Now that Bud established himself as a great 168 pound fighter how does he do against Andre Ward who beat Froch and Dawson?
Bud does badly. Very badly. And it's not about Ward being better.. because P4P Crawford's better and greater than SOB... but Ward was an ENTIRELY different level than Canelo.
I assume Ward and Calzaghe and Toney and Kessler beat either Crawford or Alvarez at 168. I assume Bob Foster would beat Tommy Hearns at light heavyweight. I make a lot of assumptions because the doctor has diagnosed me with something called assumptivitis.
I didn’t like Ward as a fighter, but he would beat both Canelo and Crawford at 168. Comfortably. 168 is probably Crawfords upper limit size wise and Canelo was also not nearly as good at 175. At 168 Ward is bigger, and he’s a very effective fighter.
Ward would actually be able to land from range, it just gives him another dimension which Crawford can’t then rely on outboxing him from range the way he did Canelo.
Crawfords win last night was amazing. But I can’t see him making a long stint at 168. What we saw yesterday are two aging ( albeit great ) champions, neither of whom were naturals at super middle. A prime Andre ward would be a bridge too far to cross I think.
Dimensions played a big part in Canelo-Crawford. Bud ain't dictating the pace and range against Ward.