Andre Ward: Too much criticism, not enough credit?

I agree with you about Dirrell I really wanted to see that fight because it would have tested him against someone who was a better natural athlete with faster hands and better reflexes than Ward. it's a shame that fight never happened.

 

I disagree Kovalev was the most feared and seen as a killer on top of that he was a proven top 10 P4P talent. Beterbiev wasn't.

 

He does get way too much criticism, he has consistently fought great competition. I felt he lost to Kovalev, but he's not a judge so its unfair to use that to criticize him. He showed a good beard and heart against Kovalev though, so he still deserved credit for a gutsy performance.

 

It boggles my mind the lack of credit andre ward get's, His resume is far better than kovalev's and all the people who praise kovalev as this amazing fighter never give ward credit. Weather you believe ward won or lost the last fight it was CLOSE, So by definition if you rate kovalev so highly and don't give credit to the guy who gave him such a close fight you obviously have some other motive behind your lack of willingness to give credit.

I think we all know what it really comes down to and that is HATERS GONNA HATE.

 

as ive said several times...if you are a boxing fan you have a level of respect for ward....you might not like his style...u might even hate it....its not for everyone....but anyone calling themselves a boxing fan shouldn't be trashing this guy and should have some respect for him.....anyone that questions him and bashes him should be dismissed immediately

 

You might like his fighting style, that's fine.

I'm just not a big fan of clinching in boxing.

 

The Ward haters who think Kovalev destroyed him missed one of the greatest matches of skill, tactics, and drama you'll ever see. Great match, and there's nothing in boxing I'm more excited for than seeing these guys together again.

 

I do think he gets too much flak these days.

I was a critic of the way his career was heading before because I was afraid he was going the Winky Wright route of sabotaging his career, but he fixed the areas that were leading him down that path. His activity level increased, the level of competition increased. He's shown heart.

Time to give the guy some credit, even if one scored the first fight for Kovalev.

 

Very ugly style but very effective and has had a great career both amatuer and Pro. Unfortunatly he is very unlikable hence not many people like him. But above anything his career has just been so slow, too much innactivity you struggle to build momentum and it seems to hamper building a fanbase. Yeah he has his Oakland leisure centre folk but on paper you think he would be a huge star.

 

Well I think he lost the Kovalev fight handily. Then he appeared to be dicking about with the rematch. He's now signed on so we can move on from the silly wrangling - and it was silly as he'd already got every concession he could hope for in the first fight.

The Gold medal is beyond criticism from what I can gather, his fouling of Kessler was pretty ugly to witness though and he managed to get very special treatment during the S6. All of his fights were at home, mostly in Oakland. He never had to face Dirrell and as previously said got to foul a semi-injured Kessler (who I think he would of beaten anyway). Then following that tournament he outright refuses to take on the last remaining threat in the division, Bute. Again I think he would of won but he was along all sorts of stupid sounding crap about why that fight didn't need to/shouldn't be made.

The he drags the main guy at 175 down to 168 when it clearly makes a lot more sense to move up. Then he talks a load of **** about going to 160 for Mayweather whilst not fighting for a long time. The he fight Paul Smith in a pointless fight. The he takes one decent fight at 175 and another pointless one. Only then do we get to the Kovalev fight.

There's a lot there to put someone off without mentioning anything to do with his boring personality and sense of entitlement.

FWIW - I could do a similar list on Golovkin/Canelo/Cotto/Wlad/Fury and a whole bunch of others.

 

P4P number 1. **** style, very cautious in and out of the ring & used to head butt a lot but still the best out there at the moment

 

I have nothing but respect for ward, American Judges though......

 

Sorry but you can't b!tch about Wards resume. That's just silly. And FYI Dawson called Ward out and offered to come down to 168, Ward didn't drag anyone down.

 

You can point out that he's had the red carpet rolled out from day one allowing him to dictate terms to all of his opponents. That's a huge advantage. I don't think it's out of line to point out what I did in my previous post, what he has achieved is still very impressive I just think to ignore some of the context of his wins would be to do boxing a disservice.

He should of just moved up to beat Dawson, he didn't need to fight so dirty against Kessler to win - or have all his fights at him tbh, he was lucky to not have to face the tricky Dirrell - a real wasted talent IMO and he should of beaten Bute post S6.

The most annoying thing being that I think he didn't need any of the above.

 

hes had the "red carpet" rolled out no more than any other blue chip guy ....he signed with goosen who, while fine, was no powerhouse...its not like he had top rank and arum rolling out the red carpet..or a powerhouse like golden boy was

he didnt exactly have to twist any arms to make his fights either.....its the same ole with you people.....golovkin gets every excuse made in the world for his career....but someone like ward has to have every facet put under a microscope so you can find something wrong...yeah ward was an olympic gold medalist.....hes had the carpet rolled out no more than any other big US olympian....and hes taken tough fights and never had any real trouble getting a fight done

would you drive 1.5 hours to work each way everday.....or take a job 10 minutes from your home for equal pay and benefits? if not traveling ever stopped ward from getting good fights and building a solid resume you could have a case....but you dont