Looking at this, the ones in orange are guys I'd pick Gerald McClellan to beat. And the Benn fight could've been over in 1 with a different ref, and would've been today.
G-Man officially lost on that chance, had he KOed Benn like Don King wanted, he would gave Roy Jones his first Clean KO Loss As of the rest of the Orange, we don't know the CNS limit of an Undefeated boxer who never been KOed, so that is going too far & KO is G-Man only chance to win
Again, they were almost equal in terms of size and weight. When Roy turned pro, he was weighing in between 154-160, and so were his opponents. And he was weighing 160 within his first 10 fights. He was never really a JMW in the pro ranks. By the time he'd reached his early 20's, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to make 160. He was rehydrating by a lot of weight. So how could he have been better off as a JMW? He couldn't even have regularly made JMW. Where you have said that the most important factor would have been Ward's size advantage, is frankly, silly. Prime for prime, they'd have been of similar size and fight night weight. Roy wasn't fragile physically. Andre knocking out Roy would have been the least likely thing to have happened out of all of the possible scenarios. Again, the fight wouldn't have been determined by size. It would have been determined by how they'd have matched up stylistically. And stylistically, the fight would have favoured Roy. He was much faster, much more powerful, and much harder to hit. The biggest factor would have been Roy's speed. Roy's speed and unorthadox style would have been a huge issue for Andre. The most likely scenario would have been a cautious decision win for Roy. Regarding a fight with Gerald, again, it would also have been a very difficult fight for Gerald too.
There’s Ward as clear number one . And then the rest. Calzaghe got dropped by a mummified Roy Jones and lost to a severely past prime Hopkins
1. Gerald clearly had issues in the Benn fight. Watch the documentary. Even before the fight. He may not even have fought again afterwards even if he'd have beaten Benn in a round. 2. A fight against Roy would have been extremely difficult to make. 3. It's certainly not a given that Gerald would have beaten a prime version of Roy. And especially if he wasn't physically and mentally at 100%.
We're only focusing on what happened at SMW. The top 3 have to be: Roy Andre Joe It's hard to separate Andre and Joe.
Ward is a brilliant in-game technician to be sure, but an absolute prime Roy at 168lbs would have been a bridge too far for the Son of G.
I see a real lack of knowledge when looking at this thread. The ratings have to be on resume and achievements. Anyone having ward in the top 3 really doesn't know anything about the division or its history. Which doesn't surprise me on here. Arguably wards biggest win at the weight is a faded Kessler who beat Froch. Someone tell me what top undefeated SMW did ward beat at the weight...??? Anyone?? Although I think ward had some better singular wins than Ottke, I don't think he has a better SMW resume than Ottke. Arguably Steve Collins has a greater SMW resume with 2 wins over Eubank, 2 wins over Benn and the sellier win. Eubank has a far greater SMW resume than ward also. I think it could be debated with Kessler as well with his wins over undefeated SMW champ Froch, wba champ Magee, wba champ siaca, undefeated future champ sartison, mundine between reigns as a SMW champ, WBC champ better, throw in Lucas, haussler and andrade Calzaghe has a greater SMW resume than all of them I could put some other SMWs forward where I think there could be some debate Again Someone tell me what top undefeated SMW did ward beat at the weight...??? Anyone??
Kessler when faded with eye problems who Calzaghe had already beaten at the end of his SMW career. Froch wasn't as good a win as Calzaghes over Eubank Allen green wasn't as good a win as Calzaghes over Sheika Abraham wasn't as good as lacy at SMW or several other Calzaghe beat What was Dawson's resume at SMW? You could add bika for ward but he had also lost to a near end of SMW career Calzaghe already Calzaghe beat Eubank Kessler Mitchell Brewer Lacy Veit Woodhall Reid Bika Who were all world rated and either had been or became a world champ at SMW Add other decent names at the time like Starie Sheika Mkrtchyan Winner of 22 SMW world title fights Won wbo wba ibf WBC titles Again Someone tell me what top undefeated SMW did ward beat at the weight...??? Anyone??
You forgot Rodriguez and Bika. And the fact that Abraham, Froch, Bika and Kessler all won titles after Ward beat them. At one point, every titlist that was at 168, Ward had beaten.