Can Andre Ward follow Roy Jones, James Toney up to heavyweight?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Can Andre Ward make it as a heavyweight? After his close, controversial but at times very impressive win/performance over Sergey Kovalev, Ward, the new light-heavyweight king, briefly spoke about how he might – might – be tempted to take a fight at heavyweight one day. Ward hasn’t lost it completely, as he carefully inserted the caveat that the fight would have to be “the right fight.”

In other words, Ward, at 6’0,” would not tackle a giant like a Tyson Fury, an Anthony Joshua or a Deontay Wilder. But Ward said, as quoted by Metro, that he does feel as though he might have “a Roy Jones type of situation [in me] before my career is over.” Ward is of course referring to Jones’ fantastic win over John Ruiz back in 2003, the decision win bagging the former middleweight ruler a heavyweight belt. Ruiz was a smallish heavyweight, but the problem Ward faces is, there are no smallish heavies currently holding belts.

Maybe, as he suggested, Ward will find the right fight one day. Ward is taller than Jones, who stands 5’11,” and “S.O.G” is also taller than James Toney – who, although he never won a major belt as a heavyweight, did pick up hugely impressive results in fights with the likes of Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman – and Ward’s skill level is arguably equal to that of these two one-time stars who scaled the heavyweight mountain.

But Ward has plenty of unfinished business to attend to with Kovalev before he can think about packing on a further 20 or so pounds and then invading the heavyweight division. Fans both want and deserve a rematch of Saturday’s fight – one that promises to keep people talking for quite some time.

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Interesting question.

He definitely has to pick the right opponent, but like you have said, all the belt holders are big or huge & Ward would get splattered & battered by them.

He could maybe hope that David Haye can bag a title & try & go after him maybe, but even David Haye would be an extremely dangerous proposition because he punches so hard & is quick, even if not quite as quick as 5 years ago.

Ward might have to keep a lid on his ambitions right now.

[Ron C]

If he does it he'd probably have to stay there or go to cruiser afterwards. From 175 all the way to Heavy then back down to 175 I think is too much. I'm still convinced that's what caused Roy Jone's downfall. Going all the way up then back down way too fast. Chris Byrd's drop from HW to LHW was disasterous as well. I'd love to see Ward have a go at HW as long as he realizes his days fighting at anything under 200 are over

[GPTM1403]

Simply can't see how if Ward can't conclusively beat Kovalev he is going to move up several stone against much bigger guys. He might beat some of the slower, older, smaller heavies who aren't going to get a real title anytime soon but not a genuine one. Which is why by the way so many of us treat RJJ's win over Ruiz as a novelty item not a real heavyweight title, he beat a guy who shouldn't have ever been champion in the first place.

Also the idea he'd have a shot against Haye is genuinely funny - people on here have a serious issue of underrating David Haye. He is one of the few heavyweights around with the hand speed of a lighter man but the punch of a seriously big heavy. Put him in with a guy near his own height, or smaller like Ward and he is far more likely than not to paste them onto the canvas. The level needed for Ward to be in with a shot is way below that of Haye.

[gilgamesh]

There's certainly guys at Heavyweight he could outbox, but somebody is gonna knock him out if he fights the most dangerous guys the division has to offer.

[ValMar]

Best wishes ! Against Joshua or Ortiz ten judges wouldn't be enough !

[jamesmcdonnell]

Not a chance. Jones was much quicker than Ward, and carried far more of a dig at LH.,

[GPTM1403]

Not a chance. Jones was much quicker than Ward, and carried far more of a dig at LH.,

[Cyclops]

We want our rematch. Let's see if he can actually beat Kovalev convincingly before talking about cherry picking somebody crap who has lucked their way into a belt a heavy. He has no hope at HW anyway: so much of his game is dependent on clinching and he just will not be strong enough to do that against the big lads.

[Blodhemn]

We want our rematch. Let's see if he can actually beat Kovalev convincingly before talking about cherry picking somebody crap who has lucked their way into a belt a heavy. He has no hope at HW anyway: so much of his game is dependent on clinching and he just will not be strong enough to do that against the big lads.

X2

[ValMar]

Usyk would destroy Ward at CW. I'm not a very religious person, but I'll pray God Almighty for this match.

[Keko]

He is a superior boxer at 168 and 175 but everything else would be too.

[ElJefe]

I don't think there are really any viable options for Ward at HW. All of the title contenders are absolute giants in comparison. Guys like Jennings and Ruiz would probably be beatable. Maybe Stiverne as he's only a little bit taller and a bit of a plodder. But any aspirations of winning a belt are unrealistic imo.

