BoxRec

Andre Ward: Canelo ‘Doesn’t Have Lot Of Prime Names On His Resume’

Andre Ward isn’t ready to go completely out of his way to call Canelo Alvarez a world-beater.

The four-division champion Alvarez’s stock took a hit earlier in May when he lost to undefeated light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol via unanimous decision. He bounced back in September to beat archrival Gennadiy Golovkin via unanimous decision in their trilogy bout.

The 32-year-old Alvarez (58-2-2. 39 KOs) is still the undisputed super middleweight champion, holding the WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF, and Ring Magazine titles.

He accomplished the honors at 168 pounds by cleaning out the division in an 11-month span across four fights from Dec. 2019 until last November.

Alvarez outlasted the likes of Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, and Callum Smith to claim their crowns, handing each of the former champions their first professional losses along the way.

The Hall of Fame fighter and 2004 Olympics gold medalist Ward – now an analyst for ESPN – recently opined on the Mexican star’s resume with Max Kellerman on “Max on Boxing.”

“It’s tricky, it’s complicated. Because on the surface, [Alvarez has] fought everybody. He’s done everything. He’s taken all the risks. If you know what you’re looking for and you look at some of the names he fought, he doesn’t have a lot of prime names on his resume,” said Ward.

“That being said, I think Canelo is a great talent. I think he’s had a great career, and, of course, he’s a Hall of Famer. No doubt about that. But I think there’s a little bit more window dressing with his record than what people recognize with his career.

“I think his team has done a phenomenal job. You got to give Oscar De La Hoya a lot of credit. He doesn’t get a lot of credit for co-signing Canelo earlier in his career and then also helping with the matchmaking.”

Alvarez made his United States debut in 2010 and quickly became a star under the watchful eye of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

In other weight classes, from 2011 to 2019, Alvarez beat the likes of Ward-nemesis Sergey Kovalev, as well as a group headlined by Daniel Jacobs, Gennady Golovkin (one draw as well), Julio César Chávez Jr., Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara, Alfredo Angulo, Austin Trout, Josesito López, Shane Mosley, Kermit Cintrón, and Matthew Hatton, among others. Alvarez also lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Alvarez still wants to avenge his only other loss to Bivol.

A portion of the boxing public is clamoring for Alvarez to take a more intriguing fight – at least on paper – with undefeated upstart and former two-time 168-pound titleholder David Benavidez.

Ward doesn’t envision an Alvarez-Benavidez brawl happening anytime soon.

“They know when to cause Canelo to fight certain guys and when to stay away,” said Ward. “David Benavidez is not going to happen right now. It’s not going to happen because it’s too dangerous.”

'Salty' Ward doing what he does best..

To be fair, you can pick out many resumes.. No resume is complete..

Ward's resume is great, but you can question a lot of his wins. Kessler and Froch wins are probabyl best.

Both Kovalev wins (i had Ward win the 1st bout), are questionable in how they ended.

Abraham wasn't at his prime at 168..

Chad Dawson was boiled!

He had a few good wins against contenders..

Canelo does have a lot of good wins, a lot of them are prime and then near prime..

He certainly has more than Ward..

Tbh Ward defeated lots of top killers in their primes and he did well. Of course that he had a close fight with Kov, but Kov was a bad mof at his peak of his career. Ward was coming up at 175 after a long layoff and a few accommodation fights at 175.

Realistically Canelo defeated a few top quality fighters in their primes like Trout, Lara and maybe Jacobs.

Aww bless him, Ward is trying to be relevant.
The one shot and hold guy who called himself 'SOG' should creep back into the shadows.

I'm not a fan of Ward, but I have to agree with him.

RScarf1 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 20:02 I'm not a fan of Ward, but I have to agree with him.

Jacobs, Lara, Trout, Callum, Plant, and Golovkin 1 were near or very close to prime. Ward is still salty that his best win was a loss, and the rematch ended with him battering a drunken Kovalev's nuts.

