Wards legacy at 175 is basically Kovalev, which is built on shaky foundations considering most people agree he lost the first one and then fought an alcoholic in the second one.. what has Kovalev done after? Gone 5-3.. hurt multiple times & been badly KOd twice.. by 2 people who Bivol & his opponent Smith Jr soundly defeated .. what else did Ward do? Barrera? Barrera got battered by Zurdo & Bivol.. no one can seriously suggest Ward is some LHW great & is levels above based on that, it is ridiculous.. Bivol has beaten Beterbiev, Canelo, Zurdo, Smith, Pascal, Chilemba, Barrera etc.. All convincingly. Fought the world over. No SNAC association. Ward fought one good HW & lost. Ward was a great SMW wrestler no doubt but at 175 his legacy is short & dubious. Bivol would outbox Ward.
Andre Ward wouldn't fight Beterbiev. But he would probably headbutt, low blow, elbow and clinch Bivol to a controversial decision win. Not sure he would fight Gvozdyk either. But he would lose that one if he couldn't make it dirty as hell.
Prime Beterbiev would maul Ward. Jesus. Head butting and rough physicality doesn’t work vs Beterbiev. And if anyone thinks this current Beterbiev is as good as the one whom Gvozdyk fought , I don’t know what drugs you are on.
The same clowns who will try and have you believe that Ward didn't tuck tail and run from the sport like a petrified hen when the LHW division was on fire and retired at 32-33 y/o due his body breaking down on him after 32 fights and 120 amateur fights will simultaneously try and have you believe that Beterbiev, Usyk, Loma are in their primes at 40 y/o, 38 y/o and 37 y/o respectively after 300, 350, and 400 amateur fights and 21-23 pro fights and don't have a ton of wear and tear on their bodies from their extremely extensive amateur careers, decades of year round training and sparring. And even worse, Ward spent half his fights holding like an octopus, coming in with his head like a billy goat, ducking his head between his knees and ankles and whatever other illegal tactics his refs allowed him to employ with impunity to greatly reduce the amount of shots he got hit with and especially the amount of counter punches.
Don't you know? Being American gives you a huge boost in p4p h2h rankings. You don't need resume. Bivol and Beterbiev would be too much,
Always thought Beterbiev would be all wrong for Ward. Wasn't sure on Ward-Bivol but after seeing his performance on saturday night I'm now sure Bivol beats Ward too! Ward knew some elite ATG LHW's were arriving and he meep meep'd the **** outta there.
2 years later, I still stand by this. He beats Bivol...............he beats beats Beterbiev if he can stay away all 12, but Ward loves to go inside
Ward beats them all but toughest fight would be Bivol. High level chess but Ward wins as the Son of God because the devil is a liar. Ward destroyed the best Eastern European in the undefeated Kovalev.
Everybody hating on Ward but neglect the fact he was an excellent fighter and was already dealing with injuries in every camp by the time he got to 175. The best version of Ward at LHW (the one who beat up Sullivan Barrera) would have mugged Bivol. Ward could fight on even terms with Bivol at range but he would have battered Bivol inside, where Bivol is pretty clueless. Ward has too much grit, too much skill, and is too grimy to get beaten by someone as static as Bivol. Beterbiev is a very tough fight for Andre and quite frankly one I don't see him winning but I reckon he could last the distance and make Beterbiev work. Gvozdyk idk how that one goes but my money's on Ward.
I don’t see Bivol beating him. Bivol hasn’t fought a boxer with the variety of tools Ward has in his tool kit, and he doesn’t have the pop to make Ward apprehensive at times like Kovalev did. I think Beterbiev would beat him, I just don’t think Ward could keep him off and Beter is very rough on the inside so Wards rough house tactics on the inside may not work as good on him as they did others… It’s hard to rate Gvozdyk for me.
I really dislike ward..I thought his style was ****in awful and he was a dirty ass fighter, made holyfield look conservative with his head ... but I'd have to be a complete hater to say he would lose all 3...he had alot of dog in him... say worst match up is beterbiev..prime beterbiev would maul him , just how I see it going...think bivol n gvodzyk fights would be close , basically depends on how long they kept Ward from getting inside, can see 7-5 scorecards either way