Is Andre Ward the world's second best fighter?

[nicamarvin]

I use my eyes to asses a fighters ability. Learn reading comprehension.

you Dumb F****k...!

[JK1700]

It is, but right now Ward is clearly the better fighter in my opinion. He's better defensively and in the pocket. Also there wasn't much clinching in the Kessler or Froch fight.

Ward might be a more versatile fighter, but I think Marquez does counterpunching better than Ward does anything. The fact that he moved up two weight divisions at 38 and dominated Pacquiao is a more impressive feat to me than anything Ward has done so far in his career. Ward is the best boxer in his division, but i'm not totally convinced that he is as talented as some people say he is. Hopefully he fights Bute so that we can see.

I think Ward's defence is overrated, if it was really as good as some people here think, then he wouldn't have gotten hit 203 times by a wild one dimensional brawler like Sakio Bika. I was impressed with him against Froch and you are right, he didn't clinch much in that fight. But against Kessler he did a ton of grabbing, holding and hitting and headbutting. It took away from his victory. He's a very skilled boxer but the fact that he uses holding and hitting for a lot of his offense and clinching for a lot of his defence does not impress me. It makes me wonder how effective he would be if the referee's actually enforced the rules and didn't let him grab over and over again.

[nicamarvin]

Ward at 160 would get dominated by Martinez or JCC Jr.

[#1Assassin]

i think floyd and marquez deserve to be higher regarded than ward but i could see him at #3. i could also see him at #5 behind martinez and donaire though, atm i would probably have him behind martinez and above donaire at 4.

ward will be #1 soon enough though, the man is a beast. hes incredible.. dawson is the only one who could be mentioned in the same breath as ward in 2-3 years.

[F l i c k e r]

Ward might be a more versatile fighter, but I think Marquez does counterpunching better than Ward does anything. The fact that he moved up two weight divisions at 38 and dominated Pacquiao is a more impressive feat to me than anything Ward has done so far in his career. Ward is the best boxer in his division, but i'm not totally convinced that he is as talented as some people say he is. Hopefully he fights Bute so that we can see.

I think Ward's defence is overrated, if it was really as good as some people here think, then he wouldn't have gotten hit 203 times by a wild one dimensional brawler like Sakio Bika. I was impressed with him against Froch and you are right, he didn't clinch much in that fight. But against Kessler he did a ton of grabbing, holding and hitting and headbutting. It took away from his victory. He's a very skilled boxer but the fact that he uses holding and hitting for a lot of his offense and clinching for a lot of his defence does not impress me. It makes me wonder how effective he would be if the referee's actually enforced the rules and didn't let him grab over and over again.

Moving up in weight means nothing when you are talking skill. Pound 4 pound, means nothing when talking about skill. Being smaller, or larger means nothing when talking about skill.

Skill is skill regardless of where it comes from.

And I think you're putting too much on that performance. Rather than looking at one fight where he utilized a brawling-like tactic. Look at the overall picture, he steadily changed his style for each fight and fought much better than whomever he fought.

When you can change your style for each match and still win against the best the division has to offer? That's amazing.

The equivalent would be like Paulie Malignaggi fighting Maidana, swarming him, and knocking him out. Or Maidana fighting Bradley and suddenly putting on a Marquez-like performance.

Being a really good counter puncher with average defense is great. But being a guy who can counter punch, out box, inside fight, brawl, swarm, technical box great fighters. Is a totally different level.

[AntonTheMeh]

If you think other fighters are better give reasons why. Don't just say said fighters are better because I said so.

i already did.

Ali, Holmes, Lennox and both Klitschkos are all at one weight.

Your argument is void in that regard.

However, P4P was never intended to used for HWs anyway.

you sound like mitt romney bruh.

[Light_Speed]

Ward at 160 would get dominated by Martinez or JCC Jr.

[Doctor_Tenma]

Ward might be a more versatile fighter, but I think Marquez does counterpunching better than Ward does anything. The fact that he moved up two weight divisions at 38 and dominated Pacquiao is a more impressive feat to me than anything Ward has done so far in his career. Ward is the best boxer in his division, but i'm not totally convinced that he is as talented as some people say he is. Hopefully he fights Bute so that we can see.

I think Ward's defence is overrated, if it was really as good as some people here think, then he wouldn't have gotten hit 203 times by a wild one dimensional brawler like Sakio Bika. I was impressed with him against Froch and you are right, he didn't clinch much in that fight. But against Kessler he did a ton of grabbing, holding and hitting and headbutting. It took away from his victory. He's a very skilled boxer but the fact that he uses holding and hitting for a lot of his offense and clinching for a lot of his defence does not impress me. It makes me wonder how effective he would be if the referee's actually enforced the rules and didn't let him grab over and over again.

Yes, and that is a great feature hence I have Marquez 2nd on my personal P4P list, so I agree with the bold. I'm simply talking skill set. Ward wouldn't have allowed Katsidis or Diaz to trap him, or get that many punches off on him, but again...this is due to Marquez being past his prime, as a prime Marquez would have never gotten caught in those situations.

Ward's defense is the second best right now, he has all the defensive tools, if you want to believe that's all due to excessive holding...go ahead, I've seen him defend very well without holding.

[AntonTheMeh]

Ward at 160 would get dominated by Martinez or JCC Jr.

dumbest thing I've read all day.

What do P4P rankings have to do with anything? I'm talking about sheer boxing ability. What is so hard to understand about that? P4P rankings don't mean jack ishh. I use my eyes to asses a fighters ability. Learn reading comprehension.

bro, if you're asking if he's the second best fighter, you're using deductive reasoning about a p4p list.

[Mars Volta]

marquez,martinez, donaire, PAC MAN (who i don't even like) are all ahead of pillow fisted head butting clinch man ward