Mexi-Box wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 23:39

RScarf1 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 20:02 I'm not a fan of Ward, but I have to agree with him.

Jacobs, Lara, Trout, Callum, Plant, and Golovkin 1 were near or very close to prime. Ward is still salty that his best win was a loss, and the rematch ended with him battering a drunken Kovalev's nuts.

the nutcracker

Andre Ward's 2 wins over Kovalev were robberies he didn't deserve.

You can poke holes in anybody's resume.

Mexi-Box wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 23:39

RScarf1 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 20:02 I'm not a fan of Ward, but I have to agree with him.

Jacobs, Lara, Trout, Callum, Plant, and Golovkin 1 were near or very close to prime. Ward is still salty that his best win was a loss, and the rematch ended with him battering a drunken Kovalev's nuts.

Saunders too..

Up to the date both Ward's resumes at SMW and LHW look better.

Ward's best win on paper is Kovalev. Illegally, but still he balled that win. Canelo was just dominated by Bivol in one-sided fashion.

Canelo's best win is an either-way going bout against Golovkin at MW.

At SMW Ward cleaned up the tougher landscape.

DrDuke wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 05:45 Up to the date both Ward's resumes at SMW and LHW look better.

Ward's best win on paper is Kovalev. Illegally, but still he balled that win. Canelo was just dominated by Bivol in one-sided fashion.

Canelo's best win is an either-way going bout against Golovkin at MW.

At SMW Ward cleaned up the tougher landscape.

True and objective. Indeed Ward vs Kov 1 was a close fight, maybe a draw but in the 2nd fight Ward defeated clearly Kov just like FMJ's two fights with Maidana. Just to remember that at that time Ward was coming after a layoff, had a few warm up fights and he was moving up in weight. Ward beat a prime 33 y/o Kovalev (with top wins over fighters like Pascal, Hopkins and Chilemba).

At SMW Ward's best wins were Kessler, Froch, Bika and Rodriguez.

I mean c'mon a peaked Bika would give hell to guys like BJS, Callum or Plant, even for Canelo, a prime Bika would be a tough fight.

apollo creed wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 10:14

DrDuke wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 05:45 Up to the date both Ward's resumes at SMW and LHW look better.

Ward's best win on paper is Kovalev. Illegally, but still he balled that win. Canelo was just dominated by Bivol in one-sided fashion.

Canelo's best win is an either-way going bout against Golovkin at MW.

At SMW Ward cleaned up the tougher landscape.

True and objective. Indeed Ward vs Kov 1 was a close fight, maybe a draw but in the 2nd fight Ward defeated clearly Kov just like FMJ's two fights with Maidana. Just to remember that at that time Ward was coming after a layoff, had a few warm up fights and he was moving up in weight. Ward beat a prime 33 y/o Kovalev (with top wins over fighters like Pascal, Hopkins and Chilemba).

At SMW Ward's best wins were Kessler, Froch, Bika and Rodriguez.

I mean c'mon a peaked Bika would give hell to guys like BJS, Callum or Plant, even for Canelo, a prime Bika would be a tough fight.

Kovalev won the first fight with Ward 115-112. Couldn't have been a draw due to Ward being dropped.

2nd fight Ward won via TKO following 3 consecutive low blows. He should've been DQ'd or had a point deducted. Instead he gets his hand raised in victory.

I'll never give him credit for either of those bouts. He didn't win either one.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 10:43

apollo creed wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 10:14

DrDuke wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 05:45 Up to the date both Ward's resumes at SMW and LHW look better.

Ward's best win on paper is Kovalev. Illegally, but still he balled that win. Canelo was just dominated by Bivol in one-sided fashion.

Canelo's best win is an either-way going bout against Golovkin at MW.

At SMW Ward cleaned up the tougher landscape.

