Joe Calzaghe: Andre Ward is good but beatable

[Rantcatrat]

Andre Ward beats Carl Froch and Mikkell Kessler again. I don't believe Froch can handle Ward's speed. Froch is slick, but he just isn't athletic enough to compete with Ward. Kessler is a great basic fighter. Ward has too many wrinkles up his sleeve for Kessler. The more intriguing match ups for Ward are against Bute and Andre Dirrell because the speed gap and the craftiness gap aren't as wide. If Ward wanted to go for gold and legacy, the next fight would be Bute so he could end any conversation about who is the best at 168. Instead, in his own words, "So I don't have to go to Lucian Bute right now" and "This is a sport, but we also use our brains for business, and we'll sit down and make a solid business decision." Andre Ward-Lucian Bute bout looks unlikely for time being - ESPN

The other route would be to face his mandatory, Anthony Dirrell, and build a story for an end of 2012 fight with Andre Dirrell assuming Andre looks good on 12/30.

[ICB]

Back in the day Joe could slap a motherfucker out... Not really sure what happened to his power over the years But i'm sure it would of been a very close fight either way. Joe looked far from unbeatable but always won... Ward is pretty flawless and shrewd but he wouldn't put a dent in Joe's confidence so i think it'd be Joe who finishes the more vibrantly... It just depends on how things went down during the first 8 rounds.

Hmmm...

Okay, i'd be more inclined to see how Ward's career develops over the next 3-5 years but i'm thinking this would be a slightly epic draw.

REMATCH!

joe had a couple of fights, reid and one other where he didnt really perform but appart from that which fights did he look beatable in?

every other fight he had were pretty confortable

Reid was only tough because Calzaghe buggered his hand up. He was coasting relatively easily up until then. Calzaghe has never looked particularly beatable to me. He didn't lose many rounds.

Robin Reid landed all the eye catching punches, the one's that constantly snapped back Joe Calzaghe's head, i felt Robin Reid won the fight.

[erics44]

Andre Ward beats Carl Froch and Mikkell Kessler again. I don't believe Froch can handle Ward's speed. Froch is slick, but he just isn't athletic enough to compete with Ward. Kessler is a great basic fighter. Ward has too many wrinkles up his sleeve for Kessler. The more intriguing match ups for Ward are against Bute and Andre Dirrell because the speed gap and the craftiness gap aren't as wide. If Ward wanted to go for gold and legacy, the next fight would be Bute so he could end any conversation about who is the best at 168. Instead, in his own words, "So I don't have to go to Lucian Bute right now" and "This is a sport, but we also use our brains for business, and we'll sit down and make a solid business decision." Andre Ward-Lucian Bute bout looks unlikely for time being - ESPN

The other route would be to face his mandatory, Anthony Dirrell, and build a story for an end of 2012 fight with Andre Dirrell assuming Andre looks good on 12/30.

honestly I think Froch does still have a chance against Ward, I dont think ward wins everytime

Ward won the fight clearly but everyone is bumming him a little too much

he won the first four and then four out of the last 8

if the fight had of gone on another 3, looking at the scores from the judges, Froch would more than likely have won

i know that sounds daft, who fights for 15 rounds anymore, but Ward's stamina is questionable, he has faded in a number of fights

one day someone will get to him late

he won the super six as the best fighter in the competition no doubt. But fighting every fight in his home country, also fighting green and AA (who had come off a significant loss) along the way, and avoiding a fight against Dirrell, compare that to how froch got to the final

and where the final was held

[erics44]

Robin Reid landed all the eye catching punches, the one's that constantly snapped back Joe Calzaghe's head, i felt Robin Reid won the fight.

ive watched that fight twice, first time i thought reid won second time i realised i was wrong

[Fenster]

One of the judges that had Froch-Ward 115-113 gave FRoch 4 of the first 5 rounds. He gave the last three to Ward. I don't think Froch's strong finish was really that impressive.

I honestly can't see a single reason why Froch would ever beat Ward.

They fight ten times it's 10 nil to Jesus.

[Dark Lord Al]

Ward potentially might end up with a better resume than Calzaghe, but anything more right now is just premature and I don't think he will be able to last the course. Let me know if Ward is still around and unbeaten at 36. It is just not going to happen.

To do more than Calzaghe means defending his titles year in year out and then taking on LHW. He has a lot more to do and I have a hard time seeing it.

If Ward hooks up with Warren for the most part of his career , i think there a good chance he will end up unbeaten , maybe when Calzaghe is 41 , Ward will try to get a fight with him to define his destiny?

[terrorsid]

MR Druggy calaghe knew when to retire!!!
he not active sooooo how is he relevant

He's beatable when you think about it, RIGHT?
But what happens when you fight him
not what people are saying

[FinitoElDinamita]

I agree with Miles 100% on this thread..

