Debate over. Andre Ward is the greatest SMW ever, well clear of Calzaghe.

I'll ask again.Outwith the Romanian pretending to be a French Canadian,who could Ward have fought that he hasn't?

Calzaghe's first six opponents as a world champ were;Eubank,Sobot,Gimenez,Reid,Thornberry and Starie

Ward's six are;Kessler,Green,Bika,Abraham,Froch and Dawson.

I don't hate Calzaghe one jot but to suggest that Ward's resume is vastly inferior at a similar stage of his career is ludicrous.
Ward couldn't have done anymore at this stage.When you look at Joe's reign the fact is it was a joke for a long,long time.The one thing he did do was prove he did belong at the top level,albeit a bit later than he should have.

 

Damn Baileys going crazy , cut n pasting same post in same thread already !


Ward clearly has the better resume now , no denying this fact as the poll shows

 

i think longevity and the amount of defenses still gives the edge to Calzaghe but Ward is definitely in an accelerated pace to be the best based on achievements problem is he is out of opponents

also Ward has US TV on his side and a tournament that made his big fights happen

Joe was champ but couldnt get the Jones Jrs and Hopkin's of the world to get in the ring with him

Ward simply got more opportunities than Caalzaghe who Ottke also avoided

I still rank Joe as one but Ward can definitely reach the one spot

 

"Don't worry son, he's not that good anymore"

 

This is debatable. Check this thread out:-

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=257163

 

Big letters here,

Let me break it down

1st point means nothing, he was never undisputed all at the same time and how many defenses of this full title if you call it that did he make ?


point 2 = ***WBO in Wales same -time as another man in the same division had 20 defenses also of some of the more major titles, absoloute bull**** statistic

point 3 = point 2

 

The WBO is nothing but a fringe title and most of those defenses were meaningless. Calzaghe had 6 legitimate title fights and even after obtaining a title he still hid in the shadows from the real challenges. Ward already has more legitimate title defenses. Calzaghe should be compared to fighters more similar level of accomplishment.

 

Old post below, but you will get the point

Enjoy :hi:

 

Where you have written for the WBO vs limited competition.
I just wanted to highlight some details to you.
The SMW divisions first world champs were WBC 1988, WBA 1987, IBF 1984 & WBO 1988.
Now for a start it is a new division so no belt has any more prestige than the other as they were all started at a similar time. So the WBO SMW title has no less prestige than the others.
Consider also that the WBO at SMW has been involved in 4 unification bouts.
The IBF has been involved in 2
The WBA in 3
WBC in 4 also
This shows that the WBO has been as willing to make top fights at SMW as much as any other governing body.

Now look at the list of champs in each and who they defended against and you can see that the WBO SMW title has produced the best defences overall better than all of the other govening bodies in this particular weight division so far.
Consider how much critism Bute gets now for his IBF defences.
Consider M Beyer defending his WBC title against 26-14-5 fighter who was coming off of a win against a 0-2-0 fighter
Or that Mundine when defending the WBA title against a 24-13-5 fighter who was the same fighter that WBC champ Beyer was defending against above.

People bring up Eubank who helped mould the belt that was good enough to give T Hearns a slice of history making. Out of Eubanks 18 WBO SMW title fights 14 of those fights were against fighters who were, had been or became top 10 SMWs. One was a unification and another was against the undefeated former IBF SMW champ (relinquished his title). In fact 6 of the fighters he faced had been or became world champs


Robert gets schooled again

 

Of course its debateable. Just because I think that Hopkins is one of the best MWs ever doesnt mean everyone else does and counters are always interesting

 

Other than not ducking Bute, Ward couldnt have done much more. There were no top SMWs to fight who were undefeated etc

at the time Calzaghe had beaten -
Eubank a far greater win than Kessler
Woodhall who had a better SMW resume than Froch at the time
Reid who was a better SMW than Dawson
Veit who was undefeated and became a SMW champ and had a better SMW resume than Abraham who was 1-2 in his last 3 fights when Ward fought him
Sheika who was top 10 rated and had beaten G Johnson, who A Green was KOd by years later when shot.
Starie top 10 rated who had beaten undefeated C Woods who became IBF LHW champ

 

Behave Pity :nono

 

Dawson has always been overhyped ordinaryness.

barely better than someone like Robin Reid.

 

yeah but you only think hopkins is one of the best MW's ever because calzaghe fought him and it lends weight to your pro argument for him

if hopkins never fought calzaghe youd be screaming blue murder

 

Wow, this thread seems like a massive over-reaction, Dawson has beaten nothing but C-Level pensioners in his career and has been badly exposed whenever he has fought a legit young challenger in pascal and ward.

Lets see how Ward develops before we suck his dick too much, he could end up losing his next 3 fights at 168 and then your post will look even more laughable than it is now.