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About the prime thing, I maintain that it's the incorrect way of looking at it.
Sure Ward has been inactive over the years, but lets look at other examples like Floyd Mayweather jr. who had some of his best performances right after long layoffs and nobody questioned his prime until later on at an advanced age.
Ward has stayed at a healthy weight during this time, stayed in shape and generally took care of himself and is still relatively young. Secondly he has taken very little punishment in his career as it is, and he is likely a special fighter that can overcome this.
All these factors work in his favor which is why I believe he's in his prime. Lets also look at his recent fights. They were dominant wins and the only thing I've noticed is that he's adjusting to the heavier weight class, I didn't see any indication of things like speed loss, losing legs, less punch resistance etc. He would have had to adjust in 2011 as well if he moved up then, so it would be a mistake to confuse these factors with him being past prime.
Of course it's made worse now that he's gonna fight the best fighter in that weightclass. Kovalev will be met with heads nodding 'see, Ward's not the same anymore' if he wins and from that point on they can go to "Ward would have won 5 years ago". Boxing fans are effectively discrediting Kovalev before the fight already.
Sure Ward has been inactive over the years, but lets look at other examples like Floyd Mayweather jr. who had some of his best performances right after long layoffs and nobody questioned his prime until later on at an advanced age.
Ward has stayed at a healthy weight during this time, stayed in shape and generally took care of himself and is still relatively young. Secondly he has taken very little punishment in his career as it is, and he is likely a special fighter that can overcome this.
All these factors work in his favor which is why I believe he's in his prime. Lets also look at his recent fights. They were dominant wins and the only thing I've noticed is that he's adjusting to the heavier weight class, I didn't see any indication of things like speed loss, losing legs, less punch resistance etc. He would have had to adjust in 2011 as well if he moved up then, so it would be a mistake to confuse these factors with him being past prime.
Of course it's made worse now that he's gonna fight the best fighter in that weightclass. Kovalev will be met with heads nodding 'see, Ward's not the same anymore' if he wins and from that point on they can go to "Ward would have won 5 years ago". Boxing fans are effectively discrediting Kovalev before the fight already.
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