Mickey Ward on his toughest fight

[Master]

I thought it would be Gatti but makes sense.

Loved his left hook to the body but took a lot of shots to get that one punch finish. He came over to UK and beat our undefeated Shea Neary who I thought was a world class fighter until Ward sorted him out.

[powerpuncher]

Boxing is no joke. It’s unfortunate because some fighters can take shot after shot and come out unscathed while others like Benitez, who is a defensive master, is completely messed up.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

I was just thinking of the Wilfredo Benitez example. And what about Tommy hearns?

[p4pking]

It's rough because the only thing that makes Ward more noteworthy than so many other journeymen (which was always his level if we are honest) is that he had a following, so he made some money. He took a lot of damage but no more than so many who never got any kind of limelight. Itd be really painful to be in his shoes and have to wonder at what point he might have spared himself some of it all by walking away. Can't imagine many truly think it was all worth it when they are really struggling with CTE.

[sanatogen]

I thought it would be Gatti but makes sense.

Loved his left hook to the body but took a lot of shots to get that one punch finish. He came over to UK and beat our undefeated Shea Neary who I thought was a world class fighter until Ward sorted him out.

Was surprised how much bigger Ward was than Neary on fight night and how Neary punches bounced off Ward.

[Master]

I thought it would be Gatti but makes sense.

Loved his left hook to the body but took a lot of shots to get that one punch finish. He came over to UK and beat our undefeated Shea Neary who I thought was a world class fighter until Ward sorted him out.

Was surprised how much bigger Ward was than Neary on fight night and how Neary punches bounced off Ward.

Neary wobbled Ward with a shot to the temple and never seen Ward that hurt before.

[SlimTrae]

I'm saddened to read he has headaches weekly. About a decade ago I was priviladged to speak with him for about 15 minutes. What was meant to be a hey Mick! Luv ya man, just so happy to see you and hear you speak clearly...after walking away from the ring.
Long story short, that got him to open up. I didn't know whether to say thank you, cry, hug him lol! I do know this: two days later he was waving to fans and spotted me out in the crowd . Pointed his finger at me. Felt good. Not so good to read this story.
Nevertheless good thread! Bit surprised as well on his pick.

[Fenster]

He was better than a journeyman (granted the definition is slightly different from UK to USA) but he'd scrape plenty of weight-class top ten lists depending on the era. Not great as in SRR great, but put it this way, he has more fight of the years and thrillers than the vast majority of all-time greats/HOF-ers. He's the type who could have, depending on styles, beat plenty of "world" champs. And his left hook to the body was elite lethal.

[walrus]

Two of my uncles know Ward well. One was a Boston fire fighter the other unfortunately passed away but worked at one of Boston’s major hospitals for years. The both said the guy was nice as hell.

He would put in those two rounds to take a respectable loss where others would have found a way to get out. He didn’t have that natural gift he earned it, not saying he wasn’t gifted, you know what I mean. I gotta ask my uncle if they have spoken lately, he mentioned Ward was having troubles but didn’t go into detail.

[Spicoli]

Wards a guy who managed to shake that journeyman tag I think. Now early on he had a run where it honestly looked like he was going through the motions and maybe the smartest thing he did was take the years off in after looking abysmal and getting floored with Ricky Meyers. The later year Ward who refined that body punch I don't think loses to an early Tony Martin or Murray. His scraps with Reggie Green and Augustus were fun but taxing wars too.

[greynotsoold]

Does anyone remember his 1st round victory over Bugsy Ferrell? He hurt Bugsy to the body- Bugsy wrapped his arms around his ribs and tried his best to use his head to pick off punches aimed at his body.

[SlimTrae]

Wards a guy who managed to shake that journeyman tag I think..

If there ever was an example, he -be the one!