Andre Ward or Oleksandr Usyk who ranks higher?

[famicommander]

Ward vs champions:
W vs Mikkel Kessler TD 11
W vs Sakio Bika UD 12
W vs Arthur Abraham UD 12
W vs Carl Froch UD 12
W vs Chad Dawson TKO 10
W vs Sergey Kovalev UD 12
W vs Sergey Kovalev TKO 8

Usyk vs world champions:
W vs Krzysztof Głowacki UD 12
W vs Marco Huck TKO 10
W vs Mairis Briedis MD 12
W vs Murat Gassiev UD 12
W vs Tony Bellew KO 8
W vs Anthony Joshua UD 12

Maybe a slight edge to Ward but Usyk can catch him with one or two more big wins.

[Noelanthony]

I thought it would be a landslide victory for Usyk. Im glad my boy is getting a bit of love. Ward dominated everyone easily apart from the Kovalev fight that i actually had him losing but every fighter has a Gift decision at some stage in their career . In any case he rematched the krusher and barbequed his ribs and a tiny bit of his ball sack if you want to be critical

[War Room]

Usyk, Ward was a dirty fighter. Usyk is pure skill.

[deathofaclown]

Hard to say, Ward’s 168 run was similar to Usyk at Cruiserweight I suppose, pretty much cleaning out the division via a tournament. The level of opposition was probably pretty similar.

When they moved up...i’d say prime Kovalev was better than than AJ, but I actually thought Kovalev won the first fight with Ward.

I’m going to say Usyk, simply because there’s no controversy surrounding his big win v AJ after moving up, where as Ward can’t say that. I’m sure people will bring up Usyk v Briedis but that was very competitive but not really controversial.

Ward was a great fighter though, undoubtedly one of the best of his era but he didn’t win that first fight with Kovalev. That’s the only thing that stops me putting them on par with each other.

[mlac]

Not even a question for me.

Ward was a protected 'world champ' that refused to fight overseas, without hometown judges and paid off officials.

Usyk fought around the world in world champions backyards

Ward has an asterisk next to his biggest wins (bar froch)

Usyk wins all of his fights cleanly without constant clinching, elbows, headbutts & lowblows.

Why couldn't Ward do that? if he was so talented?

[Inspired]

Ward vs Adonis Stevenson and Direll didn't happen. Only Froch and Kessler were worthy wins. I don't know what went on with the politics and ducking side exactly but he didnt clean out the division. Maybe add pascal to that list too but Ward would have schooled him. Ward was def known as a spoiler because of his head first style. He also lost to Kovalev the first time and that loss obv affected kov in the rematch because he wasnt fighting his natural style anymore, thinking it won't be enough for a win.

Usyk cleaned out, beat Hunter, Glowacki, Briedis and Gassiev when they were all unbeaten and all in their backyard.
Also, Usyk won the WSBs, beating Fa, Joyce and Majidov (who beat Yoka and AJ) and World championship gold too.
Plus, going from CW to HW is a huge difference since HWs don't have limitation in size. Joshua was about 8kg heavier than Usyk.

[Citizen Koba]

Two impressive resumes but gun to head I'm inclined to give the edge to Usyk for undisputed and both making the more substantial leap from Cruiser to Heavy (Dre basically aged out of 168 IMO) and for taking all his biggest fights in his opponents backyards

[tophat1]

Usyk. No controversial victories. Undisputed champion. Went higher up in weight. Willingness to fight in hostile territory unlike Ward who was the only super six participant to not.

I would agree with this. Doing everything on the road is a huge deal to me. Plus a move up from 168 to 175 isn't as tough as moving to heavy from cruiser, putting on 20lbs and fighting much heavier guys

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Usyk. No controversial victories. Undisputed champion. Went higher up in weight. Willingness to fight in hostile territory unlike Ward who was the only super six participant to not.

That’s a good point actually. Usyk has fought in his opponents him country 9 times I believe. Ward rarely left the west coast.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Probably leaning towards Usyk myself tbh. Like many others I also had Kovalev winning the first fight, whilst none of Usyk’s wins have been controversial.