Froch vs. Ward - Saturday fight/chat thread

[Rantcatrat]

I have just wrote a 3,500 word article on Froch's progression in the super six and my views on the Ward fight. Hopefully it will be on the main site in time for the fight, Ill post it as soon as its on the website.

Got quite a lot of my views about the fight on it, there was so much to talk about. So excited for the fight though, really hope Froch can do it.

Looking forward to it, Tam.

Unless I'm mistaken, the match is for the Ring Magazine Belt as well, right? Meaning, it is for the lineal championship at super middleweight. It's a big deal for the division.

[Mars_ax]

Ward has a suspect chin and his best win was against Kessler, a fight he won with his head

also by the interview given on boxnation by kessler the ward camp was a bit naughty in the build up

all his other big wins his opponents have been soundly beaten by other fighters and in a much ore convincing mannor (Bika, Abraham, Green)

He has spent the whole of the supersix fighting at home, 2 of those fights in his home town

he has also had a much easier route to the final than froch

Ward is overrated

Froch by KO

I agree with most of what you're saying eric, Ward headbutted, fouled his way to win over Kessler in yet another fight in his hometown. Ward has also had a much easier route to the final than Froch, and I do believe he's a tad overrated. What I don't agree with is Froch winning by KO, that just isn't very likely, although i'd love seeing it. Realistically, if Froch wins at all it will be by a close, somewhat controversial decision, probably a SD.
BTW, I have nothing but disdain for Ward, but he is good at that shit that he does, it wins him fights, so this will be a tough fight for Carl.

Ward was out on his feet against Bika so I think a KO is a possibility

Anything is possible in boxing, but if Froch KO's Ward, i'd be pretty amazed, more then likely it will go the full 12. I just don't see either one of these guys knocking the other out.

[shza]

Froch can box (Jermain Taylor).

Recall that Froch was losing *badly* before KO'ing Taylor.

I'm curious what the odds are for this fight. I honestly see Froch as a full class below Ward and having virtually no chance of winning the fight.

IMO he lost the fight to Dirrell. He lost to Kessler (which was the ugliest, sloppist, most amateurish looking fight I've ever seen between two supposedly elite fighters). On my cards, he's lost half of the Super 6 fights he's been in.

He looked good in the Johnson fight though, I'll give him that. So maybe he's really just improved drastically since the beginning of the tournament.

I'd still be happy to lay down a wad of cash on Ward with even halfway-decent odds.

[erics44]

Ward has a suspect chin and his best win was against Kessler, a fight he won with his head

also by the interview given on boxnation by kessler the ward camp was a bit naughty in the build up

all his other big wins his opponents have been soundly beaten by other fighters and in a much ore convincing mannor (Bika, Abraham, Green)

He has spent the whole of the supersix fighting at home, 2 of those fights in his home town

he has also had a much easier route to the final than froch

Ward is overrated

Froch by KO

I agree with most of what you're saying eric, Ward headbutted, fouled his way to win over Kessler in yet another fight in his hometown. Ward has also had a much easier route to the final than Froch, and I do believe he's a tad overrated. What I don't agree with is Froch winning by KO, that just isn't very likely, although i'd love seeing it. Realistically, if Froch wins at all it will be by a close, somewhat controversial decision, probably a SD.
BTW, I have nothing but disdain for Ward, but he is good at that shit that he does, it wins him fights, so this will be a tough fight for Carl.

Ward was out on his feet against Bika so I think a KO is a possibility

When did that happen?

last round

ward struggled badly with bika and out of all wards opponents so far you could mosly liken froch to bika in the way that they are both rough rugged tough men who can mix it and live with the heads and elbows

froch is a lot better than bika tho

i honestly dont understand why ward is so much the favourite, his one shinning result was against kessler and in that fight all of the damage was done by the head

which other fight have we seen this superstar that everyone raves about?

[erics44]

Froch can box (Jermain Taylor).

Recall that Froch was losing *badly* before KO'ing Taylor.

I'm curious what the odds are for this fight. I honestly see Froch as a full class below Ward and having virtually no chance of winning the fight.

IMO he lost the fight to Dirrell. He lost to Kessler (which was the ugliest, sloppist, most amateurish looking fight I've ever seen between two supposedly elite fighters). On my cards, he's lost half of the Super 6 fights he's been in.

He looked good in the Johnson fight though, I'll give him that. So maybe he's really just improved drastically since the beginning of the tournament.

I'd still be happy to lay down a wad of cash on Ward with even halfway-decent odds.

what makes you say froch is a class below ward? which fights of wards make you say this?

against AA froch did a much better job away from home
bika, bute and calazaghi beat him a lot clearer and more comfortable
green, johnson did a much better job
miranda, how many fighters have done a better job

like i keep saying by far his best result was against kessler and all of the damage was done by the head

take the kessler fight away is ward really the superstar everyone is suggesting?

[ross]

Yep, Ward held on and held and held for dear lofe late against Bika.