Ward is not on Calzaghe's level..

He's more like a blend of John Ruiz, Hopkins, and Ricky Hatton...

I dont know how anyone could compare him to Roy Jones... lmfao really??

Roy and Ward are like night and day.. They have nothing in common except for the fact that Ward did try to emulate Roy's style very early in his career.. We're talking the days when he got rocked by Darnell Boone.. lol

He's better off with his new wrestling style though cuz it works real well.. He's like the new Hopkins in a sense that he's an illusionist who makes people believe he's a better fighter than he really is..

[BIG H]

The current version of Ward vs the 2007 version of Calzaghe = 50/50 fight imo.

[CFH]

Calzaghe was the man for a decade and who else was he supposed to beat? People pick on Calzaghe, but bar Sven Ottke he beat everyone on the radar.

Who's Ward supposed to beat? Obviously, we can't assess his longevity for a while, but just in the last 2 1/2 years, he's beaten Miranda, Kessler, Green, Abraham, Bika, and Froch.

I think Kessler deserves a rematch. Bute would be a logical fight. Also Hopkins and maybe down the line a fight with Chad Dawson.

I know I'm late to the party here, but - aside from losing every minute of every round - what has Kessler done to deserve a rematch with Ward?

[Althugz]

Hopkins didn't have the skillset to deal with Calzaghe? You wouldn't have known it from the judges' cards or the knockdown. You're kind of moving the goalposts a bit when you talk about Ward/Kessler and Calzaghe/Hopkins. You say that Calzaghe/Hopkins "wasn't clean, but it was decisive." Well, Ward/Kessler, even if it wasn't clean, was decisive.

At a comparable age, there's no contest in their resumes; Ward has it all over Calzaghe. He's beaten the Ring Magazine #2, 3, 5, and 9. Calzaghe's level of competition at the same age pales in comparison. Calzaghe's resume was made in the later years. We'll have to see what Ward does in the next 10 years. That doesn't mean that a 27 year old Ward would beat a 27 year old Calzaghe; but he's certainly demonstrated his clear superiority over more of the top 168-pounders than Calzaghe did at this stage.

Joe Calzaghe fought decent opposition during his career.

Wow..just wow..

[Rantcatrat]

I agree with Miles 100% on this thread..

Ward is not on Calzaghe's level..

He's more like a blend of John Ruiz, Hopkins, and Ricky Hatton...

I dont know how anyone could compare him to Roy Jones... lmfao really??

Roy and Ward are like night and day.. They have nothing in common except for the fact that Ward did try to emulate Roy's style very early in his career.. We're talking the days when he got rocked by Darnell Boone.. lol

He's better off with his new wrestling style though cuz it works real well.. He's like the new Hopkins in a sense that he's an illusionist who makes people believe he's a better fighter than he really is..

This is a good post although I'll wait to see with how good Ward can get. He may perfect his style and at that point he could be very tough to beat.

[Dia bando]

Calzaghe to fast for Ward ,have you seen anybody out box Joe no,
I no one thing Ward, could not out box him, as for Froch, he is game
but is one-dimensional to me a bit of a plodder.

[Dark Lord Al]

Calzaghe to fast for Ward ,have you seen anybody out box Joe no,
I no one thing Ward, could not out box him, as for Froch, he is game
but is one-dimensional to me a bit of a plodder.

Who has come close to outboxing Ward ?

[Violent Demise]

I think the opinion was that if Froch won the super six, his legacy would be better than that of Calzaghe. This was a thread we discussed in depth , well didnt Ward win the super six ?

Ward beat a much better opposition than Calzaghe , how can Mr Play it safe find fault with Ward.
Isnt a fool wise after the event.

Who though? I really don't see anyone on Ward's resume that is better than the best fighters on Calzaghe's resume. It doesn't make any sense.

You dont think Ward has fought better opposition than Calzaghe at the same stage of their respective careers ?

Calzaghe - Eubank, Reid, Woodhall, Veit, Sheika

Ward - Green, Abraham, Froch, Kessler, Miranda

There isn't all that much in it. Eubank was faded, so was Kessler. People are going to remember Green and Miranda just as much as they do Sheika and Woodhall. Abraham and Veit are your token popular in Germany fighters. Reid was a good fighter though never going to go down as a great, a bit like Froch who only beat a well faded Reid.

The only difference was Calzaghe was busier and had more filler.

You mean had alot of defences against club fighters ?

Sheika had lost to Tony Booth for fucks sake.

Yet beaten Glen Johnson.

The Glen Johnson, Calzaghe was deadly afraid to face.