Andre Ward

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Go to 2:15. Ward didn't land any shot, low or otherwise, from the moment Weeks began to move towards them to stop the fight.

I agree any potential low blows in the final salvo, had no impact on the outcome of the fight. Ward had it won.

 

I saw at least one good hook get in.

 

You saw a punch land AFTER Weeks started to jump in? Because that isn't what the footage shows.

 

But was he cleaner than Saddler, Pep, and Pedroza?

 

I'm from SF so I followed Ward his entire career, even attending some of early fights in Oakland.
He didn't have the most exciting style, and I wasn't a huge fan, but I had no choice but to respect him and eventually consider him high up on the P4p list of his era, at one time may be even taking the top spot.

Ward gained national recognition through the Super 6 Tournament (168 pounds) as a substantial underdog, dominating all comers, including highly touted Mikkel Kessler, dangerous thug Arthur Abraham, and exciting fan favorite Karl Froch.

It was a great victory winning that tournament. He basically cleaned out his entire division in the span of a year or so.

After that he was unfortunately less active, going more than a year in between fights at times.
He was not finished though, he ended up moving to 175, taking on and stopping a dangerous former champ in Chad Dawson, and eventually taking on one of the most heavily hyped and feared fighters of the last 15 years, Sergey Kovalev.

Again, fighting as an underdog, he came off the canvas to fight on even terms and win the decision, and in the rematch he clearly dominated Kovalev and forced him to quit in shame.

One thing about Ward: similar to B-Hop, he was not known as a particularly hard puncher, but for whatever reason, fighters were never the same after fighting him.
Froch went on to have decent success after their fight, but even he seemed to have a little less in the tank after mixing it up with Ward .

And as a commentator he is absolutely fabulous. He brings an insightful perspective to the action, and breaks it down in a way the audience understands.

I ran into Ward at a City Sports Clubs gym in Hayward CA in 2015, and I can tell you the dudes neck is as thick as a tree trunk. Probably one reason he could take a punch so well.

Andre Ward should go down as a top 10 fighter of the last 20 years, and me personally I would have him closer to top 5

I never considered him a dirty fighter. Sure he opened a cut on Kessler via headbutt, but he whooped Kesslrts a** up and down in that fight. It was just an old fashioned beating. Take away the headbutt and Kessler still got clowned.
A lot of people claim low blows vs Kovalev. I didn't see them as any significant factor. Ward just outfought that boy. Sure a few shots might have strayed low, but again, Kovalev got a thorough up and down beating.

 

Andre Ward was a great fighter, the rare type like a Whitaker, a Byrd, a Hopkins that took fighters out of their rhythms and made them out of synch. Not flashy but extremely clever and simply operated on a different level.

 

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At the 2:55 mark referee Tony Weeks shows Ward what is a legal blow and what would be low.

At the 34 minute mark with 1:50 left in the 8th round Ward hit Kovalev exactly where Weeks said it was ok to hit and Krusher doubled over. There were maybe seven or eight more body shots landed by Ward in the final 1:15 of the fight. Some were above the belt line, some were on the Weeks-ruled legal belt line and one was borderline at worse.

Kovalev got destroyed by legal shots to the body and gave up before more could happen to him.

By the way, for those into such things, the final 90 seconds of this fight is a very interesting watch at 1/4 speed.

 

Ward is the guy who lost to Kovalev in their first fight but was awarded the decision, but won the rematch in controversial fashion.

 

I thought he won the first fight. It was certainly close and tough to score, but Ward recovered from a big knockdown, fought his way back into the fight, and was taking it to Kovalev by the final stretch of the fight.
The rematch sealed the deal

 

Same. I had Ward by one point.

 

He actually fought Dawson at 168. That win has a lot more meaning than some will admit, but in hindsight he should've just done a catchweight or had it at 175.

 

H2H the best super middleweight in history after Jones, and in light heavyweights he's probably in the top 5.

He cleaned up the 168lbs (Froch, Abaham, Kessler, etc), retired, came back and beat an ATG and prime Kovalev twice.

If that's not greatness, I don't know what your concept of that term is.

 

While I agree Kovalev got broken down by legal body shots - still, last couple punches were low. Referee stepped in after Kovalev looked at him, after He got hit with at least 2 low blows while bending over on the ropes.

One could say that Golota destroyed Bowe with legal punches - and low blows were not necessary or rational, but people make mistakes and Ward made a mistake by going low. Then ref made a mistake by allowing him to get away with it.
It's not really argument from me to make a case for Ward being dirty, I never subscribed to that criticism and I thought that ref hurt Ward moreso than Kovalev, taking away opportunity for clean victory from him, like I already wrote.
Still, it is what it is. You just can't win a fight on foul.

 

Yeah, I think the performance against Dawson gets underrayed just because it was so dominant. A bit like Cotto-Martinez. Douglas-Tyson fits this bill also and even Foreman's domination of Frazier gets dismissed by some.

When a fighter exceeds expectation by a significant degree many tend to see it as that the opponent must have been in such a bad shape that the fight was almost insignificant. That's takingnit all too far on my book.

Yes, having the fight at 175 would have meant more and Dawson could very well have been drained making weight, but it is still a very sharp performance by Ward. Him at his absolute peak I'd say.

 

Ward was the only guy who could’ve done that to Dawson and he no doubt was giving up a ton of weight in ring.