Ward Miranda ........worst fight of the year award?

Bottom line, Ward is still a work in progress. This was a learning experience, and even though it wasn't a particularly impressive win, I like some of the things I saw, especially the way the cut didn't phaze him, or the occasional hard rights Miranda got through.

All in all, he stayed very calm against a dangerous opponent. He's only going to get better.

 

how was that not impressive?/? I was VERY impressed with ward tonight.

 

One doesn't preclude the other now does it? I saw what I saw and I've seen other Miranda fights. I have probably watched over a hundred fights in the last year. Maybe you are seeing this as a Ward fan? :yep

 

youve got to admit ward boxed him beautifully.

 

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:541333

 

What does watching that many fights prove??? that you cant be biased??? Im I a Ward fan??? I am now, was I before tonight?? Not really. But you saw what you wanted to see, and that is the bottomline. You were likely watching that fight pulling for Miranda, and in doing so you werent able to see the forrest because of the trees. Its alot like Taylor, Hopkins, Pavlik...Taylor looked great vs Hopkins, bad vs Pavlik who was outclassed by Hopkins. Miranda looked good against Pavlik even though he got knocked out, that was because the way that Pavlik fought him, and the fact that Kelly is easy to hit. He looked bad vs Ward because he couldnt land any punches. Ward was simply too good. that dont mean that Ward would beat pavlik, it only means that he looked better vs Miranda even in going a full 12 rounds. We as fans need to try and watch fights for what they are and not so much hoping that one fighter does better or worst because he won or lost to my guy.

 

- He didn't even buzz a guy who has been brutally KO'd twice at a lighter weight.

- He still pulled straight back and gave Miranda the occasional free shot at his dome.

- He got away with a **** ton of holding on the inside, and a few dozen elbows.

- Even though he proved repeatedly that Miranda couldn't handle his handspeed or inside fighting, he gave up ground over and over again when he could have been flat out dictating the action.

- He still pushes his straight left from the southpaw stance instead of really turning his hips into the shot. In fact, he hardly sits down on any of his shots.

- His jab was very sporadic.

Now honestly, some of these are nitpicks, and for the most part I was impressed with him, especially since this was a big step up in class. All I'm saying is that there is plenty of room still for improvement. "Very impressive" to me would have at least had to include hurting Miranda badly or putting him down.

168 is going to be a tough division to purely outbox.

 

There has never been a division that was too tough for a pure boxer.

 

Abraham and Pavlik are the biggest punchers in there divisions, thats why they KO'd him. Ward is not a power puncher.

 

There has also never been a division where having power didn't help.

 

That is true. but that isnt what you said.

 

He'd still be a step up for Dirrell.

A Bika fight is made for ESPN2.

He'll be back.

 

Well there's two sides to this. One side is he's not a bomber puncher. The other side is Abraham and Pavlik have light tower power and it shouldn't be fair to compare him to two guys who have top 10 P4P power.

Right which is something he acknowledged. Good by him to acknowledge it.

Sorry but this is unfair. Miranda in the first two rounds had butted him twice and clocked him in the balls. It was a rough and tumble fight, when a fighter gets rough with you you get rough back. I think it's stupid to say that that's a problem when he was retaliating.

Your argument is that it he's a work in progress. Agreed. The thing is he seems to get that. He seems to understand that he's not a completely done project.

That doesn't discredit a very very good performance from Ward. I think it'd be unfair to try and nitpick to the insane level of nit picking I've seen so far. I thought I was being nitpicky when I said he should've KO'd Miranda. Heyzeus.

 

Tell me how saying it will be difficult for Ward to outpoint everyone at 168 without the power to get their respect is even a debatable point.

Did you watch Bute - Andrade? Were those last two rounds a cakewalk?