Charlie point still stands and that is that Lacy never beat anyone as good as Kessler and on top of that Ward and Lacy styles don't make them even comparable.
Except that, prior to losing against Joe Calzaghe, Jeff Lacy appeared to be heading for superstardom after displaying amazing power and boxing skills in his first few championship fights. Just watch the Robin Reid fight, or better, just read some threads in the 2004-2005 area in the archives. People thought Lacy was unbeatable, pretty much like they do with Ward now. I was one of the very few people on this forum who was picking Calzaghe to win. It's hilarious how prior to his lost against Ward, Kessler was just an ''european hypejob'' according to posters on this forum. But when Ward beats the european hypejob, he suddenly becomes the best thing since sliced bread ? I love ESB. edit: I said HYPE, not skills.
Before tonight Bute wasn't looked upon as favorably as he was after the fight so you should appreciate the fickleness of ESB because it has benefited Bute, a fighter you are obviously a fan of.
i see your Point I Know jeff was hyped like crazy but lacy never had the skills ward has .... so what if wards hyped hes 100 times better then lacy, U put ward in with calzaghe it would be a close fight and I actually think ward could sqeauk out a win , he beat kessler , abraham is just a strong wild puncher kessler is a great fighter ward beat his ass point blank
Like I said, I'm not saying Ward isn't good. I'm just saying, we should leave the kid a chance to prove his worth before proclaiming he's some sort of God.
Bute fights a whole other fight than kessler, and cannot be the underdog against ward. His KO win over andrade isn't getting proper credit on here. And i'm especially hearing it from the new wardtards because bute now is crowding ward's space. Alot of posters on here thought bute would fold against andrade after the first fight, but he does the opposite. He folds andrade. To me, bute could be the match-up to be matched up with the very best at 168. And a fight with ward at this point would be a true pick'em.
It'll be a pick'em all right...Ward by UD or Ward by T/KO....pick one Before the stoppage Bute was fighting nervous the entire time. Andrade was even snapping Bute's head back with his own punches in that last round before the stoppage. Ward would have a field day tee-ing off on Bute's face all night, cutting him up enroute to a late round stoppage. Bute doesn't have the footwork, handspeed, or reflexes to match Ward. Quite possibly a much easier fight than Kessler.
Very tough call, and that says alot about how Ward's stock has been raised in my eyes because I've always rated Bute highly on a head to head aspect.