Andre Ward Wasn't That Impressive vs Sakio Bika.

[Rantcatrat]

I was very impressed by him. It's taken me a long long time to warm to Ward, largely because in his early fights & up till and including the Kessler fight he was doing really irritating technical things that wind me up (holding his jab out) maybe because they're also mistakes I make in the ams & I don't like to see a top pro doing that. But, the Green & Bika fights have won me over. This is a guy willing to improve the all round facets of his game & fight his opponent's fight to do it. I was more impressed by how he beat Bika then I was by how Joe or Bute did it, because he fought Bika's fight and still beat him by the same margin on my card. It also answered the doubts I had about his chin, as he took some tough shots off a big guy. I have to now be honest, I can't see any of these guys beating him.

Explain that. Why is pawing with the jab poor form?

I was more impressed with Bute's win over Bika than Ward's because Bute forced Bika to fight Bute's fight, much like Ward did with Kessler.

I'd be interested to know who Bika thought was the toughest fight of the three.

[JazMerkin]

I was very impressed by him. It's taken me a long long time to warm to Ward, largely because in his early fights & up till and including the Kessler fight he was doing really irritating technical things that wind me up (holding his jab out) maybe because they're also mistakes I make in the ams & I don't like to see a top pro doing that. But, the Green & Bika fights have won me over. This is a guy willing to improve the all round facets of his game & fight his opponent's fight to do it. I was more impressed by how he beat Bika then I was by how Joe or Bute did it, because he fought Bika's fight and still beat him by the same margin on my card. It also answered the doubts I had about his chin, as he took some tough shots off a big guy. I have to now be honest, I can't see any of these guys beating him.

Explain that. Why is pawing with the jab poor form?

I was more impressed with Bute's win over Bika than Ward's because Bute forced Bika to fight Bute's fight, much like Ward did with Kessler.

I'd be interested to know who Bika thought was the toughest fight of the three.

Did I say 'pawing with the jab'? No, I said holding his jab out. As in he would stick his jab hand right out & just hold it there, which you are not allowed to do in the rules & really shouldn't as a good inside fighter will also punish you for it. Watch the Kessler fight & you will see what I mean. It's an illegal move & it's also not good technique, albeit he gets away with it in Oakland.

Making an opponent fight your fight is impressive, but I'm always impressed when a guy takes the conscious decision to fight a guy in their kind of battle and wins (see PBF-Hatton/Mosley, Dawson-Johnson I or Alexander-Urango)

[Rantcatrat]

I was very impressed by him. It's taken me a long long time to warm to Ward, largely because in his early fights & up till and including the Kessler fight he was doing really irritating technical things that wind me up (holding his jab out) maybe because they're also mistakes I make in the ams & I don't like to see a top pro doing that. But, the Green & Bika fights have won me over. This is a guy willing to improve the all round facets of his game & fight his opponent's fight to do it. I was more impressed by how he beat Bika then I was by how Joe or Bute did it, because he fought Bika's fight and still beat him by the same margin on my card. It also answered the doubts I had about his chin, as he took some tough shots off a big guy. I have to now be honest, I can't see any of these guys beating him.

Explain that. Why is pawing with the jab poor form?

I was more impressed with Bute's win over Bika than Ward's because Bute forced Bika to fight Bute's fight, much like Ward did with Kessler.

I'd be interested to know who Bika thought was the toughest fight of the three.

Did I say 'pawing with the jab'? No, I said holding his jab out. As in he would stick his jab hand right out & just hold it there, which you are not allowed to do in the rules & really shouldn't as a good inside fighter will also punish you for it. Watch the Kessler fight & you will see what I mean. It's an illegal move & it's also not good technique, albeit he gets away with it in Oakland.

Making an opponent fight your fight is impressive, but I'm always impressed when a guy takes the conscious decision to fight a guy in their kind of battle and wins (see PBF-Hatton/Mosley, Dawson-Johnson I or Alexander-Urango)

I gotcha. I remember it from the Kessler fight.

[Master]

I thought Andre was the new Roy Jones but he is not that good but he is the best super middle at this moment in time.

[amat]

Master you aren't alone in thinking he was the new Roy Jones, Andre Ward thought he was the new Roy Jones too. I've seen a ton of Ward fights coming up the untelevised ones too and he would alwaaays taunt and keep his hands down and just act like a fool. Then suddenly he just got smarter around the time he fought Jerson Ravelo and now he is what he is today. I give respect to the Goosens and Virgil Hunter for bringing him up the right way, not rushing him along early when he just wasn't ready because I can assure you he wasn't. He knows it too.

As for his fight with Bika, it kind of goes both ways. He won more rounds imo then Bute did. People forget that after 6 rounds of the Bute bout it was damn near even. I think the comment I made was that in the first half of the fight Bute was boxing like a poor man's Kessler and in the second half he was more of a poor man's Calzaghe. He was ridgid and overly mechanical in the first half of the fight but when he started bouncing on his toes he was much more effective. So it's not like that fight was a wash.

Bika has improved too imo since those bouts. I think Ward did what he wanted to do like others have mentioned and even if he didn't force someone else into his fight like he has done so often in the past, I think he wanted to prove something. He did a good job. He landed almost all the clean, effective punches in that bout. I'm proud that people have taken to my Hopkins comparision too because I swear I was the first with that. Also, he showed he has tenacity and that intentional elbow was viscous but it just goes to show that he's not soft and not to be fucked with.

Ward will be P4P #1 one day.

[Master]

No shame in not being the next Roy Jones, there can only be one.

Ward will be top of the p4p ranking when he beat Froch and Bute, which I think he will do.

[Rantcatrat]

No shame in not being the next Roy Jones, there can only be one.

Ward will be top of the p4p ranking when he beat Froch and Bute, which I think he will do.

Won't he have to face Kessler again after Froch? Personally, I would very much like to see Bute fight Kessler.

[NUCLEAR BULL]

theres a little bit of the bernard hopkins about ward with all the headbutts elbows.....i like ward lol