Beating Paul Smith earns you the number 2 spot on a P4P list...

[Barcham]

The ring belt? Would love to see what that looks like..... oh wait.....

Got a picture of the lineal title belt?

[Pigeons]

1. Pacquiao
2. Klitschko
3. Gonzalez
4. Rigondeaux
5. Kovalev
6. Cotto
7. Inoue
8. Crawford
9. Uchiyama
10. Bradley

[Pigeons]

You can't use Transnational to back up one point while you slag them in other threads. Most sources consider the RING title to be the lineal title. Ward was stripped by RING. The lineal title has as much weight in the boxing world as P4P lists. In other words... none at all. Unless there is a sanctioning body behind a title, it means nothing.

Do you see Ward on their P4P rankings? I don't.

http://www.tbrb.org/p4p/

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/13192360/andre-ward-back

[soul_survivor]

Ward is one of the top 3 or 4 fighters in the world full stop. We all know that so why play dumb?

You're basing that off of what he did 3-4 years ago. I know the whole p4p idea is subjective and some what mythical but we also have to base these assumptions on reality. The reality is, Ward went 9 rounds wit ha fat, out of shape Smith, that isn't p4p no. 2 material in any way.

[SplitSecond]

Didn't Mayweather come out of a 2 year layoff, beat Marquez and get the number 2 spot as well? We all know Ward is quite arguably the best fighter right now, nothing to complain about.

Mayweather's performance was awesome though, and showed he clearly still had it after the layoff. Plus even jumping two weightclasses, Marquez > Smith.

I don't know what you guys saw but I saw nothing special in Andre Wards performance vs Paul Smith. It wasn't something you'd expect from the p4p #1-2.

Anyway, People better not start bragging about "look, he's been p4p since whenever", it loses alot of it's point when you can keep your ranking fighting nobodies just because once upon a time 4-5 years ago you did something.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

You're basing that off of what he did 3-4 years ago. I know the whole p4p idea is subjective and some what mythical but we also have to base these assumptions on reality. The reality is, Ward went 9 rounds wit ha fat, out of shape Smith, that isn't p4p no. 2 material in any way.

No I'm basing it on reality. You can continue to live in utter denial until you're forced to admit what's staring you in the face.

[RightJabLikeZab]

Brook being on this list at all is the biggest joke. Ward has a great resume, Brook beat Porter and then the rest of his resume consists of C fighters.

[SplitSecond]

Brook being on this list at all is the biggest joke. Ward has a great resume, Brook beat Porter and then the rest of his resume consists of C fighters.

Wards resume is really only Kessler and Froch, Froch is his greatest win. Froch has a better resume and having a win over him is really what adds to Wards greatness.

[soul_survivor]

No I'm basing it on reality. You can continue to live in utter denial until you're forced to admit what's staring you in the face.

The reality is Ward went 9 rounds with the worse shaped Smith of all time. If I'm wrong ,prove it.

There was a time when Ward was definitely p4p, right after the Froch win and up until the Dawson fiasco, he could easily be a top 10. I've never had him number two but no shame in being top 10.

He still probably has those skills and he definitely doesn't have wear and tear but until he proves all that in the ring against a top opponent, it's ridiculous to claim that he is somehow the second best fighter on the planet, in a sport which has changed a lot since the S6.

Kovalev seems imperious at LHW, GGG is unstoppable at MW, Pacquiao is still around, Wlad is finally being recognised for his skills and achievements and is about to fight one of the biggest fighters in history and guys like Gonzalez and Bradley all deserve p4p mentions. Yet Ward, after not boxing for a year and a half, leap frogs them all just because he beat Smith?

Be real man.

[SUBZER0ED]

Why are people pretending Ward hasn't proved himself as one of the truly elite fighters in the sport? The only reason he was taken from the 2-3 spot was inactivity. Now that he returned, he's back where he was before. It makes sense.
There are not more than 3-4 fighters, at most, better than Andre Ward. He just needed to fight again. He did. He'll most certainly fight again before the year is out.

That doesn't make sense to me, and here's why: To say that Ward can take nearly 2 years off and be ranked where he was before upon his return, is to say that the entire boxing world just stood still while he was gone.