True and objective. Indeed Ward vs Kov 1 was a close fight, maybe a draw but in the 2nd fight Ward defeated clearly Kov just like FMJ's two fights with Maidana. Just to remember that at that time Ward was coming after a layoff, had a few warm up fights and he was moving up in weight. Ward beat a prime 33 y/o Kovalev (with top wins over fighters like Pascal, Hopkins and Chilemba).

At SMW Ward's best wins were Kessler, Froch, Bika and Rodriguez.

I mean c'mon a peaked Bika would give hell to guys like BJS, Callum or Plant, even for Canelo, a prime Bika would be a tough fight.

Kovalev won the first fight with Ward 115-112. Couldn't have been a draw due to Ward being dropped.

2nd fight Ward won via TKO following 3 consecutive low blows. He should've been DQ'd or had a point deducted. Instead he gets his hand raised in victory.

I'll never give him credit for either of those bouts. He didn't win either one.

I wouldn’t put the first bout on him.. it was more the judges. I scored it same as them though. 114-113. It was a close fight. It was Prime vs. Prime.

It's not on him the way the first bout went. Obviously the judges do what they do, and the fighters usually have no control over that sorta thing.

That being said, I can't give Ward credit for that win because he didn't win. He lost. And to me, it was clear.

Its understandable, Ward fought a top killer in his prime. On the other hand Stevenson was avoiding like plague Kovalev, which would've been a big money fight.


Canelo's opposition at smw was weak bc it was a weak smw era of fighters. But as well we have to respect that Canelo fought a top-prime killer at lhw in Bivol.

I think Bivol and GGG 1&2 was Canelo's toughest fights at the elite level. Lara, Trout and Jacobs were solid fights/opponents too.

apollo creed wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 11:42 Its understandable, Ward fought a top killer in his prime. On the other hand Stevenson was avoiding like plague Kovalev, which would've been a big money fight.


Canelo's opposition at smw was weak bc it was a weak smw era of fighters. But as well we have to respect that Canelo fought a top-prime killer at lhw in Bivol.

I think Bivol and GGG 1&2 was Canelo's toughest fights at the elite level.

With Canelo’s SMW fights.. he went up and he still fought the best of the best of this era. He belt holders. there’s still a few left.

Callum beat a partially shopworn version of Groves but it was a decent win. Also Ryder gave a tough fight to Callum.
BJS's "best" win at 168 was probably a washed up - shopworn version of Martin Murray.
Plant's best win is José Uzcátegui which was a decent win.

But , realistically 40 y/o GGG was Canelo's toughest fight at 168 lbs.

apollo creed wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 12:08 Callum beat a partially shopworn version of Groves but it was a decent win. Also Ryder gave a tough fight to Callum.
BJS's "best" win at 168 was probably a washed up - shopworn version of Martin Murray.
Plant's best win is José Uzcátegui which was a decent win.

But , realistically 40 y/o GGG was Canelo's toughest fight at 168 lbs.

Forget looking at their best wins. They were the belt holders and we know Saunders was class. He just needed to wake up for the fights.

just his opinion - dont mean its fact

canelo has an excellent resume, can pick holes in pretty much any records

dude knocking canelo's opposition, then big upping can crushers like davey benavidez is

Ward talking shit.

His best win was a robbery followed up by him using Kovs balls as a punching bag

Mexi-Box wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 23:39

RScarf1 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 20:02 I'm not a fan of Ward, but I have to agree with him.

Jacobs, Lara, Trout, Callum, Plant, and Golovkin 1 were near or very close to prime. Ward is still salty that his best win was a loss, and the rematch ended with him battering a drunken Kovalev's nuts.

Yes indeed. He basically did to Kovalev what Golota did to Bowe, except He(Ward), got awarded a KO victory from it instead of a DQ Loss. He benefitted from American Boxing Politics. A Corrupt Scam of an undeserved victory it certainly was.

I think it's fair to say that most of the big names Canelo has fought, were past their primes. Even Amir Khan.

He refused to fight Andrade, but Amir fornicating Khan? Gmafb

eww, another mention of poo poo andrade, the dude who fights so much sh!t he now stinks of it