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.

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.