BoxRec

Ward was a master of his game. He beat top notch fighters at the peak of their game like Kessler, Abraham, Froch, Dawson and Kovalev. Ward has retired like a true king from this sport! Undefeated, young, healthy and after he beat the man from his division! Well done champ!

apollo creed wrote:Ward was a master of his game. He beat top notch fighters at the peak of their game like Kessler, Abraham, Froch, Dawson and Kovalev. Ward has retired like a true king from this sport! Undefeated, young, healthy and after he beat the man from his division! Well done champ!

One of the better fighters of his time group, not sure if he's one of the most complete all time like the title alludes too. Next to Ray Leonard and hagler etc he really isn't all that complete

Was abraham and Dawson at the top of their game when he beat them? Nothing against your general post but not sure about some of the detail

Ossyrules wrote:
Was abraham and Dawson at the top of their game when he beat them? Nothing against your general post but not sure about some of the detail

If Abraham wasn't at his peak he was very close to it. Dawson was drained though.

Every fight was either UD or KO.
What can be said about that?
He always had every judge paid off despite being a ZERO draw.


I was never a Ward fan until the Kessler fight.
Kessler was a top fighter and Ward clearly a level higher.
IMO, he looked more impressive than Calzaghe two years earlier.

Then came the hate.
Ward went from being ignored to the #1 enemy of the sport.
Dirty. Boring. Cheater. Dull.
All from fans who couldn't get enough of:
Mayorga, Mayweather, Broner, Fury, McGegregor ... and other WWE character style clowns.

Not one judge even scored a fight a draw.
For a non-draw. Against guys who could have been/or were big draws.
Amazing.

apollo creed wrote:Ward was a master of his game. He beat top notch fighters at the peak of their game like Kessler, Abraham, Froch, Dawson and Kovalev. Ward has retired like a true king from this sport! Undefeated, young, healthy and after he beat the man from his division! Well done champ!

weird career though. out of business for years
in between. yes, good names on his record, but
then again by far not a top notch resume. i could
have written the exact same thing about david haye.

i for one do like both fighters, but have no respect
for their diva like approach to boxing, including
their premature retirement schemes.

regarding ward. i respect his ability in the ring and
especially his adaptive skills. but it is the first time
in my opinion that the p4p top boxer ends his career
with a KO by low blow.

soldieroffortune2 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:
Was abraham and Dawson at the top of their game when he beat them? Nothing against your general post but not sure about some of the detail

If Abraham wasn't at his peak he was very close to it. Dawson was drained though.

I disagree really. He was getting outboxed by Taylor before late ko, he got outboxed by Dirrell by getting himself dq'd, he got schooled by Froch who was really the type to put on clinics. Then ward picked him up

Abraham was a better force at 160 imo. At 168 he got beat by good operators.

If abrahams name is listed as an achievement for ward then it suggests his record is thin on opponents

One of the writers on Fight Hype claims that there is racism against African-American boxers such as Ward. I did not see that at all for Ward. I see that he got preferential treatment and he always got unanimous decisions whenever a fight went the distance. The networks (HBO, ESPN) were touting him as the No. 1 pound for pound boxer. They tried to sell us Ward, but the public was not buying. Most of the people commenting on Fight Hype are huge Ward fans and they were commenting positively about his career. Only a few made the criticisms such as I have made and others here on the boxrec forum.

RScarf1 wrote:One of the writers on Fight Hype claims that there is racism against African-American boxers such as Ward. I did not see that at all for Ward. I see that he got preferential treatment and he always got unanimous decisions whenever a fight went the distance. The networks (HBO, ESPN) were touting him as the No. 1 pound for pound boxer. They tried to sell us Ward, but the public was not buying. Most of the people commenting on Fight Hype are huge Ward fans and they were commenting positively about his career. Only a few made the criticisms such as I have made and others here on the boxrec forum.

Racism is pretty unfair. African Americans have provided many great warriors that are loved. Throughout history

In England, Joshua, frank Bruno, Nigel Benn were just about as popular as anyone we have had.

Don't agree with that about ward

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:Every fight was either UD or KO.
What can be said about that?
He always had every judge paid off despite being a ZERO draw.


I was never a Ward fan until the Kessler fight.
Kessler was a top fighter and Ward clearly a level higher.
IMO, he looked more impressive than Calzaghe two years earlier.

Then came the hate.
Ward went from being ignored to the #1 enemy of the sport.
Dirty. Boring. Cheater. Dull.
All from fans who couldn't get enough of:
Mayorga, Mayweather, Broner, Fury, McGegregor ... and other WWE character style clowns.

Not one judge even scored a fight a draw.
For a non-draw. Against guys who could have been/or were big draws.
Amazing.

Dirty and cheating overlap.

Boring and dull are the same thing.

theres no doubting wards ability though

Ossyrules wrote:

RScarf1 wrote:One of the writers on Fight Hype claims that there is racism against African-American boxers such as Ward. I did not see that at all for Ward. I see that he got preferential treatment and he always got unanimous decisions whenever a fight went the distance. The networks (HBO, ESPN) were touting him as the No. 1 pound for pound boxer. They tried to sell us Ward, but the public was not buying. Most of the people commenting on Fight Hype are huge Ward fans and they were commenting positively about his career. Only a few made the criticisms such as I have made and others here on the boxrec forum.

