id love to see this fight , the main reason being when ward tries to hold captain caveman man will club him to death beterbeiv is a beast on the inside, best inside fighter in the game imo, he just manhandles people. other fighters who throw punches in the clinch do no damage, someone clinches betrbiev and he hits them so hard in the clinch they want to let go beterbeiv will clean up boxing of excessive clinching:smoke
It'd be an interesting fight for sure. Ward has a good chance to outbox Beterbiev, but not without the possibility of being knocked out cold or hurt badly during the fight. Beterbiev's short punches are vicious. I haven't seen a fighter deliver short punches with such devastating impact in a long time. It doesn't seem like he gets a lot of leverage behind them, but man, when it travels 6 inches and lands, the effect is uncanny.
With Ward's questionable chin, there is no way he goes 12 rounds with Beterbiev. Ward may be winning every round, but will eventually get destroyed.
This is the fight Ward needs to take. NOW! He gets to fight an unproven fighter with power, but who is not a good boxer. Test himself. I wouldn't bet against Beterbiev though...
Ward isn't going to move up. The LHW division is hot right now, while the SMW division has lost a lot of appeal since the S6 days. It's clear that he only was planning to move to 175 if he couldn't make 168 safely anymore, wich turns out he still can. Better to rule a weakened division as to be a player in a hot one.
Beterbiev will be champ soon. Ward doesn't want such competition. I dont blame him, kovalev and beterbiev would bee the last fighters I'd fight in LHW
