How to beat Andre Ward

Be a prime Roy Jones or Joe Calzaghe.

 

Hopkins should be favoured as well, Toney would be a good tactical fight. Hearns and Eubank have a decent shot.

 

I have previously favoured Dirrell in a Dirrell-Ward matchup. Dirrell has very good speed, good movement, decent pop on his shots. However, I have been very impressed by Ward recently, I have come to appreciate his boxing more.

His judge of distance is excellent, an example being how he took Froch's jab away from him completely...looked out of range as made Froch miss his long jab, but then he was suddenly in range to land his own shots, then out of range again.

Very good feinting could counteract and mess up his distance IMO. Feint the jab, if Ward takes the bait, prepare to catch him on the way in whilst not getting caught up too long in the mid range were Ward is particularly effective and very good at neutralising his opponents own work.

I can't quite remember how the Bika-Ward bout played out because I was very drunk, but assuming my drunken mind wasn't playing tricks on me...I thought that bout was quite close, and Bika had success.

Ward doesn't hit hard, but he can make you walk on to shots and use your own momentum to increase the effectiveness of his punches. Someone who can uphold a very good pace/willing to walk through shots and make Ward uncomfortable could possibly cause him some problems IMO. I don't see it though.

 

Ward is the most versatile fighter at 168, one of the most verstile in the world. A fighter would need to either dominate on the outside with speed; essentially pull a Mayweather pot-shot and run routine, or be able to absolutely bang on the inside. Outside of Dirrell, I don't see him out-quicked. Bute's body punching would add some drama on the inside, though.

One thing I would bet is that this would not get the job done:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACgTJhEdj5M[/ame]

 

Against who did Andre Ward get knocked down?
Wasn't he knocked down already at least two times?

Looking at those fights, could give an answer, although he improved since that of course.

How about Ben's style? Getting knocked down 4 times and through the ropes, get him tired and punch a few times at the back of his head and voila knockout.
Na seriously a fast puncher could get him.

 

Bute actually could cause him problems, and so could Froch IF only he had speed. But i'd still favor prime Joe Calzaghe, RJJ & Bhop to beat him. But that's about it

 

So Calzaghe isn't a puncher we all know that, he very much at least in his prime could beat Ward by sheer volume of punches It be stupid to just dismiss that, I don't even like Calzaghe but you can't pretend like he didn't have a high ring iq and wasnt a top super middleweight fighter he was.

 

Darnell Boone. Incredibly underrated fighter might I add. To the best of my knowledge, the only fight in which Ward has been knocked down.

 

Excellent post. :good

 

Andre Dirrell would have given Andre Ward fits. Damn shame that fight never came off. Andre Dirrell had the speed, jab and athletic ability to really test Ward in ways he yet to be tested in.

 

I'd have to rewatch a few fights before I even know where to begin. I suppose I'd make him lead to overextend, and use an ambush style on him. Then again, every game-plan I seem to concoct for a fighter that counter-punches well seems to consist mainly of that. A plan would have to depend on the fighter going up against him.

 

The punches would need to either be extremely quick and accurate, which Joe's were not, or packed with power, which you admit Joe's were not.

Look at that video and tell me what in it convinces you Joe could win.

 

I get where you're coming from, but when Andre Ward got knocked down he didn't really have the inside game he has now. I think he just got caught with a short left hook if memory serves me right (or maybe I'm just remembering a fight in which he was stunned). However, the fight that I'm remembering he was a middleweight, and it looked like he was also struggling a bit to make weight.

 

Tell that to Darnell Boone.

 

Darnell Boone didn't beat Ward.