Quote Originally Posted by Ron Swanson View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Spicoli View Post
You must owe Stevenson money . Ward is a tremendous talent but to me personally he does a lot of junk boxing to get through also. Almost Hopkins in his later years esque in spots. Definitely top 5 but for me Crawford, Loma and Rigo ahead right now.
I agree about junk boxing. But after weighing what they have actually done I can't imagine Ward lower than 2. He's just done so much more than the rest. Like about as much as Crawford, Loma and Rigo combined.
That last part is just a stretch imo. All respect for Super six wins over Froch Kess and Abraham specifically but again p4p boils down to what criteria you're using. Is it all level of competition, or trinkets collects or simply the most glaring and that is skillset and ring execution. All 3 mentioned to me are cleaner boxers, more diverse and have every bit the skills that Ward possesses. Can't blame Ward at all but he did have the red carpet of riding a gold medal to massive exposure resulting in high profile opportunities. Rigo couldn't get the time of day for a bit from networks who essentially blackballed him and Crawford had to take a fill in role on 3 days notice to open the door and co main HBO card. What he's done in just four yrs is flat out very impressive with same amount of title fights as Ward and is on the cusp of totally unifying his division next month, something that hasn't happened in over a decade. Only thing to me at this point that tips Ward top few is of course the first iffy nod over Kovalev and rematch win. Massive no doubt specially as Kovalev was also ranked p4p by majority but that cannot always be afforded to other top 10.