Ward would have beaten Calzaghe easily

Ward vs. Calzaghe would have been Froch vs. Bute: a simple slaughter. Calzaghe was light on his feet, nimble, has fast hands, unusual timing and rhythm, fast as a welterweight (as is Ward), rather clever, game and competitive, ****y in a good way, and never backed down to anyone. With that said, I feel Ward has better ring IQ and knowledge of the game (thru his experience and his trainer Virgil Hunter’s), he has a better overall skillset (from what i know Calzaghe is not an infighter), can adjust better than Calzaghe, has the same gameness and competitiveness as Calzaghe, may have better foot speed and more leverage on his punches (well, he doesn’t slap), and has fought better competition. I know this is gonna sound offensive, as peple got offensive when I said this about Bute WAY before the Froch fight, but as great as Calzaghe is/was, comparing him to Ward at this point or moreover saying he’s the better fighter is White Hyping him. He was a European fighter who stayed in Europe, steam rolled a few mandatories, and had his best fights agst Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy, and a game Bernard Hopkins. Ward went thru the grinder in a six person tournament, came up on top without losing many rounds or getting hit cleanly much at all, then just beat the best Light Heavyweight in the world.

 

Ward can do anything, and I do mean "Anything", in that ring. He might just be the most versatile fighter in the sport right now, Floyd included.

I don’t think Calazghe was as adaptable as Ward, I don’t think he had the variety in his game, and I don’t think to be honest that he had the ability to throw a full range of shots like Ward does. I mean, there was a point in the Dawson fight where Jim Watt was raving about Dawson having Ward on the ropes, but it was Ward ripping shots into Dawson’s birdcage, and snapping his head back with nasty little uppercuts.

Being on the ropes, fighting going backwards, using head movement, foot movement AND gloves to avoid getting hit, getting nasty on the inside, boxing at range, punishing the body, knowing when and how to hold: ALL of these things are different, and almost every fighter I have ever seen has problems doing some or most of them. Andre Ward does them all, and makes them all look very, very easy.

As for Joe… I rated Joe. Not as high as some, but I did rate him. But what I saw was a guy who simply overwhelmed guys with volume, put them under a lot of pressure, and continued to blur his hands in their faces until they mentally gave up the ghost. He was fast, he was aggressive, but he lacked genuine power and it wasn’t easy to form a game-plan to beat him. But a guy who moves and fights in as many ways and with as much natural variety as Andre Ward would take Joe to the cleaners, in my honest opinion. As silly as it seems to call a southpaw as fast and who used as much volume as Joe “one-dimensional”, I really think he was. He was like a slimmed down E. Honda from streetfighter with his hundred-hand-slap, and that was enough to flummox almost every guy he fought.

But Ward doesn’t faze, and I really don’t see what Joe would do against the naturally more athletic Ward when Plan A failed, which I’m absolutely certain it would. Solid defence and lateral movement would give Ward some really great opportunities to counter, and we all saw Calzaghe dropped by several fighters in his career; even the feather-duster-like punches of Roy Jones caught him and dropped him. I’d suggest Ward hits harder than Jones did in 2008, and he would also not have failed to follow up like Roy did.