Heard all this before about Rob McCracken being a great trainer but in all honesty Bika and Abraham did better vs Ward than Froch did last night. "Boxing" Ward was never going to work and they should have known that.
What does a gameplan mattered when yor opponent is better than everything than you are and has the perfect skillset to completely nullify you?
He could well have been, but its like Peterson, Froch and team should have realised after the first couple that what they were doing was not working at all and just gone for it. Froch only went for it in the last round.
Styles make fights. Bika more adept at strong, roughhouse fighting and Abraham just more tight in the early going. Wars trounced those guys as well, weren't close contests either. My point is not whether or not they had a gameplan, which is was you seem to be implying. If they'd had 'the greatest strategy ever' Froch would not have beaten Ward because he just isn't capable of pulling it off. -Slow -Telegraphs punches -Sloppy punching form -No defence -Little in the way of inside fighting ability. -Only a fair dig It would be very hard to pick out major flaws in Wards makeup.
Have you watched the Bika fight? its was competitive and close ish Our Brit fighters just have the inability to adapt, not saying either Froch would have won, but maybe do himself more justice and make it a bit less of a shut out.
It was hardly another case of haye/Wlad. Froch did his all, he only had a bit of success when Ward tired.
Froch's only chance was to land a well placed shot during the fight, hopefully daze Ward and get in for the kill. Basically he had a punchers chance and that was it. Stylistically Ward was always going to be his worst nightmare. I stated through the week that Ward would beat him with inside fighting because he has the better inside game. Nothing last came as a surprise and shouldn't have to anyone. Anyone who had bothered their arse to watch the Green fight knew this, apparently this didn't include the entirety of the Sky team. Who spent the fight in bemusement that Ward was rough housing Froch and smothering. I was getting so annoyed by Jim Watt I had to turn the sound of by about the 5th round. As Flea Man said, Ward is simply a better fighter in every area. He is very adaptable and will box and move or get in close and rough you up to suit and he is very good at both. I've been saying it since after the fight with Green (which I saw as a masterclass at the time while loads on ESB moaned at his "dirty fighting") that this guy is p4p one of the best out there and a future big star in boxing.
The Sky commentary was awful. Watt acting astounded at how Ward could control things on the inside. It was as if they had never seen Ward box before.
I really can't listen to Jim Watt these days, his voice irritates the **** out of me and when he has a hard-on for one guy in the fight, it's like that's the only guy he can see. "Oh look at this marvellous stuff from Ward, this is absolutely fantastic stuff, who would have thought a man could be so great in the ring, I honestly think we should all be fingering our bums while watching this ... not just me" On and on and on it goes ... **** off Watt. :fire
I honestly had to turn the sound off when I watched this watched it this morning, mainly due to Jim Watt.