Whats the difference between Ward and Hopkins?

[Dick Buffman]

The obvious comparison after last night is that Ward is Hopkins 2.0 because of his cautious and mugging fight against Green. I can't really ignore the comparison cuz' he did remind me of Hopkins last night. Unfortunately.

Not exactly the kind of fighter anyone should try to emulate for obvious reasons.

But there is one place where they differ. Hopkins has shown that when he wants to, he can string combinations together without falling into the other guy's chest. Andre Ward is getting undue credit for having "skillz" yet what kind of fighter gets yelled at by his trainer to stop falling in, give yourself room to punch and stop throwing one punch at a time as Wards trainer did in the later rounds?

A fighter who's still a prospect and who's so afraid to get hit who's first instinct after throwing a punch is to lunge in and smother you. Its the equivalent of sliding in to home base in the hopes of being "safe".

A real fighter, after he throws a punch that is, his first instinct is to follow it up with another punch, and then another. Watch Ward fight and you'll see that his first instinct is to tie up and then hit you with his off hand w/ mostly meaningless punches.

Lest anyone doubt this, I defy you to find me Andre Ward throwing combinations last night. Especially pathetic considering he had a heavy bag standing in front of him.

Really vile amateur stuff that should be condemned to the pits of boxing hell.

That goes for Hopkins too.


As soon as Ward fights someone with a pulse, he will lose because he's very beatable and not as fundamentally sound as he's made out to be. Despite the hype from the peanut gallery.

[sammiza567]

disagree. last night was a personal fight and ive never seen ward do that before. he is an elite fighter and only a p4p guy like dawson or possibly bute can beat him. i think that is right where ward belongs, above bute but not on dawsons level.

[BoxingFan1st]

I agree with you.

Another comparison can be made between them

No way in hell will Ward ever be widely popular. He may be able to clean out a division, but he will never be a big attraction. He's not the next star in boxing.

[Dick Buffman]

disagree. last night was a personal fight and ive never seen ward do that before. he is an elite fighter and only a p4p guy like dawson or possibly bute can beat him. i think that is right where ward belongs, above bute but not on dawsons level.

That talk of him being an "elite" "p4p" and other exaggerations are just Showtimes way of candycoating a turd.

They've invested in Ward and now do the same thing HBO does with their fighters.

Throw out a bunch of adjectives at the wall and hope a few of them stick. I've been watching boxing long enough to know better. Ward fights that way for a reason. It wasn't just last night. He's always held incessantly.

[Dick Buffman]

Oh yeah, and Hopkins has a chin.

Left that part out.

[kenso]

hopkins had some REALLY boring and ugly fights but every now and then he would throw a gem in there that would remind us of how fantastic the guy truly is. i don't see ward having any of those gems in his career - not against good opposition anyway. green didn't deserve to be in the super six. the guy is a joke, hes always been a joke. and on top of that he is a cry baby.

ward is a great fighter, but he has adopted an extremely boring style. i find it hard to root for him, even if he is american. also i remember them comparing him to sugar ray leonard on the broadcast? def not. ward will never be on any level that sugar ray was on. fanbase, skill, you name it. sugar ray > ward, always.

i suppose i want ward to win his next fight against dirrell, cause dirrell is worse than ward is. at least ward doesn't physically RUN across the ring. if dirrell loses and green loses (which green is definitely losing his next fight, bank on that ****) then froch kessler ward and abraham should be in the finals right?

[Doctor_Tenma]

I'll explain, B-Hop works the outside alot more then Ward. Much better boxer then Ward, he'd actually step to the side and shoot the straight right hand, or simply line you up and shoot the straight right hand. He's also alot better with feints. B-Hop is also alot more coordinated, and doesn't necessarily need to tie you up to work the inside. He's also more slick with his dirtiness.


B-Hop's intentions are to throw his opponents off; take them out of their game plan. I wouldn't make the Ward and Bernard Hopkins comparison, B-Hop isn't dirty to that extent. We also have to understand that B-Hop has to be very preservative towards his stamina because of his age, so he can only go at a certain pace. A prime B-Hop hardly clinched.

[Dick Buffman]

hopkins had some REALLY boring and ugly fights but every now and then he would throw a gem in there that would remind us of how fantastic the guy truly is. i don't see ward having any of those gems in his career - not against good opposition anyway. green didn't deserve to be in the super six. the guy is a joke, hes always been a joke. and on top of that he is a cry baby.

Pavlik fight was a perfect example of this.

ward is a great fighter, but he has adopted an extremely boring style. i find it hard to root for him, even if he is american. also i remember them comparing him to sugar ray leonard on the broadcast? def not. ward will never be on any level that sugar ray was on. fanbase, skill, you name it. sugar ray > ward, always.

i suppose i want ward to win his next fight against dirrell, cause dirrell is worse than ward is. at least ward doesn't physically RUN across the ring. if dirrell loses and green loses (which green is definitely losing his next fight, bank on that ****) then froch kessler ward and abraham should be in the finals right?

The one thing I liked about him last night was that at least he was trying to take it to Green. Unfortunately, he just didn't know how to do it right. The guy's gotta stop holding so much and get comfortable keeping the right distance and giving himself room to punch in combinations.. Green was there to be ktfo.

[Doctor_Tenma]

Pavlik fight was a perfect example of this.


The one thing I liked about him last night was that at least he was trying to take it to Green. Unfortunately, he just didn't know how to do it right. The guy's gotta stop holding so much and get comfortable keeping the right distance and giving himself room to punch in combinations.. Green was there to be ktfo.

I was wondering the same exact thing. At some point he should have taken a step back and thrown combinations. It's like Ward was content on taking away his own leverage for power shots, weird.

[Dick Buffman]

I'll explain, B-Hop works the outside alot more then Ward. Much better boxer then Ward, he'd actually step to the side and shoot the straight right hand, or simply line you up and shoot the straight right hand. He's also alot better with feints. B-Hop is also alot more coordinated, and doesn't necessarily need to tie you up to work the inside. He's also more slick with his dirtiness.


B-Hop's intentions are to throw his opponents off; take them out of their game plan. I wouldn't make the Ward and Bernard Hopkins comparison, B-Hop isn't dirty to that extent. We also have to understand that B-Hop has to be very preservative towards his stamina because of his age, so he can only go at a certain pace. A prime B-Hop hardly clinched.

Ward is obviously amateur by comparison, but the comparison was made by more than one person so people definitely see the similarities. I also think Ward reminds me of the Hatton that fought Tzyu.

Bhop is definitely better at cheating than Ward is, but Ward doesn't have to be aware of the ref when he's fighting in CA.

Its all taken care of for him here. We got the most corrupt refs in the world.