Andre Ward will lose to Arthur Abraham.

[BattlingNelson]

i see ppl still havent given up on another less skilled fighter with a cult following because of his style. however, i dont see him beating ward. hes no good at anything but punching hard. do u kno what negates hard punches??? two things, distance and close range infighting. u pick em, ward can do either.

Both Dirrell and Froch beat AA with sublime distance fighting. Ward, I think, has way shorter reach, and has not shown the ability to dominate anyone from the outside AFAIK.

[BattlingNelson]

It could happen,ward better box smart and not get on the inside too much,he might get some inadvertant head clashes help him out too.

If ward doesnt really stay focused,then abraham will go all out and will knock ward out.

Froch had the power and reach to back abraham off and stun him from coming forward,and he had the chin for insurance aswell.

Ward is another great fighter,but is another over hyped fighter because he is american and they need their boxing hero's right now.

Good point. Froch is more powerful than Ward and make no mistake. Froch's success was also due to him digging in hurtful punches.

[Shadows]

Indeed. People praise Ward for his ability to adapt. Ward has fought the same way for (at least) the last 4 fights and he didn't adapt to Bika at all. If Ward goes inside, like he is used to do, Abraham will punish him.

Ward fought on the inside versus Bika and Green but he switched between it up against Kessler. Once he realized he realized that Kessler is inept on the inside, he fought there more and more.

Abraham doesn't have much semblance of an inside game either, but I agree that it's a riskier plan for Ward.

[Kagami Taiga]

Ward fought on the inside versus Bika and Green but he switched between it up against Kessler. Once he realized he realized that Kessler is inept on the inside, he fought there more and more.

Abraham doesn't have much semblance of an inside game either, but I agree that it's a riskier plan for Ward.

the risk on the inside comes if AA is strong enuff to push ward off of him and get some good punches off with ward at prime distance. the problem is, i dont thing AA is strong enough or skilled enough to pull that off. hes smaller than all of the other smws and thats where a lot of his problems come from.

[BattlingNelson]

Ward fought on the inside versus Bika and Green but he switched between it up against Kessler. Once he realized he realized that Kessler is inept on the inside, he fought there more and more.

Abraham doesn't have much semblance of an inside game either, but I agree that it's a riskier plan for Ward.

I'm kinda biased towards the Kessler fighter. All I remember is Ward's flying headbutts into Kessler's bleeding mug.

I reckon that AA is much more dangerous on halfdistance and on the inside than Kessler. And AA isn't afraid to do some rough stuff of his own if Ward tries his ramming tactics.

[Bushbaby]

No Nelson,for 1 thing,Abraham is either on defense or offense,with offense being rarely.Ward has been & will be too active for AA to change his mode from defense to offense,that high guard isn't coming down,besides AA really isn't a counter puncher at all.

[The Surgeon]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but from where do you know that Ward can box elite fighters and why didnt he do that against Bika?

Can we call Abraham Elite at SMW now tho?

I think Ward just wanted to show that he can go rough and tumble against the strongest roughest guy in the division and he did

[Walt Liquor]

abraham isn't built for smw i don't think. ward is a strong smw.

abe isn't active enough for ward and can get turned easily. i see ward boxing and moving omre this fight. it's turning out that abe was probably overrated before the tourney.

i can't wait for the finals, that will be ward's best test.

[BattlingNelson]

No Nelson,for 1 thing,Abraham is either on defense or offense,with offense being rarely.Ward has been & will be too active for AA to change his mode from defense to offense,that high guard isn't coming down,besides AA really isn't a counter puncher at all.

Yeah. AA's chance is not to outpoint Ward. He needs to knock him out. A Ward charghing in will give AA a much better target than Froch and Dirrell presented him with.

[BattlingNelson]

abraham isn't built for smw i don't think. ward is a strong smw.

abe isn't active enough for ward and can get turned easily. i see ward boxing and moving omre this fight. it's turning out that abe was probably overrated before the tourney.

i can't wait for the finals, that will be ward's best test.

As I said in another post AA cannot win on points. Ward needs to come up with something we havent seen him do since the s6 started.

I'm not saying that Ward loses only that AA presents Ward with the stiffest test of those remaining. So I think that this fight will be Ward's best test.