That Ward-Froch was one of the best pure displays of the sweet science in years? I keep seeing a lot of people complain, but it was a very solid tactical fight between two fighters with high skill and talent levels. Obviousy the better fighter won, but I don't think we see that too often these days.
Yes. My respect for Froch went up a lot. He showed he can box and is unorthodox and tricky as hell. He just met a superior fighter but this fight had a little bit of everything. In-fighting. Out-fighting. Both fighters landing hard, flush shots. Determination displayed by both fighters. I think both were stunned at least a couple of times. This was a tough fight that took a little out of both fighters IMO but very high level stuff.
I agree, this was a delight to watch. It was obvious Ward was using a Mayweather-type style but Froch still made him dig deep. Froch was all class, no excuses and you could tell he was already thinking about how to get it right the next time -- that's a real fighter in my book.
Both guys fought hard for a full 12 rounds, used real technique and played to their strengths. I have trouble thinking of other recent fights where that happened other than Marquez-Diaz and the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy. Obviously Ward had more skill, but it was still one of the better overall displays I can remember recently. Both men had their stock go up in my book. And for Ward, not only did he lock up my fighter of the year award, but I he may have dropped into my P4P top 6, which has been the same 6 guys for about 18 months now.
Good technical fight, yes. Ward showed some good world-class stuff from distance and on the inside, and Froch was game and fought back as well as he could. He's a tricky fighter, despite his lack of athleticism.
Ward put on a Master display tonight, he stood in front of Froch and peppered him with his very good jab he really put on a great show
Ward's physical toughness and mental determination are (or were) pretty underrated. Aside from Floyd, I can't think of another current fighter with that kind of mental discipline from ding to dong. His head was always in the fight and he was really relaxed in there when you consider the magnitude of the fight and where Ward is in his career.
