James Toney vs Andre Ward at 168

Posters here want to believe Ward wasn’t better than a 168 pound McCallum.

 

Toney is more talented but he's lost to worse guys than Ward. Ward was Mr consistent. Close fight either way. Toney at his absolute best probably wins.

 

He's an excellent in and out fighter, but I think Toney is better on the inside and every fight I've seen with Ward, I've seen him eventually go inside. I think that's a bad strategy for him.

 

He wouldn’t do that. He’d do a Ward version of what Roy did.

 

He doesn’t fight like that.

 

He has a wide stance, and a liked to counter punch, but other than that...

He's also not remotely fast enough to pull that off.

 

The fight would be fought inside, and Toney's entire game was based on people consenting to go shoulder-to-shoulder in the phonebooth. Ward would tie up an arm every time. Toney was never dependable. Hurts him in hypotheticals.

 

This. Toney despite his amazing ability was very inconsistent.

 

Not sure he can, Ward for all his calm demeanor outside the ring has an aggressive streak and almost always tries to eventually mug and muscle guys.

 

Best version of Toney >> Ward

 

Ward had good feet and midrange game. That’s what he’d use against Toney. He would wrestle and grab inside if they got close. He’d only in-fight if he had the fight totally in control. Ward has a lot more dimensions than Toney, which is why he only had one close fight and he didn’t lose since like age 13. You can see how he adjusted against Miranda and Abraham.

Toney looked like the best fighter ever against Barkley, but even at his peak he was having fights that could go either way. There’s nothing McCallum did that Ward wouldn’t do better.

 

Pressured better. Ward only moves in to fall into a punch and tie up. Part of the reason he'd beat him more easily.

 

Ok. You don’t like Ward as a person. Got it.

 

I just said Ward would beat an ATG more easily than another ATG. What are you talking about?

 

McCallum was in his later thirties and a full size smaller than Ward when he fought Toney, and he still ran him close. McCallum from the Toney fights had nothing on Ward. Nor did Reggie Johnson, Thadzi, Griffin and those other guys who ran Toney close or were robbed.