Why Andre Ward only fought once this year?..

I'm not sure how he was ever a top 10 P4P fighter? Who rated him that highly? I don't really follow 'P4P lists', they're very subjective and just tend to favour people's favourite fighters

It doesn't matter that he wanted 168, he got KO'd by Miranda a week before in sparring, and was a walking corpse on the night. Anyone with eyes who watched the fight knows it means little, that version of Dawson isn't even a top 20 SMW, imagine what guys like Froch, Kessler or George Groves would have done to him

 

No matter how inactive Ward, he is - unfortunely - still the best SMW out there.
I'm quite confident that Ward will face the winner of Froch - Kessler II perhaps in a year or so, depending on when Froch - Kessler II will happend.
If we say that Ward - Pavlik will be in Marts / April, then its pretty close if Froch - Kessler II will be around may.

 

KOA how are you going to ask how Dawson waa ranked so high ? He was the number light heavy in the world .Yes he was an idiot for coming down to 168 but he was still more dangerous than the likes of Kessler and Bute ! I would really love to see either of them in the ring with Dawson .Hell same with Froch .Your really dismissing his talent .And Groves man who has he beat that makes him even worthy of getting in the ring with Dawson ?

 

"The Ring" had him ranked in their top 10 p4p before this fight. And fighters get knocked out in sparring all the time, it means little. Ward was simply the better fighter. Can you show any proof Dawson wouldn't be a top 20 SMW, or are you just making that up to support your case?

And you STILL HAVEN'T answered my question.....What super middleweight besides Froch has fought better comp in their last 4 or 5 fights? Quit ducking this question as your answer will destroy your initial post! :hey

 

Sorry but I've been banging the drum on Dawson for a while, I don't rate him, even at 175. The guys he's beaten, Hopkins, Johnson and Tarver he's been lucky to face them when he did, they were all way past their best. Johnson deserved the decision against Dawson in the first fight.

When he's fought top opposition in their prime, he's come undone against Pascal and Ward.

At 168, Kessler, Froch, Bute and yes even Groves would take Dawson apart. Edison Miranda would KO him, well he actually did KO him - that says it all

As for who Groves fought? Glen Johnson, who Dawson went life and death with

If you think Dawson's a great fighter, we'll have to agree to disagree I guess

 

To answer the question it was due to a broken hand and his missus having a baby in late spring or early summer.

 

Bute siged a two fight deal with Froch in Feb while Ward was out of action till May with a broken hand. No duck ever occurred.

 

1:30 of this video Scully talks about Dawsons weight and how it was effecting him leading up to the fight. Only afterwards did the excuses start flying.....and that my friends is called damage control.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da61AYiza-A[/ame]

 

You don't rate Dawson at 175? Good Lord! atsch

 

Kelly is another HBO house fighter. That's it. He hasn't earned his shot and I will not disagree with criticism of the fight. I'll call it the marketing ploy that it is.

That still doesn't prove that Ward ducked Bute. It is a theory based more on bias and suspicion than actual fact. He may have. He more likely wanted to build the fight up for more money. We don't know. Stating it as fact seems beneath a poster of your quality.

 

And Froch-Bute fought 3 months later. Do the time line, this means the fight was already in negotiations before Ward knew if his hand would be healed or not. Than you still have to test the hand a few months to see if it holds up. Im glad we could clear that nonsense up.

 

Ward has fought everybody he needed to fight, but Bika, Froch, and Kessler are his only significant wins. Dawson put himself in harms way by agreeing to 168, and he paid dearly for that mistake, but Ward gets WAY to much credit for that win. Abraham was fresh off the Dirrell debacle, and Aurthur is never going to beat a world class fighter at 168.

Two of the three judges scored the Froch fight 115-113, and if Froch knew how to cut off the damn ring that fight would have been Froch TKO8 Ward. Some of you guys need to watch that fight again without Andre's nuts in your mouth. Froch gave Ward a VERY tough night.

At the end of the Bika fight Ward was exhausted and cut over both eyes, and Bika consistently loses to top 10 opponents. Furthermore, if Pavlik catches Ward with the kind of left hooks Bika caught him with, the fight ends right then and there.

Ward attempted to hit Kessler with headbutts 9 times. He connected with 5 of them. Any ref worth his pay would have disqualified Ward.

For reasons I do not claim to understand, every fighter who participated in the S-6 magically became "elite," so when Ward won, he became some sort of a boxing god. The truth is that 168 is an exciting division, but there are no great fighters in it.

Ward is the premier example of that fact. He's The Man right now at 168. However, he has a dodgey chin, questionable stamina, always gets hit hard with left hooks, he's routinely open to the lead right, and he can't fight going backward. He is a long, long way from the total package.

I'm sure that some posters are having a ****-fit about now, so before you start flaming me, take up this challenge: Go find video that shows Ward throwing punches while moving backward. I'll wait.

 

Ward is going to be the best for a long time to come, haterz going to have to deal with it, Butthurt Calzaghe & Froch fans please just deal with it, Ward will always be Froch's daddy and Calzaghe's resume will always look bad next to Ward's when Ward finally calls it a day :deal

 

nice post