Usyk for sure. More dominant at Cruiser than Ward was at Super-Middle, and did it without home advantage or having to compromise his opponents in some way. No cuts caused by butts (accidental or otherwise) ala Kessler, and no pulling an opponent down from the weight class above, ala Dawson. As for how they fared once they moved beyond their natural divisions....Not much of a comparison, really. Ward squeezed out a contentious verdict against Kovalev and then used his balls as a speed bag to win the return. Usyk spotted Joshua 20 lb but outclassed him and had him teetering on the edge of being stopped first time out, and still beat him legitimately in a return despite less than ideal preparation.
I mean Andre Ward did win the Super Middleweight tournament like Usyk did in the Cruiserweight division, both divisions at the time were pretty competitive. And Ward won pretty much all his fights at Super Middleweight fairly comfortably, without coming to close to being defeated so Ward was pretty dominant aswell Usyk has the edge because he unified all the titles, but regarding their best wins and the fact they both won their respected tournaments in there division. I would say overall very little separates them in that regard. Well you could also say Joshua hasn't been the same since losing to Ruiz, and the fact that Kovalev was the most feared man in boxing at that time and rated P4P number 2 when Ward defeated him. Yes the 1st fight was a controversial decision, but i think the whole low blow excuse in the 2nd fight gets overblown. Ward was breaking Kovalev down with legit body shots between rounds 5-8 and the stoppage always looked likely. Overall i would say Usyk is the greater P4P fighter aswell, but you needed a bit more context for Ward in your post so it's a fair argument for both fighters.
Usyk all day. Ward managed to win his fights in his mom's basement in Oakland. Usyk did it on the road and cleared out cruiser when it was a shark tank.
This isn't even a question Well not for anyone with a shred of decency and integrity it isn't I mean how could it be? Usyk far better amateur, far better pro Fighter A. Won, defended, and unified all their world titles in their opponent's backyards and who jumped at the chance to fight in their opponent's backyards at the drop of a hat time and time again Fighter B. Had home advantage, whether it be town, city or country, for every single one of their fights vs world class opposition and categorically refused to ever travel to their opponent's backyard even once during their entire career or play by a set of rules they expected everyone else to play by but never would themselves Fighter A. Brought two legal weapons into the ring and won all their fights via clean boxing and the application of legal skills and who is literally one of the cleanest fighters of all time and one who I don't recall ever seeing foul anyone Fighter B. Brought five weapons into the ring not the legal two and is one of the dirtiest fighters of all time and whose style revolved around the excessive use of illegal tactics and fouling the crap out of his opponents religiously (pun intended) which was integral to their success. Hence why they were so opposed to fighting on a level playing field or one which wasn't stacked in their favour (often heavily) Fighter A. Had a grand total of 1 home judge for one fight out of all his world title fights and zero home refs Fighter B. Had refs from their country for every single one of their fights, 23 of them from their home state which is a huge advantage for an incredibly dirty fighter, and a scandalous amount of home state judges and just home country ones too, including have a full set for so many of their fights Fighter B. Never once tried to stack the deck in their favour at the negotiating table and never would've refused to allow neutral judges to work their fights in a million years because they're a genuinely lovely person and a genuine devout Christian Fighter B. Wouldn't sign on the dotted line unless the deck was stacked in their favour and they had every advantage which could be wangled in their favour wangled in their favour and categorically refused to allow a single neutral judge to work the rematch for a fight their three home judges had robbed the world titles off their opponent in their first encounter Watch. Most revealing This content is protected Fighter A. is not a cheat and never has been and the entirety of the success in the sport hinged upon the application of skill and clean boxing Fighter B. is a serial cheat and their success hinged upon excessive cheating You do the math This content is protected ''I'm glad that I can win ugly sometimes (ROFL), because at the end of the day it's just about winning, right? ''I'm just saying, man, every cut I got is a headbutt or an elbow. Every single one. ''But that's why there's a third man in the ring (ROFL)'' ''All these are either blatant headbutts or elbows, literally blatant. Not one of these was from a punch'' "We expected this kind of fight with Bika," Ward said. "Every laceration I have was literally [from] a headbutt or an elbow. I clearly remember each one of them. That's what you get when you fight a guy like Sakio." ---Andre Ward after the Bika fight ''At the end of the day, boxing is already a tough enough business to not have to put up with illegal blows. ''I don't mind the occasional foul if it's an accident but the intentional stuff I just can't put up with it'' --Andre Ward
Has to be a troll thread. This forum doesn't rate Ward, while Usyk is highly touted around here. I would also say both are for good reasons. Ward is a dirty fighter with questionable wins and doesn't own a passport. Usyk is a road warrior, a superb technician, clean fighter, with a stellar career in both pros and ams.
THIS! And Usyk won his fights within the rules, without corruption, and in his opponent’s backyards!!! How many fights did Ward have outside the US again???? Case Closed
Whilst Ward actually has a decent resume and came away “unbeaten”, Usyk’s is far supreme and is unbeaten. From here until he retires he’ll only further cement that case.
Right now Ward. Dude just has more dominant and better wins at 168 vs cruiser for Usyk. Ward top 3 wins at 168: Froch - dominant win Kessler - dominant win Dawson or Abraham - both dominant wins Usyk top 3 wins at cruiser Briedis - controversial win that a lot thought should be a draw Gassiev - dominant win but he’s no froch or Kessler Glowacki or Hunter - glowacki was a dominant win but Hunter was super competitive. Give me Wards top 3 wins over Usyk at 168 vs 200. At LHW vs HW Ward has 2 wins over a top 3 p4p guy who was destroying everyone. Even if you had Kov winning the first, Ward set Kovalev up with a perfect right hand that had him stumbling and doing the stanky leg. The usual suspects try and cry about “low blows” when the fight was clearly over before Kovalev bent over putting himself in a position where body shots would stray low. Funny how these same people won’t say anything about their fighters landing rabbit punches (Loma vs Haney) or headbutts (Loma vs Teo). Usyk has a win over Joshua. It’s a really good win, but no one in their right mind thinks Joshua is on the level of a Kovalev. Also everyone knows post Klistchko Joshua was not the same animal. Usyk also arguably lost or drew against Chisora a low level fighter. Now if Usyk beats Fury, he’s def ahead of Ward imo. But as of now give me Ward.
There wins and career trajectory on paper are almost identical, but the context surrounding the fights have to be taken into consideration. Usyk is a clean fighter inside the ring, and its hard to say where and when he had any advantages over his opponents. Ward on the other hand pushed the boundaries of the rulebook and was always surrounded by his hometown judges and officials. He even forced Kovalev to basically fight for free if he wanted a shot at Ward. These things do matter, and in the case of these two fighters with their wins doing very little to separate them, Wards antics get highlighted. A lot of fighters get heavy criticism, but In Wards case it does feel justified, even if the criticism is coming from a place of hate.