Not a chance. Jones was much quicker than Ward, and carried far more of a dig at LH.,

This. Also, even though there are very few heavyweights adept at fighting on the inside, I'm not sure Ward's clinch game is as transferable to fighting bigger men (as seen against Kovalev) as Roy's incredible reflexes and ability to stay out of range.

[BitPlayer]

He clearly struggled against Kovalev's power. I doubt he could take the power of any top heavyweight.

[BitPlayer]

I don't think there are really any viable options for Ward at HW. All of the title contenders are absolute giants in comparison. Guys like Jennings and Ruiz would probably be beatable. Maybe Stiverne as he's only a little bit taller and a bit of a plodder. But any aspirations of winning a belt are unrealistic imo.

Not a chance. Jones was much quicker than Ward, and carried far more of a dig at LH.,

This. Also, even though there are very few heavyweights adept at fighting on the inside, I'm not sure Ward's clinch game is as transferable to fighting bigger men (as seen against Kovalev) as Roy's incredible reflexes and ability to stay out of range.

Yeah even with better skill, there's no way he could spend 12 rounds wrestling a man that much bigger than him. There's a point where brute force wins.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I imagine a rematch with Kovalev will be more one sided, Ward will avoid the early assault better, and will nullify Kovalev much more quickly.

It will be a very dull affair; however, LH is the limit for Ward, he doesn't hit with enough authority to keep bigger men than that off him, and he won't win wrestling matches with guys who are weighing well over 200 lbs on fight night.

[Tanzio]

I imagine a rematch with Kovalev will be more one sided, Ward will avoid the early assault better, and will nullify Kovalev much more quickly.

It will be a very dull affair; however, LH is the limit for Ward, he doesn't hit with enough authority to keep bigger men than that off him, and he won't win wrestling matches with guys who are weighing well over 200 lbs on fight night.

+1

[crusader]

No, and Saturday's fight makes me less optimistic about how he'd do at CW.

[lazboy]

He's biting off more than he can chew. One step at a time, he should first win convincingly at light heavyweight, scratch that, win at light heavy period (championship level). He's not Floyd Mayweather and no Toney or RJJ. I do see him beating someone like Toney Bellew at CW via decision if the same tactics are allowed as the Kovalev fight. I see Bellew as a less skilled, less mobile and weaker version of Kovalev (In my opinion ). Usyk would beat him. Any of those HW champions right now would beat him. In my humble opinion, if he doesn't take the rematch he'll have a quiet career from here, drift into obscurity, picking less high profile and less skilled opponents, padding his record. Then before long, he'll retire "unblemished" and will always consider himself the most underrated pfp fighter on the planet and release a book about it. I think the fight with Kovalev has ruined his trajectory. I could be wrong...but I've never been wrong.

His book will be titled SOG which stands for Son of a Greco Roman wrestler.

[Lackeos]

Andre Ward only has a 71" wingspan, so it's probably not the best idea for him to move up to heavyweight. I was prepared to make comparisons to Eddie Chambers until I realized that even Chambers has 1" height and 4" wingspan on Ward. Antonio Tarver has 2" height and 4" wingspan on Ward. Ward's skill is absurdly elite compared to some divisional #10 heavyweight, but it's hard to make your skill work for you when your opponent has an 8" wingspan advantage on top of 2 inches of height and 30 pounds of weight. I don't think he should even consider moving above cruiserweight.

[DrDuke]

I don't know, how topical is this stuff for the current moment, cause first of all Ward is likely to stay retired. Anyway we can just assume things.

Well, actually neither Jones, nor Toney did anything big at the heavyweights. Jones defeated decent, but not too classy Ruiz. Toney stopped washed up Holyfield and won the same Ruiz, then he was caught with using PEDs, after what he performed pretty poor. Toney lost to Peter clearly, he didn't do enough to score that draw against Rahman. And that's not the very top of the division, both of them would have no chances against Klitschkos.

Today's heavyweight cathegory provides tougher level of opposition, that at mid 00s. It's just impossible to imagine smaller Ward to counteract something to giants like Fury, Joshua or Wilder. The same can be told about contenders like Breazeale, Ugonoh or Miller. They all are tough. The smaller guys like Povetkin or Ortiz are also too strong and skillful for Andre. I can imagine Ward's success only against much lower class HW opposition like Charr or Browne. Maybe Bellew, cause he has only defeated crippled Haye.

[klitoris]

Andre Ward doesn't have to go to heavyweight, there is still another division between LH and HW and thats the Cruiserweight division. That should be Andre's next division to conquer if he wants to move up.

[gilgamesh]

Andre Ward doesn't have to go to heavyweight, there is still another division between LH and HW and thats the Cruiserweight division. That should be Andre's next division to conquer if he wants to move up.

And the Cruiserweight division is pretty deep right now.