Good point about Ward coming in with a high guard, something that Hopkins never did. And like you said, that would allow Calzaghe to fire off, get out and force Ward to reset. And yeah, Calzaghe does have the advantage in reflexes, foot speed and hand speed. I probably underestimated Calzaghe. He would probably squeezes it out. But still would've been an epic match.
However, we would also have to consider Ward's superior in-fighting skills don't we? Yeah, he would have to pay a price coming in but once he's there, he's a master in the clinch (dirty tactics included) and would no doubt have some success.
Captain Slappy over The Nutcracker in a close but ugly fight that people will later convince themselves was a masterpiece in technique and strategy to justify the money they paid to watch it.
Ward was such a chameleon, though, I wouldn't at all put it past him to squeak out a victory. I think that's what makes this a tough call in a lot of ways, as both were really good at adapting and had fantastic boxing brains.
Joe is a really hard fight to outpoint because of his volume and movement. You have to be able to negate his attack and slow him down. I'm not sure Ward can do that. Plus Calzaghe doesn't give many chances to counter because he's so active so Ward will actually have a hard time getting his shots off imo. He certainly isn't going to slip and slide his way past a 10 punch combination. Plus it's really easy for Joe to switch up by straightening his punches which then adds a whole new dimension to be figured out. The only way I see Ward winning is by attempting to spoil and smother and hope he gets enough clean jabs in on the way. Which he'd probably do quite well, well enough I think in real life it would be a split decision. But I'm taking Calzaghe and his activity over Ward and his negativity.
Either guy can win but I think Calzaghe's workrate gives him the edge, probably like 6.5/10. Ward has the better feet and jab, Calzaghe has faster hands, much better work rate and ability to throw combos. Probably similiar to the B-Hop fight, B-Hop got pretty lucky tho with an early flash knockdown and was able to buy himself a few breathers with imcompetant Joe Cortez refereeing. I don't think Ward would lower himself to faking low blows.
Calzaghe Ward didnt face any top undefeated SMWs or any top prime SMWs. The one top undefeated fighter Ward did face looked to have beaten Ward with mainly just a jab. Clear easy Calzaghe win. Alot of foreign fans dont realise or forget how late Calzaghe was in his career when they first watched him against Lacy. When Calzaghe was facing Lacy, he was older than Ward was when he retired. Prime Calzaghe by stoppage but end of career faded Calzaghe by clear points decision
Less than half of Calzaghes world title fights were in Wales, so think you are wrong there. None of Wards title fights were in a foreign country
technical boundaries bailey if ward fights anywhere in us against a british fighter hes on home soil come on
