Andre Ward v. Eubank/Benn/Watson/Toney/RJJ

Agree.

 

I wouldn't say he tracked Nunn down. Toney stayed in the middle of the ring for most of the fight and there is where he did the damage. The thing was just that Nunn's lack of fundamentals became too pronounced against Toney once he tired.

Ward is much less likely to be caught with his chin up and hands down at his waist like Nunn was.

I have never seen Toney convincingly cut the ring down on a mobile fighter. Not against Reggie Johnson, not against Jones and not against Nunn. He wasn't a JCC in that regard, not even close.

 

how come cowardzaghe is not mentioned here?

 

McCallum was smaller and worse than Ward.



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Mike was smaller than Ward, wouldn't say he was inferior. At 154 he was a beast and he did a lot more at 160 than Ward has done at 175 so far. Furthermore, I think he clearly won the rematch against Toney.

But I agree with you that if a 35-year old McCallum could give Toney all he could handle, you'd expect that Ward could do even better 8 lbs north of that. That's my thought as well.

 

McCallum didn't typically dominate his comp like Ward.


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At 154, I'd say he did. Curry and McCrory won some early rds but he won in the most emphatic way possible. By KO (well, McCrory was a TKO, but totally done when stopped).

 

I just finished watching the Johnson fight, and I will say the way he fought the first 3-4 rounds is not really sustainable. Nobody can keep up that movement and throw that many power shots in combination for 12 rounds. James was throwing to the body when he saw how hard Reggie was working. James is smart enough to fight within himself, By which I mean the James Toney you see in round 1 will not look much different in round 12. So he often will lose the first few rounds on volume, this is the way it is with many counter punchers.

Jones is the fastest p4p fighter of all time with the most brilliant offensive mind I've ever seen. There is absolutely no shame in losing to prime Roy Jones for any middleweight ever. Even the Haglers and Monzons of the world would be hard pressed to take 6 of 12 from that Roy Jones.

Nunn was tall and James did what he need to, which was counter at the punch with body shots until the head opened up. Nunn was also a top 20 middle weight who was fast lanky and usually pretty defensively sound.

Ward though he can move well and has good defense when right-handed is poor off the counter from there, he counters far better from the southpaw stance. He isn't great at drawing counters with the intent to counter it. If you are going to move with Toney you have to be great at drawing the counter and countering it. Roy was great at it. Johnson was very good at it for a few rounds. Nunn understood distance well enough to exploit it.

But I don't for a second think that Ward could outhink or out speed a guy like James Toney for 7 out of 12 rounds.:thumbsup