Shobox: Ward-Buchanan

[amat]

Mick... What more did you expect him to do? Really now. I see the Petersons get criticized all the time for doing the same thing Ward did last night. He stayed behind the jab, he never let off the gas pedal he threw plenty of power shots and not one time did I hear anyone in the crowd boo.

Buchanan was in there just to play defense and that's what he did. Ward stayed glued and in the end that's going to be what the difference is going to be between him and someone like Andre Dirrell who doesn't stay so composed thus he gets himself in trouble like in the Hanshaw fight.

It's pretty ridiculous how he can be criticized for what was a masterclass imo. With that said it's about time he stops joking around, his feet are well wet by now he's ready for contenders and champions so hopefully they can make that happen.

[CutMeMick]

Masterclass?

amat, the kids young he'll have other challenges (More important ones on higher levels) to put on a masterclass.

Fucken Buchanan is not opponent to masterclass...

Ward needs to go in there right now and impress the people he needs to create a fan base so that people will want to go see him. He's already got the backing of networks now he needs to fight with hunger and get in there and impress by taking out opponents.

You can't tell me that's all Ward had in the tank. If so then he's in deep shit. Ward could have pressed more and been more aggressive he did it for like 3 rounds (the early ones) and then let off.

[DC Amateur Boxing]

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't watched the fight yet. . . doesn't really sound like I want to either. . . while I agree that Ward isn't the most exciting fighter and I'd love to see how he does when he has to really step up - I can't ignore the fact that the guy hasn't lost a single boxing match since 1998, which includes an Olympic run. He just keeps winning. Some argue that you have to entertain in boxing in order to make $$ and I definitely agree, but looking at Ward purely in terms of boxing effectiveness (read: winning) - it's hard to really knock him.

[amat]

Masterclass?

amat, the kids young he'll have other challenges (More important ones on higher levels) to put on a masterclass.

Fucken Buchanan is not opponent to masterclass...

Ward needs to go in there right now and impress the people he needs to create a fan base so that people will want to go see him. He's already got the backing of networks now he needs to fight with hunger and get in there and impress by taking out opponents.

You can't tell me that's all Ward had in the tank. If so then he's in deep shit. Ward could have pressed more and been more aggressive he did it for like 3 rounds (the early ones) and then let off.

I don't see it that way at all.

He didn't do much differently in the later rounds then what he did in the first three rounds. It just so happened that in the first round he had a pretty big spot when Buchanan tied up and he nailed him with a left hook that probably would have dropped Buchanan if he wasn't holding.

He was still forcing the fight from behind the jab in fact I don't think it was until the 4th where he started firing southpaw. When he's southpay he is at his most agressive because that's when he starts throwing left hand leads, he's more square as a southpaw and he tries harder to close the distance. He did that a few times through the fight and not one time did he have as much success as when he was just firing behind the jab.

He had a great body attack and he attacked both on the inside and the outside, probably more effectively on the outside which isn't something a lot of people can do. He was moving forward every single round of the fight until the 11th I think where Buchanan for the first time in the entire fight, began moving forward. Instead of circling around and jabbing he tried multiple times to time Buchanan coming forward and he connected with a lot of solid power shots, which forced Buchanan to stop moving forward.

Like I said, not one time did I hear the crowd boo. It was pretty much an annhilation just without all the brutality. For someone to receive a brutal beatdown they usually either have to be there to hit. Buchanan wasn't there to be hit he was moving to the side giving angles, not giving himself a chance to win the fight but just not to get hit.

I have seen so far worse and not seen it called out. I was expecting Klitschko-Ibragimov when I read these posts before I read the fight and there wasn't really one glimpse of that and Ward was aggressive all the way through. Seriously tactically almost nothing changed the whole fight until Buchanan did something differently.

For him to have pressed any harder would have meant for him to have gotten stupid and gave Buchanan his ONLY chance of winning by just getting left open for a dumb counter which Buchanan was looking for almost solely all night. And like the Petersons who are criticized for this very same thing, he has to much poise and far-sightedness to do something stupid like that.

It may not have been a masterclass but he won 120-108 on every card and it was systematic and he landed a ton of punches throughout the fight with his opponent literally only having a couple slivers of success throughout the entire fight. And he didn't look like he was wide open to be exposed skill wise either because it's pretty clear that's not happening, so I just don't get what the fuss is abuot.

This is NOTHING compared to Dirrell-Stephens or even Ward-Williams. I thought this was twice the performance that Ward-Williams was and he probably deserved a stoppage in this one more then he did that one, just comparing the number of power punches landed. And this was against a guy who was way less open then Williams and equally unengaged in the fight. Just don't get how you could lament so hard against his performance it wasn't bad at all.