Ward seems to conjure up either positive or negative responses. Not much grey area. Any thoughts or opinions of him as a fighter and a man?
Don't recall really seeing Andre Ward threads over the past few years here, or hearing his name being mentioned that much at all .... I'll just say I think there's a reason for it
Seems to be a thoroughly decent man, even though a bit of a diva with certain things here and there with regards to when he was fighting. As a fighter he was a total bore, ugly to watch. He was in his 20s fighting like the late 40s version of Hopkins. Bent all the rules, but was a smart fighter. Not a great IMO but one of the better fighters of the last 10-15 years.
I think he was a helluva fighter. Very smart, he just knew what he was doing in a boxing ring. He was one of those fighters who never seemed that stressed in there. Definitely under appreciated.
Andre Bored ... I like MMA. I like boxing. But when you have boxing with MMA except that you can grab hold of a guy but not actually submit him, it becomes awful.
Would have loved to see Ward vs Bummy Davis ... thats my new all time fantasy fight come to think of it ... Bummy would be giving up 25 pounds but my money would be on him .. kick to the balls for the KO .. or the left hook ... take your pic
Its hard to rank a guy who's peak came at super middle. Generally, 168 has been a division guys used as a stepping stone to get to 175; I can't rank him at 175. He has two "wins" against Kovalev. He lost the first and won the second in my book. I can't see a case for him being a top 30 all time light heavy. In terms of skill, i like slick boxers. But Ward's holding and clinching was too over the top. Still, he was skilled, had good power, and had a great run at 168. At 168, he is all time top 3,
Andre was a very adaptive schooled fighter with an ever growing arsenal from day one, He worked with what he had to his full extent.
Ward was a smart, adaptable/versatile campaigner, but I never bought into the 'technical genius' spiel that a few fans attempted to propagate.
Ward wasn't a holder, he was a roughhouse inside fighter. There's a difference. Holders hold because they can't box in close. Not the case for Ward who was a great inside fighter.
I rate him pretty high to be honest. I would favor him over BHop at 175 and probably have him tops @ 168. I do think Kov shaded him in the first fight but he utterly destroyed Kov as he was never ever the same again. Very smart fighter who new how to properly utilize his tools. I enjoy watching his training vids as he really knew his stuff. I think he could have hung with anyone at 175 TBH