Better Inside Fighter: Andre Ward or FMJ?

Nice JMM avy Zop. Wonder why no one sports the Rafael Marquez ones that much?

Anyways its no coincidence that both had the best recent infighting examples of the past few years(Also JMM/Katsidis). People forget how damn good Floyd is in the inside as he rarely does it but against Cotto he was brilliant. Was only surprised how well Cotto fights inside hopefully he continues so he can break guys down with it. Against Mosley, Floyd was solid with it aswell but people forget that as it wasn't frequent.

Have to go with Floyd by a small margin but him, Hops, JMM, Ward,etc(think I'm missing a few of these times?) are the best at it in modern times. Some do it more than others(Ward and Hops over Floyd and JMM) but all are excellent at it.

Infighting is a lost art as is the basic forms of defense(glove by ear deflecting headblows, catching jabs with dominant hand, covering chin with shoulder to evade punches, basic footwork to get out of punching distance shortly to avoid blows,etc.)

 

Good post, and thanks for the AV compliment. I used to rock a Rafa AV back in the day. :good

I'd say Cotto is a pretty damn good in-fighter as well, not only from last saturday, but he has shown several times to be effective on the inside, especially around his days at 140lbs. Against Pacquiao, he landed some nice shots on the inside as well.

Morales was also excellent on the inside, as well as Barrera and J.L Castillo of course, who is one of the best in-fighters of the past decade IMO.

 

Not much power lol, but Juan Diaz is a good inside fighter. Forget JMM went to war with him on the inside too.

Forgot the names you mentioned which are great mentions. I've been meaning to look at more Castillo fights especially since more are available since the last time I've checked. Corrales was great on the inside too and Paul Williams does well. Both did/do(do for Williams) well for their sizes at their weights.

 

Its pretty crazy how good Williams is on the inside with those long ass arms of his.

 

Not suppose to be happening. His uppercuts on Wright were the oddest punches I've seen in a while.

 

Plus, elbowing and pushing opponents are crucial aspects of Floyd's style.

 

techks, i can't believe neither of us mentioned Toney here...he's only one of the very best in-fighters of modern times. atsch

 

:scaredas::-(

Yep I completely forgot about him. Was thinking about getting some of his fights. Guy is happens to be one of the last of a dying breed as far as master technicians of his time that are still active too(Toney, JMM, Hopkins, Floyd, R. Marquez, Ko bros maybe?, Morales, Barrera, Holy,etc.)

Holyfield was great on the inside too.

 

Both are great and effective but Ward is more of a spoiler on the inside than PBF is. I say it's about even.

 

Also both are complete fighters who can fight at all ranges with good defense and a high ring IQ. So it's no wonder these two are the most complete boxers in the game today.

 

It's hard to gauge, but I favor Floyd at this time. Hes been fighting guys a lot bigger than him up close. I'd like to see Ward fight up in weight a little before I make my call

 

Based on the quality of his opposition's inside game, you have to give it to Floyd. He manhandled guys much bigger than him, can land pretty much any punch in the book even on the inside, and can get in and out basically whenever he wants. How many times do you see someone try to bumrush Floyd into the ropes, then turn around wondering how the **** he got behind him in the first place.

 

Its close...but Ward

 

Cant compare Floyd's opposition to Wards. Ward looks like he's more dominate on the inside because he's fighting scrubs like Kessler and Green. Froch doesnt compare in skill level to Miguel Cotto lol.

 

Ward, but the gap isn't too big at all.