Ward is a very good fighter, but he does a number of things which I can't stand. Now, most people on here know I'm generally a fan of quick, technical fighters & I don't mind if a fighter 'cheats' a little bit, but quite frankly Ward takes the piss.

I'll start with one thing he does that just winds me right up & that's him just holding his left arm out rather than jabbing. I was amazed nobody else has picked up on this, especially when you consider how much shit fighters like Wlad take over it. The reason it's so frustrating is he actually has a very good left jab (he paws with it too much when switching to southpaw) & yet he seems determined to just hold his arm out there, which is actually illegal.

His excessive holding & punching in the clin pissed me off. He basically seemed to be looking for any excuse to clinch & then throw right hooks in there. I don't mind someone clinching strategically occasionally, but doing it constantly is just too much & I'm hoping there's none of that against Taylor.

Finally, his ducking low & charging in like a bull is quite rightly only going to lead opponents accusing him of intentional headbutt as Kessler did last night. I think it's more a case of not having that corrected by his trainer. I actually like a fighter being able to duck low & move away if it is a split second athletic movement like Mayweather often does, but just going down & staying there isn't on & I'm amazed Kessler didn't just drop one on him.

The biggest problem I have is he's good enough that he doesn't need to do these things, certainly not all of them & I still think he would've beaten Kessler without them, but he's not going to have a ref who lets him get away with whatever he wants against Taylor & Dirrell so he really needs to correct those things or hopefully he'll be getting punished for them.