced them etc), the way they conducted themselves or the way the conducted their business