I tried not to let Mayweather's like-ability or Ward's abrasiveness influence me.

[Taeth]

What were you watching? He's better at none of those things technically. He had a hard time getting off last night, he got tagged way more against a guy like Froch than Floyd would have. Floyd lands much more solidly than Ward which is why he has gotten more knockouts, especially when you compare his early career to Ward's. Floyd gets the best angles I've yet to see. Sure he could always improve at it, but he gets the most minute angles and makes the most of them. You can tell because he almost always is in better position than his opponent. part of why Floyd has better counter punching than Ward is because of his superior defensive skills, while Ward has great reflexes and technique, Floyd "Feels" his opponent coming in, you see going backwards in response to his opponents punches almost absorbing the force of the punches and he comes as the force receeds like he's riding a wave. This is boxing at the highest level and almost nobody truly does this. Hopkins does it to a degree, Roy Jones did it second best, Manny does it offensively, but he doesn't have it defensively at all. I'm not sure how to best describe it, but once you start going off this feeling it changes footwork, angles, everything you do in there. You suddenly aren't overusing footwork to find obvious angles, instead you are slipping into an angle without your opponent knowing. Floyd feints and slides, and how many times is his opponents caught unaware when that right hand hits them? It isn't just hand and foot speed that makes Floyd so good, its everything he does to set up those shots. The scary thing is he is honestly getting better. He is developing the same skills Hopkins did to still avoid punches from a fast guys like Pascal and Dawson at 46. It's not maintained reflexes, simply a higher level of technique that compensates for it. For the most part reflexes only go so far anyways, it's mostly a high level of sensitivity to what the opponent is going to do that makes a guy elusive in the first place.

Could he get to where Floyd is? I think potentially, Floyd wasn't where he is now when he was 27, he did a lot of things more inefficiently than he does now. He also had a different type of speed than Ward which helped him get away with things Ward couldn't.

The one thing I would advise Ward to do is fight a southpaw, once Floyd fight Demarcus Corley it really developed his right hand. Ward really needs to learn how to throw it, and it would make his night much easier. Against Froch and other guys it looks so weak, with very little snap or body weight behind it.