Is Ward now an All Time Great? (As in top 100 of all time)

Last night was a pretty marquee win. Ward always had a solid consistent resume but beating Kovalev as dominantly as he did is his crowning achievement (whatever you think of the low blows, Kovalev was pretty much a spent force). He also has great head to head abilities as well.

I always put resume above head to head abilities because looks can be deceiving if you aren't fighting the very best at the top level. But it helps that Ward is also very skilled & versatile and dominates a lot of his opponents.

So he's got:

Kovalev (at least once, twice if you scored it for him)
Froch
Kessler
Dawson
Abraham
Bika
Miranda

So what do you think, is he there yet? And if not-what would it take for you to place him there?

 

ATG nut puncher for sure.

 

I rate him ahead of FlIVd on atg list. Easily the better resume. FlIVd doesnt have any monsters on his resume.

 

Not in my book. Too many guys with too much depth ahead of him.

Which isn't to say he's not a heck of a fighter, but top 100 is brutal enough to make as it is. Even if you limit it to the original 8 classes, there's only room for the top 10 in each with 20 slots left for everyone else- the junior and super classes & weight jumpers. That averages out to less than one fighter per decade per original weight class making the cut. Good luck making a middleweight top 10 without feeling like youre screwing over a bunch of elite fighters.

Many greats we've never seen on film or were forgotten about so there's also a big recency bias. Taking that into account, for some, he may not be more than a few wins away. There's a ways to go for me to put him there, though.

 

Ward wouldn't beat a prime Jones Jr. or a younger Hopkins

 

Ward resume at 168 was great. But at lightheavy not so, both fight with Kov were controversial. First fight is a lost and second fight would have been a UD victory with different officiating. I have Kov up by a point. Round 8 could have been 9-9 with a point deduction. And if Kov were to allow 5 min rest who knows, but I think ward will win in point. They are essentially 1-1.
I voted not top 100 yet.

 

I don't think he cracks too 100, but he's definitely an ATG between 168-175

 

Boxing goes back so far and there are so many historically great fighters, it's tough to say. I've given up on keeping a running top 50-100 list or anything. But in my book, which I concede doesn't mean a damn thing, Ward is an all-time great. He's proven himself to be the defining fighter of his era in the weight classes he's fought in, and while I think he's too physically underwhelming to really beat any of the light heavyweight monsters throughout history (Charles, Moore, Foster, Saad Muhammad, Conteh, Spinks, etc.), I think he has an all-time great toolbox - even if it isn't pretty at times. I also think he has an all-time great boxing brain. I'd easily rate him above Joe Clazaghe, for reference.

And if he isn't an all-time great, I can't see how he's too far off the mark to be honest. He's not one of my favorites, but I respect the hell out of his ability.

 

He's in a league of his own..... for all the wrong reasons.

Massively overrated by the fans and boxing fraternity in every way imaginable, I hope to seem him sparked unconscious sooner rather than later.....

 

Top 150 without a doubt.

 

To be fair not really sure anyone beats a prime 168 jones and a Hopkins fight is a toss up.

 

Clicked yes by accident, meant to pick the middle option

 

He's a atg no doubt.

 

I seriously doubt that any version of Hops beats Ward from last night. On his best night Hops could possibly outbox him, but he'd have to fight a perfect fight and would need to be very wary of Ward's power. Hopkins couldn't hurt Ward, Ward could seriously hurt Hops.

Prime LHW RJJ vs Ward from last night would be incredible. Would favor RJJ but it'd be a dream fight. I mean RJJ was Ward's idol growing up so I mean that's just a dream fight. You can't hold it against Ward that prime RJJ would probably beat him, but still the Ward from last night would have a legit shot vs prime RJJ.