Racism is pretty unfair. African Americans have provided many great warriors that are loved. Throughout history

In England, Joshua, frank Bruno, Nigel Benn were just about as popular as anyone we have had.

Don't agree with that about ward

I understand. This Fight Hype writer constantly writes about how Golovkin and Lomachenko are treated by the media compared to Crawford and Ward. Crawford was not getting the same attention until he beat Indongo and unified all the titles. Ward was treated great by the TV networks and I think he got his share of attention from journalists. The writer felt that Golovkin vs. Canelo should have been a 114-114 draw, so he's not a Golovkin fan. I feel that the attention that Golovkin and Lomachenko receive is deserved. A few readers of Fight Hype have criticized this writer, but most have not and are fans of the writer because they are the type of biased people that go on Fight Hype. It is not racism as to why Golovkin and Lomachenko get more love from the media. It is because their fighting styles are better to watch than Ward. Crawford just needs to fight better boxers and he will get the attention and he is arguably the best pound for pound boxer right now.

I have Ward above Floyd in terms of arsenal of skills and legit threats-prime strong opponents. Ward ain't cherrypicked his opponents and he fought the most dangerous fighters from his division/s at the top of their game.

Boy talk about a fighter doing it right. I was never an Andre Ward fan most of his career but when he KO'd Kovalev, it proved me wrong on every level about this guy. That was shocking and there's no way I could argue any other way but to say that he's a "great" and belongs in the discussion for top 20 fighters in history.

Andre is unlike these other great fighters that only retire to take a few years off before coming back. It doesn't appear he's doing this to avoid mandatory defenses. I think he's going to stay retired and good for him.

Ossyrules wrote:
I disagree really. He was getting outboxed by Taylor before late ko, he got outboxed by Dirrell by getting himself dq'd, he got schooled by Froch who was really the type to put on clinics. Then ward picked him up

Abraham was a better force at 160 imo. At 168 he got beat by good operators.

He was bigger force at 160 as he was fighting inferior competition. He was still near his peak it's just his level was found when he went to 168.

Great fighter. Never beat & recognised No.1 in two divisions.

soldieroffortune2 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:
I disagree really. He was getting outboxed by Taylor before late ko, he got outboxed by Dirrell by getting himself dq'd, he got schooled by Froch who was really the type to put on clinics. Then ward picked him up

Abraham was a better force at 160 imo. At 168 he got beat by good operators.

He was bigger force at 160 as he was fighting inferior competition. He was still near his peak it's just his level was found when he went to 168.

Ward is a dirty spoiler. Barely anybody wanted to watch him fight. A complete boxer who doesn't have a correct punching technique but slaps instead??? LOL

If he was one of the most complete fighters ever then surely he'd be better to watch I enjoyed watching Floyd more than Ward!

apollo creed wrote:I have Ward above Floyd in terms of arsenal of skills and legit threats-prime strong opponents. Ward ain't cherrypicked his opponents and he fought the most dangerous fighters from his division/s at the top of their game.

Well, that is ridiculous.

soldieroffortune2 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:
I disagree really. He was getting outboxed by Taylor before late ko, he got outboxed by Dirrell by getting himself dq'd, he got schooled by Froch who was really the type to put on clinics. Then ward picked him up

Abraham was a better force at 160 imo. At 168 he got beat by good operators.

He was bigger force at 160 as he was fighting inferior competition. He was still near his peak it's just his level was found when he went to 168.

Fair points mate

caldo2025 wrote:Boy talk about a fighter doing it right. I was never an Andre Ward fan most of his career but when he KO'd Kovalev, it proved me wrong on every level about this guy. That was shocking and there's no way I could argue any other way but to say that he's a "great" and belongs in the discussion for top 20 fighters in history.

Andre is unlike these other great fighters that only retire to take a few years off before coming back. It doesn't appear he's doing this to avoid mandatory defenses. I think he's going to stay retired and good for him.

His record is far far too light to be in the top 20 all time. That's jip level sensationalism

He's top 100, top 3 at super middle. Great career, top 20 or over floyd, or Manny is laughable.

Ward is a piece of shiit... a cheating bastard who's running from a very tough division that would give him a number of bad losses... Jay Z lost a fortune on this boy who won by hook or by crook -- so the public never supported Ward because they knew he was a dirt bag cheat.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He's top 100, top 3 at super middle. Great career, top 20 or over floyd, or Manny is laughable.

I'd agree hes in the top 2 at super-middleweight. Right behind Joe Calzaghe and it would have made a nice little match-up.

But I'm more interested in who you have as your top 3 Saad?

Kalan wrote:Ward is a piece of shiit... a cheating bastard who's running from a very tough division that would give him a number of bad losses... Jay Z lost a fortune on this boy who won by hook or by crook -- so the public never supported Ward because they knew he was a dirt bag cheat.

^^^
Well thought out and thought provoking post