[Rantcatrat]

Froch can box (Jermain Taylor).

Recall that Froch was losing *badly* before KO'ing Taylor.

I'm curious what the odds are for this fight. I honestly see Froch as a full class below Ward and having virtually no chance of winning the fight.

IMO he lost the fight to Dirrell. He lost to Kessler (which was the ugliest, sloppist, most amateurish looking fight I've ever seen between two supposedly elite fighters). On my cards, he's lost half of the Super 6 fights he's been in.

He looked good in the Johnson fight though, I'll give him that. So maybe he's really just improved drastically since the beginning of the tournament.

I'd still be happy to lay down a wad of cash on Ward with even halfway-decent odds.

The counter argument, which erics makes, is other than Kessler when has Ward look as dominant as he's made out to be? He beat Bika but the fight was closer than the scorecards suggested in my opinion. At the same time, Froch's fight against Johnson was relatively close too. Froch and Dirrell was a crappy fight and tough to score, and I believe we can be honest with ourselves that any way you look at it, it was close. In any event, we have no idea how Ward would perform against Dirrell. Dirrell. Froch looked better against Abraham than Ward did and won by more rounds.

Also, I was at Froch's fight against Taylor and I'll tell you how it looked from a spectator's perspective. Taylor was winning the fight going into the later rounds, but somewhere around round 9, give or take a round, the momentum in the fight began to swing toward Froch, at which point Froch began outboxing Taylor.

[Rantcatrat]

Erics - it's the Kessler fights that are what convince people Ward is the favorite. Call it using his head or whatever, but any way you look at it, his strategy in that fight took Kessler out of his game, and won Ward the fight. Froch wasn't as effective as Ward was against Kessler. There's just not two ways about it.

Bute and Calzaghe looked better against Bika but Froch hasn't faced Bika so the comparison doesn't work. Same goes for Allan Green.

[Dropanuke]

Here are the facts.
If ward comes forward like against Kessler then ward will be ktfo in 4 as he will walk on to uppercuts.
If he boxes on the back foot froch will march him down like grass as froch is harder tougher than haggler and has more stamina and power.
If froch catches ward with any shots that Johnson took then ward is fucked!!
A ward fan would be foolish to disagree

[NUCLEAR BULL]

i think this fight may suprise people with how good it will be. Both guys like to make it ugly and know the other does likewise, watch for headbutt, elbows, holding and hitting.....that aside ward has very good speed and movement and froch is strong and brave

[LobowolfXXX]

This thread is amazing to me.

[LobowolfXXX]

Froch can box (Jermain Taylor).

Recall that Froch was losing *badly* before KO'ing Taylor.

I'm curious what the odds are for this fight. I honestly see Froch as a full class below Ward and having virtually no chance of winning the fight.

IMO he lost the fight to Dirrell. He lost to Kessler (which was the ugliest, sloppist, most amateurish looking fight I've ever seen between two supposedly elite fighters). On my cards, he's lost half of the Super 6 fights he's been in.

He looked good in the Johnson fight though, I'll give him that. So maybe he's really just improved drastically since the beginning of the tournament.

I'd still be happy to lay down a wad of cash on Ward with even halfway-decent odds.

Ward is about a 3-1 favorite.

[erics44]

Erics - it's the Kessler fights that are what convince people Ward is the favorite. Call it using his head or whatever, but any way you look at it, his strategy in that fight took Kessler out of his game, and won Ward the fight. Froch wasn't as effective as Ward was against Kessler. There's just not two ways about it.

Bute and Calzaghe looked better against Bika but Froch hasn't faced Bika so the comparison doesn't work. Same goes for Allan Green.

yep the kessler fights seem to be the yard stick

and im not making excuses but ward was in his home town and froch was in kesslers home town and by the sounds of things wards camp were a bit naughty in the build up to the fight with kes

so ward had the advantages and froch didnt, i also find it hard to believe anyone could score the froch kes fight to kessler but thats another story

and i wasnt comparing the ward bika fight to anything froch has done, i was just saying everyone is saying ward is a superstar and unbeatable, but if that was the case why hasnt he looked that way? he has struggled (or been a lot less convincing) with fighters that other people have dominated

in the last round against bika ward was in trouble, he was hanging on, another 3 rounds would have been interesting

[Mattyhitman]

This thread is amazing to me.

Why?

Strange thing to say then not follow it up with anything, other than telling us Ward is favourite.

[BIG H]

I really like Froch, he's never in a dull fight and never takes an easy fight.

Against AA, it was a masterclass, against Kessler, I don't know what his issue was, but he didn't start fighting until half way. I thought he was very much ontop for the second half of the fight and pretty much threw it away. with the early rounds.

I have been converted, because until the Pascal fight I didn't rate Froch at all. He looked great as an amateur, but his defence as a pro has been awful. I haven't seen much of Ward, but from what I have seen, I think he will win.

Wasn't too long ago that everybody was not giving a British SMW a hope in hell against the lates American star and look what happend then - hope history repates itself