Ward would lose to Usyk. Usyk's "lack of power" is powerful enough to keep iron chinned fighters like Gassiev, Briedis and Hunter honest, as in, they keep their distance because they're afraid of being hurt by a counter. His "lack of stamina"? Are you on crack? Literally, what the **** are you talking about? Usyk has probably the BEST STAMINA IN THE SPORT OF BOXING, in the final round of these 3 12 round figghts, Usyk threw 121 punches against Hunter, 117 against Gassiev and 66 against Briedis. And by the way, his accuracy was shockingly good. You do realize that this kind of means he has astonishing stamina right? As far as "inside game" of Ward goes, well, he won't get a chance to utilize it against Usyk, because Usyk will force Ward into the role of pressure fighter, a role Ward isn't accustomed to, it'll be Ward's job to get on the inside, which will be awesome to see him attempt on a volume punching fleet footed backfoot combination counter punching southpaw. Who just so happens to control range impeccably. Ward was lucky to get past Kovalev without being KO'd, because on top of being outboxed by Kovalev, he was almost KO'd by him as well, well Usyk hits just as hard as Kovalev, maybe harder, since he's 6'3 and weighs 25 pounds more, and he's the superior boxer, and I say that as someone who loves Kovalev.
Michael Hunter is a 6'2 220 pound Heavyweight at the moment, who happens to have an 80 inch reach, as opposed to Ward's paltry 71 inch reach. What evidence are you basing this LHW's are better than CW's argument on? Sillakh was KO'd cold in 1 by a novice in Papin, aside fom that we have Fonfara and Vlasov up there, Fonfara has one win, a KO over Sillakh as well. Vlasov made the best transition, probably because he's 6'4, and by the way, was seconds from being stopped by both Sillakh and Chakhkiev himself. As far as the Dorticos-Miranda theory. So how about featherfisted BHop stopping prime Glen Johnson in 11 and KO artist Bute going the distance with him? How about Mundine being KO'd by Hatley and dropped like 40 times by Clottey, yet going the distance with Danny Green. Maybe its because Bellew is ****ing huge and was a scrawny beanpole at LHW, and Miranda with a little more meat on his bones, can take a punch better like that? Bellew isn't better at Cruiserweight than Glowacki, Gassiev or Briedis, just based on their resumes. And if you actually count the Haye wins as legit, that's just sad.
It's not that impossible, actually. Ward is only 34 years old. The only problem might be that Usyk is growing too heavy for the cruiserweight.
Michael Hunter was inactive and is a novice. Hunter has a very limited skill set and no power, but was able to compete with Usyk. Hunter would get schooled by Ward. Also, Michael Hunter is iron chinned based off of what? Last time I checked there aren't any monster punchers in the cruiserweight division. Gassiev is extremely overrated. He's proven in the Lebdev, Dorticos, and Usyk fights that he's completely one dimensional. A younger Lebdev would've stopped him. Usyk showed signs of fading against both Hunter and Gassiev, but neither are anything close to being elite fighters and weren't able to make Usyk pay for lowering his punch output. Michael Hunter wasn't skilled enough to setup his counters properly and his footwork is extremely inefficient, which is why he gassed in the later rounds and Gassiev doesn't have a clever bone in his body along with lacking any kind of mobility or head movement. I'm not completely sold that Usyk's stamina will hold up against elite competition. Ward is proven against elite competition while Usyk isn't, since the cruiserweight is easily one of the weakest divisions in boxing. Also, Ward wasn't lucky against Kovalev. Kovalev started off strong, but proved to be a one dimensional fighter. Once Ward neutralized Kovalev's bread and butter and attacked the body, since Kovalev's defense is awful Kovalev's punch output went way down and he threw away round after round. Kovalev tried to coast off his knockdown that he scored early in the fight, which didn't work against Ward, who found a way to win. Gassiev did the same thing with Lebdev. After scoring a knockdown Gassiev coasted and took a beating from Lebdev and barely escaped with a split decision.
Oh, one other thing. Basic Euro plodders? WOW! You've clearly never seen Usyk fight have you? Go Educate Yourself casual.
No, During that time nobody would have picked Kovalev to even be competitive with Usyk. And that's then Usyk, not current Usyk.
Hunter was able to compete for two rounds, and they were close. And I'm basing it off the fact that he's never been down as a pro or an amateur IIRC. And he faced Beterbiev, Tyson Fury, Oscar Rivas, Christian Hammer, Robert Alonso etc. in the ams. Also getting hit flush in the head with 50 punches at the end of a 12 round match by Usyk, and staying on your feet, whereas certified iron chinned Huck, who took the punches of Briedis who KO'd Charr cold.... couldn't. That's plenty proof. Last time you checked there's no big punchers? Really? I'm starting to get the idea that you haven't actually watched any Cruiserweight matches. Almost everyone in the Top 30 are heavy handed. You don't beat Lebedev and Dorticos and remain underrated, I'm a huge fan of both Lebedev and Yunier, that was the first time Denis was ever legitimately beaten in my eyes, and Dorticos is incredibly skilled. Just what are watching when you see these guys fight anyway? Gassiev gives anyone a run for their money not named Usyk. Usyk while throwing a hundred punches against Hunter or Dorticos, I'll say again, WHAT THE **** DID YOU WATCH? You're trolling right? Because if you're not.... This content is protected
That wasn't the comparison I was making, but bs anyway; plenty of folks would have picked The Krusher to beat Usyk prior to the first Ward fight. Also, what I was originally trying to convey is that many of the same people completely denying Ward's chances vs Usyk were using identical rhetoric with regards to Ward vs Kovalev.
Regardless, it's still not comparable. The majority of those posters were basing that off the assumption that Ward wouldn't be the same after his layoff.