@ LHW. How do you see this fight going between these 2 highly skilled boxers? Would Johnson be too skilled and savvy for a guy like SOG or can Ward find a way to neutralize Johnson's jab and counter punching punching opportunities? This could either be a very fascinating chess match or a boring, ugly wrestling match IMO.
Johnson was better than Ward in virtually every aspect....plus he never had to resort to blatant fouling to win.
Ward's tricks are not going to work on this guy. The guy being taken to school is Ward. But it might be the kind of fight and result that makes him a better and improved fighter.
The blatant fouling is what makes me hesitant to really give Ward much credit. I see people say, “Oh, he’s so intelligent” but in reality he just had people around that always had things in his favor and he bent the rules so much because he knew he’d never get pulled up on it. Literally played under totally different rules to his opponent. It’s kind of disappointing too because he was sold to us as some kind of special generational talent so surely he shouldn’t have to resort to those tactics. John Ruiz fought like **** but what choice did he have?
Yeah, what is a fighter with so much alleged skill that he's given credit for possessing having to blast his opponent's nuts like he did?
Johnson is a guy I feel is really underated historically. I feel he was not far behind the likes of Charles, Spinks and Moore. I like Ward as well but not more than Johnson.