Who has the better resume: Ward or Crawford?

Yeah, it does. Getting screwed out of a career defining fight will do that.

 

Bump in 10 years

 

Again, I don’t believe that for a second.

Roy Jones felt aggrieved at the DQ loss to Griffin. He then went out and destroyed him in the rematch.

Tarver felt aggrieved at the decision loss to Roy in their first fight. He then went and knocked him out in the rematch.

Tyson Fury felt aggrieved at the decision against Wilder in their first fight. He then went out to right the wrong.

There’s countless examples to give.

Then we’ve had fighters who have lost the first fights fair and square, but have gone on to have won the rematches with added fire.

We’ve also seen fighters get badly beaten, but then come back stronger to resurrect their careers.

Kovalev was mentally weak.

Losing a decision in the first fight wasn’t the reason why he was complaining of legal body shots in the rematch.

Andre did a psyche job on him. He walked straight up to his face before the first fight and told him that he was going to beat him.

Kovalev was broken both mentally and physically.

Despite the final low blows, Kovalev gave up in the rematch. He just didn’t want to be there. People concentrate on the final low blows, but ignore the clean ones, and how Kovalev reacted to them. His body language. His deflated look at the referee etc.

After the fight, his confidence and his aura of invincibility had gone.

Which meant that he was less confident, whereas his opponents were far more confident and offensive.

Kovalev was a bully. He could give it, but he couldn’t take it.

 

I called it before the rematch and said that Ward had gotten to him mentally. I got lambasted for it. "Kovalev is just going to KO Ward this time! He won´t box like the last time and get robbed."
Well, to his credit, he tried, but it was a moronic gameplan. Kovalev came out super aggressive in the rematch and gassed again, just like in the first fight.
The the fact that Ward was able to hurt Kovalev with his right hand just shows that Kovalev was done at that point,

 

And again, most people do, so why don't we leave it at that. The original point still stands: Ward isn't going to get much historical credit for those wins.

 

I think he’ll get credit for the rematch win by many.

The final low blows didn’t determine the outcome of the fight.

Kovalev looked great.

He was in his prime.

And Ward moved up to LHW to beat him.

That was a great win.

 

Crawford's resume is not as good side-by-side but he never ROBBED anyone. The first Kovalev fight was an outright ROBBERY. And so only ONE of their resumes have a LOSS and that does matter. Especially considering Ward's revenge win was controversial in itself...that does matter.

If Crawford unifies a 3rd division his all-time ranking propels to levels rarely seen - far above the likes of Andre Ward - and people would have to start making room in their Top 20 ATG lists.

 

Andre didn’t rob anybody.

The judges made the call, and I don’t think it was a robbery anyway.


If Crawford did that, it would still have to depend on who he fought and what the circumstances were.

 

If you beat all the champions you beat the best available competition. So far that was Madrimov, likely Fundora next, followed by Tszyu/Murta. Assuming he wins those he'll have a resume of:

Tszyu/Murta (Murta is undefeated)
Fundora
Madrimov (undefeated)
Spence (undefeated)
Porter
Postol (undefeated)
Gamboa (undefeated)
Mean Machine (undefeated)
Kell Brook
Ricky Burns

And he will be a 4 division champ and 3x undisputed. That absolutely abolishes Ward's resume and puts Crawford in RARE territory.

No, Ward was not the judge. Yes, you are in a very small (biased) sample that thinks Ward beat Kovalev in fight 1.

 

He can only beat who’s there.

But you’re still ranked on who you beat and when, not just on official accolades.

Floyd beat how many world champions?

Yet he never fought a prime ATG.

Manny is the only ever 9 weight champion. Yet not many have him as the GOAT.

Yes, if Crawford does that, that would be fantastic.

Hopefully, he will do.

I’ll be rooting for him to do that. And yes, it’ll be very rare. But we’ll still have to rank him on who he beat.

At this moment in time, I have Usyk ranked higher, as he’s taken more challenging fights and he has a better overall resume.

And that’s always the most important thing. Official accolades of being undisputed etc, always play second to who you’ve actually beaten, and at what point.

Context.

No, I’m not biased regarding Ward. I just don’t think it was an outrageous robbery.

 

Ward by far.

 

Ward and it’s not even close. Nobody liked Ward in the ring but everyone had to respect his resume.

 

Ward has the better resume but Crawford will be remembered for longer and held in higher regard as he is not a cry baby diva or a dirty grub like Andre Ward was.