Guys need to realize that Ward, although doesn't have closing KO power, has enough power to control distance and fight. Its not like Froch is just going to walk through him, eat shots and knock him out. One of Wards biggest weapons IMO is the jab. I can't really see Froch winning this one. He will wear a guy down and exploit weaknesses in the later round, but that mainly works against guys who have a leaky defense and or have stamina issues. Ward is simply smarter, more skilled and equally mentally as tough.
By the way, I thought there were clear signs that Ward was intimidated by Froch in the interviews after the fight. The only person who made eye contact was Froch whereas Ward looked away several times. Is it relevant? Possibly.
Ward complained about Kessler using the head and about Bika yet fights very dirty. Froch is a fighter that I like but always feel he lets himself get outworked. I felt Froch lost to Kessler by taking his foot off of the gas when he should have stepped up. Froch is his own worst enemy. He does so much wrong ie when jabbing leaves his right down, goes straight back with his hands down etc, but he wont learn now. I just hope Froch throws more punches and doesnt pull back
Leaves his hands down in front of his opponents,etc. yeah I agree with you. Even with his flaws like letting the older Johnson corner him at times and did not adapt to avoiding the right hand when he should've, he still has enough to make Ward work for the W. With the Kessler fight it could've gone either way but he could've taken it if he did not abandon his jab so much.
Your pyscho-analysis is way off. Ward was in TV presentation mode: " Oh, that Camera"....I would even argue that last long winded rant by Froch was a sign of nerves, e.g. comparing Ward with Fraudley Harrison/James Degaleatsch
Stalked and roughed up!?!? Thats your gameplan? Havent you seen him other pressure fighters? THEY got roughed up and manhandled! Ok, Edison Miranda is one of the most rough and tumble supermids out there, and Ward ended up throwing him around! Look at the Bika fight. Bika's plan was to AT LEAST match Ward's toughness in the inside and mentally break him. Unfortunately, that was the WRONG thing to do lol. Bika ended up getting mentally broke down from the inside in the late rounds. What was AA's plan? STAY AWAY from Ward. What was Ward's plan? Get INSIDE of AA. Lucky the puerto rican ref prevented any inside action or you would have seen AA get severely humiliated.... Froch needs to stick with what he's got going right now. And capitalize on some tactical errors of Ward. Froch needs to let his hands loose (which he has) when he's got Ward in No Man's Land and the end of his range. He must make Ward pay for getting inside. Froch MUST have his right guarding his face. I say this because Ward likes to do a jumping in left hook (ala Tyson). No, i dont think Ward is going to hurt him severely with that punch, but he will unneccessarily score with it if he's got no guard up. This needs to turn into a block and counter, because Ward still dont got the timing & spacing for this punch he likes to do. He hesitates and telegraphs it, and then goes wide or overshoots the head with it. Nevertheless, he uses it to teleport a distance to get inside. This is the only time i ever see Ward off-balance or out of position and needs to be capitalized on. Froch will need to watch the body jabs from Ward. He can win by out-pacing and outworking Ward, which is possible. But he'll need to do that from the outside, which he's been doing. In his postfight interview, Froch said that he doesnt think Ward feels comfortable going forward. So, this is his plan....
I actually think Sakio Bika showed the way, obviously he himself didn't have enough skills but he had the toughness & roughness. This is what I believe Froch posseses aswell. Don't accept the clinch and dirty inside crap, be brutal & dirty on inside aswell and box on outside. If they have a non partial judge I think Froch may get away with that, if he has the skills to take Ward from the outside remains to be seen, but doubtful.
yeah, i noticed that too. Was trying to determine whether he was looking nervous and caught off-guard with a face-to-face w/ Froch, or trying to locate the camera to keep himself at a presentable angle lol whatever the case, he avoided eye contact.... alot
I think the fight showed that Sakio Bika is a really under-rated fighter. Oddly enuf, that was Ward's toughest fight and it wasnt even an official Super6 fight lawlz. But Bika has ALWAYS been a rough&tumble AND awkward fighter. And his plan was to specifically pressure and rough up Ward. Unfortunately, it backfired in the later rounds as Ward proved to be mentally tougher than everyone...
That's not what I saw, I saw Bika, giving Ward all he could handle with less skills, what Bika did on the inside, was excellent, he just didn't have the skills to box with Ward. But he definately made it a tough night for Ward with his inside roughness.
true dat.... Bika did a bang-up job inside. Sadly, much better than any other fighter in the Super6 could offer
Andre Ward's Weaknesses: very, very few. He doesn't have a high punch volume, but he makes up for it with precision, great defense and ring smarts. Froch is going to have number '2' in the 'L' column after they meet.