Andre Ward defensive shield

How so ? Ward beat everone at 168 but Bute. And he has a Kovalev who at the time was the best at 175 . Skillwise ? Ward is a jack of all trades type

 

I think he lost to Kovalev in the first fight and the re-match was unsatisfactory given the ending.

I don’t think his 168 run was as impressive as Usyk’s recent 200 run. Usyk always fought on the road, never had to resort to dirty tactics and a helpful ref and he beat all the top guys winning all the belts taking all their unbeaten records.

 

Yep. I never understood the need to discredit him as many seem to feel. If his stoppage over Kova was bad then Smith's of Grove must be scandalous (the last punch being delivered when Groves was down). I've never seen any other fight were some marginally low blows have caused that much controversy. I can see if one have Kova as the winner of the first fight, it was very close, but a robbery? That also seems unbalanced to me.

And there can hardly be any doubt about any of his wins at 168 lbs.

 

I agree. I actually think cruiserweight was his best weight.

 

I think you have a point, but the Griffin fights were at 175 lbs. Toney looked better at 168 lbs than at 175 lbs, but I think Ward would be a bit tricky for him style-wise.

 

I like Ward a lot and think he was great. I have not thought of his placement among greats as of yet. I like to see a guy retired for 5 years when we can better evaluate them and the era.

My initial thought is his 6 year run at SMW is very solid stuff. I think he will be highly rated there when all is said and done, but being a ******* division it does not have a long and illustrious history. At LHW his stint is brief and outside of hypothetical h2h I don’t think he will rate very high in contrast to longer reigning greats.

 

The Griffin fights were at 175 plus styles make fights and you’ll find a decent amount of folks who felt Toney won one or even both. I haven’t scored them in a while but I felt Toney deserved no less than 1-1.

 

Calzaghe not only had more fights, but also beat better competition.

Calzaghe's Top 3 wins:
Roy Jones
Bernard Hopkins
Chris Eubank

Ward's Top 3 wins:
Carl Froch
Arthur Abraham
Sergey Kovalev

 

Those were chiefly better names. Roy and Eubank didn't have much left at that stage. Hopkins was still a world class fighter, but also past his best. And I'd have Kessler as a better win than Abraham for Ward. Probably Dawson as well.

 

Andre Ward had a mindset of a fighter who refused to be beat and would do anything to win. I might not agree with some of his tactic's but anybody who did not lose at fight since Feb 1988 has to be given credit skill wise for that achievement.

 

He cleaned out his entire era in back to back fights during Super 6...I don't know if anyone's ever done that.

Then he moved up to 175 and KOd kovelev

 

What are you kidding me???
Roy,Eubank and Hopkins were not in their prime.
Roy was coming off knockout losses to Johnson and Tarver.
hopkins was in his Forties. Eubank had lost twice to Collins and fought 1 time prior to meeting JC not to mention his wars with Benn and Watson?
And for all that Hopkins and Jones both still knocked JC on his butt.
six years earlier they stop JC

 

True but Joe was passed his prime for RJJ and Hopkins.