Are Andre Ward and Terrence Crawford Underrated?

Ward definitely is, think Crawford gets rated fairly

 

I think Ward is probably overrated. He beat some very good / great fighters, but he left too early. All of the guys he beat already lost to others besides Kovalev. He only won belts in 2 divisions as well.

I think Crawford is rated pretty fairly. He may be a tad overrated because he has been rated higher than Mayweather by some fans.

 

Wards win over Dawson is kinda meaningless tbh due to how extremely weight drained the latter was, and his wins over Kovalev were definitely not easy. His first win is a loss to most people and his second win came off of Golota-esque a triple nut punch.

With that being said he probably is underrated for the same reason Klitschko is underrated. He's not a particularly exciting person and his fighting style is both ugly and boring. That's the trifecta of underratedness.

 

Crawford is underrated, Ward is overrated.

 

Ward's resume has pretty well aged like Milk.

Crawford- I think so.

 

I think Crawford is fairly rated by most, I don't think I've seen anyone argue he could take out some of the top 5 ATG names at 147 or 154. Same with Ward: a great fighter who knew how to grind out a win against excellent opposition, but Kovalev was robbed against him in the first fight, and retiring at 33, as Beterbiev and Bivol were both breaking onto the world scene, wasn't a great move for his legacy.

 

They aren't underrated; they’re just not very popular relative to their caliber. Fans very often confuse a fighter's standing with being underrated. Take Larry Holmes, for instance—he’s often said to be underrated. By whom? Most casual fans don't even remember him, but serious analysts who compile rankings always place him high up; he isn't underrated. He’s often ranked above Mike Tyson—who is far more famous and might be considered overrated by the public—but that’s a matter of hype and fame, not actual assessment. Crawford and Ward are highly rated, yet people didn't get as invested in their fights as they do with someone like Canelo; Canelo may be less skilled than them, but he is more famous and earns more money, even though his actual standing is lower.

 

Usyk said he’d pick Crawford over Ray Leonard.

 

I don't think either are underrated TBH.

Crawford has great achievements and great skills which is acknowledged by everyone.

But up until the Spence fight Crawford's resume left alot to be desired. And even some of his notable wins against Spence, Canelo, Gamboa, Brook, have some asterisks over them.

Spence was never the same after the multiple car crashes and possibly suffered some CTE damage.

Canelo hadn't had a stoppage in 4 years and he was winding down in his career.

Gamboa had no business fighting at Lightweight it was a mismatch in size.

Brook got ruined by Golovkin with the eye damage and Crawford basically fought the left overs.

Don't get me wrong I do like Crawford alot but his resume is so-so to me.

As for Ward I think why he don't get as much credit is because at times his style was ugly and some of his wins were controversial.

The Kovalev fights especially left alot of fans with a bad taste in their mouth. And whilst i don't jump on the backwagon necessarily screaming robbery.

I do feel Kovalev was a bit unlucky not to get the nod in their 1st fight.

And whilst Ward was breaking Kovalev down in the rematch the ending did legitimately have a few punches they were definitely low blows.

So all in all I think Crawford is more liked and gets his props but the big fights were a bit too late in his career.

Ward gets his props for being a highly effective fighter but again he's not a fan favourite for his ugly style and the controversial fights vs Kovalev. Not to mention Ward retired a bit too early and didn't quite fulfil what could've been an ATG career.

 

That's because they are good friends and he doesn't want to be disrespectful to Crawford.

And i'd take what Usyk says with a grain of salt have you ever seen his winner stays on answers on YT shorts ?

He basically gives jokingly/sarcastic answers on whoever he likes the most.

On one i saw he picked Chisora to beat Mike Tyson & Tyson Fury when the latter beat him 3 times lol.

 

I dont' think it's meaningless .. Dawson challenged Ward and said he could make the weight .. he pushed for it .. Ward then took him apart. Of course the weight was an issue but again it wasn't like the days Ray Leonard dictated who could fight and made them , Dawson chose to do it and called Andre out. The Kovalev fight were amazing for Ward .. he moved up to fight a dominant champion ant the champions weight an at that champions top of his game .. he was dropped and lost the first third of the fight and came back and made it an either way ... as far as the rematch he came back from where he left off , took him apart and ruined him. I feel you're discounting his accomplishments in a major way.

 

Ward and Crawford are both complete fighters. They can shift gears depending on the situation and still be effective. Its isn't always pretty though.

I think Crawford was feared a little more than Ward was in his prime. If his resume doesn't have as many big names as it should that is the reason. A miniature Liston from '35-47.
He was on the wrong side of the street apparently.

 

Ward actually talked about that fight recently. He feels bad about sending Dawson's career the wrong direction. He basically just wished Chad hadn't called him out.

 

I didn't mean to imply that Ward weight drained Dawson, you're correct in that Dawson imposed it himself for some reason. Regardless of why it happened Dawson looked awful both during the weigh in and immediately during the fight.

I think Ward would have washed Dawson regardless but he looked particularly awful in that fight, to the point I think most top 10 ranked SMW's could have beaten him that night.

And I don't dispute Ward edging out W's against Kovalev is impressive, but it DEFINITELY wasn't "easy".

 

Ward was a fighter I never rooted for while he was active but have come to appreciate more as time has gone by. I know the general forum hates his guts and complains about his commentary religiously. I think Ward is basically punished for being undefeated and getting out early.

His Super 6 run was great beating the consensus #1 Kessler on opening night and dominating Froch with one hand during the finals.

My main gripes were his disappearing act after the tournament and his refusal to fight undefeated IBF champ Lucien Bute who everyone wanted him to fight. Sure hindsight points to Ward probably winning with ease but it was still the most obvious unification fight to make and he pulled the "who has he fought" routine

I thought he lost the Kovalev fight but I thought Kovalev was going to easily KO Ward and early on it looked like he was going to. Then Ward showed a ton of heart and resolve to dominate the second half of the fight and on my card lose the slimmest of margins but get the official win. Following Kovalev II he got out right as 175 was about to heat up with new talent.

I think its sort of the same thing that happens with Floyd, Ward often gets picked on for who he missed out on rather than who he did beat and gets judged often on fighting style and personality

Crawford I think is a victim of circumstances. Fought on Top Rank when Lomachenko and Pacquiao got more of the push, Bob did not seem interested in making those fights. Crawford moved to 147 when PBC had all the big names and he was frozen out

He beat Spence and Canelo so easily that wins became easy to dismiss and he was hardly in a tough fight. Rough moments vs Gamboa and a closer than expected fight at 154 for the WBA, can't remember the guys name now