Highest and Lowest ring IQ's

Ward had sanbagged pro boxing career cos he was allowed to get all Series 6 fights in US in place comfortable for him and his handlers.
Also he had been officiated as A side lad vs Kessler and Kovalev with a glance.
Otherwise he was excellent, really very highly skilled boxer, brilliant level boxer, true Olympic Champion and so on.

 

Lopez fought a very good fight v Loma.

 

I agree, that's why he's on the lower end of the spectrum.

 

I didn't blame Byrd for his caution at all but he was cautious against the small, light punching, badly hurt Byrd, which was before he lost to Sanders and cautious again against the small, light punching, badly hurt Chambers after he lost to Brewster and this was while he had Steward in his corner. This shows that a pronounced tendency toward cautiousness was a recurring theme in Wlad's career. He fought very intelligently against Byrd and did far better than Vitali but it was a cautious performance. I agree that he underestimated southpaw Sanders and got caught cold by his explosive power, speed and headbutts. In retrospect it's easy to say that Wlad should have gone for it against Fury but you have to look at the context: he was at home in Germany and believed he would win a decision (look how he raises his hands in victory at the end) and had he gone more for Fury he would have been countered more and risked gassing and getting hurt. It's a myth that Wlad went for it in 11 and 12: it was Peter telling Tyson to go for it in the 11th and on to take it out of the hands of the judges in Germany. Furthermore, Wlad didn't have the size, intangibles or inside fighting skills to beat Fury in a dogfight and he clearly didn't think he was slipping significantly because he signed a 5 fight extension to his TV deal 4 months before he fought Fury. Not going for a dead-on-his-feet AJ was the epitome of his cautiousness and naivety. Wlad had a very high ring IQ when he was fighting a defensive fight (indispensable in having the longest modern heavyweight title defence run by far) and the great majority of the time his superior athleticism and skills would allow him to get the KO anyway but he lacked the killer instinct of most elite fighters. I agree that prime Wlad would have never lost to Ruiz, not in 10 fights and maybe not in 100 but AJ is no Wlad.