No matter how much you hate Ward he's a master at the Art of War

[pesticid]

I am not a big fan of his skills but his tactics whether legal, illegal or both, and both inside and outside of the ring. There are very few fighters that measure up to Ward as far as mind games and fight tactics.

Just look at what he did to Kovalev. Looking back at it he really mind***ed Kovalev and he wasn't even on Kova's talent level.

[Barristan]

If they were in a maximum security prison instead of a boxing ring....Kovalev would have ended up washing Wards clothes and sucking his *** on demand

So yeah Ward is a master

[////]

Getting a terrible decision when 73% of polled analysts believed you lost (on a night that your promoter rigged one of the undercard fights) isn't mindgames, it's standard boxing corruption

Punching a guy bullseye in the lower athletic cup then having the ref not only miss the low blow but jump on your opponent and wave off the fight because he bent over isn't mind games, it's standard boxing corruption

He's a master of war like his friend Andre Dirrell was a master of war in his big W over Arthur Abraham

ie both of them are morally destitute & would pimp out their own mothers for a quiznos coupon

[////]

If they were in a maximum security prison instead of a boxing ring....Kovalev would have ended up washing Wards clothes and sucking his *** on demand

So yeah Ward is a master

I'm pretty sure Ward would have just been beaten to death by the guy who convincingly outboxed him in their first fight + has twice as much power. Ward was given every advantage in both fights and couldn't do anything convincing.

Plus in prison nobody has any incentive to play by the rules. If Ward tried to bribe prison staff so could Kovalev. Kovalev also has a higher innate IQ.

[Real King Kong]

If they were in a maximum security prison instead of a boxing ring....Kovalev would have ended up washing Wards clothes and sucking his *** on demand

So yeah Ward is a master

you know it isn't cool to do **** **** in prison right?

[SugarRayCurtain]

Kovalev makes it easy for opponents to wind him up because he does it to himself
I truly believe JDJ did call up Wards camp to try and switch sides because he despised Kovalev

Also Kovalev is the bitter type, gave Ward no credit and still cant admit he lost. Ofcourse Ward can only just laugh it off

[Real King Kong]

I'm only interested in seeing the best, or closest to best versions of both fighters squaring off in the ring...all the outside bs just diminishes the quality of the fight imo. that said, it's not anyone's fault but kovalev's that he couldn't keep his camp straight.

[sunny31]

Who was Ward actually "dirty" against, apart from Kovalev and Kessler? Most of everyone he beat in a clean fashion including Froch and Abraham.

I also find it ironic that the fights he was accused of being dirty in, (Kessler and Kovalev) have similar styles where they are good long punchers and effective at a certain distance, but don't punch short and resort to either moving back or clinching themselves when someone invades their space.

There is no doubt that Ward bends the rules and at times uses questionable moves, very much in the grey area. At the same time there are plenty of fighters who have been champions who have been worse in my opinion but don't get nearly the same negativity towards them.

I saw Wlad Kiltschko use clinching as his main source of defence for a decade and get away with It, and as soon as it was taken away from him against Fury, due to Fury's dimensions, footwork, and boxing ability, Wlad was all at sea. Hopkins in general - but specifically his fight with Calazghe where he used every trick in the book to try and kid his way through the fight. Floyd used so many different things which are questionable to say the least.

In terms of the thread - yes Ward is a master at pshycological warfare and is INCREDIBLY mentally strong. To find himself in the hole that he was after 2 rounds against Kovalev, outgunned, carrying an injury, to work his way back into the fight takes huge spirit. The thing is, mental strength is one thing, but you also have to be able to fight, and Ward can flat out fight.

He really did a number on Kovalev mentally, who at the respective phases of their careers was the better fighter. But he has two weaknesses...Body shots, and stamina, and Ward maximised those situations, especially in the second fight. I think everyone regrets the ending of Kovalev-Ward 2, my one wish is that we could have got a decisive ending.

[uppercut510]

inside fighting is an ugly but very effective and beautiful art, he is an amazing fighter

[Eff Pandas]

True.

Its weird how boxing fans work. Boxing is boxing. There are rules & sh^t. But for some reason some fans really despise mfers who use the rules of boxing to win fights. They seem to like it better if you win Gatti style over Ward style. And fair play to some degree cuz I'd agree Gatti is more fun to watch than Ward. But it gets weird when mfers are straight up hating on Ward vs just not being a fan of his.