Usyk's management contacted by Andre Ward.

[Real King Kong]

I wonder are we are talking about the same fighter here? The reason I ask is because the Oleksandr Usyk I know has a 75 percent knockout ratio and those are against other Cruiserweights and men his own size or little larger.

Andre Ward fighting Oleksandr Usyk is the equivalent of Abner Mares fighting Jermall Charlo or Gennady Golovkin. It's like a featherweight challenging a Middleweight.

It just doesn't make sense. Andre Ward will be well out of his league in this one. Remember that Dre is a natural Super middleweight. While on the other hand, Usyk is a natural Cruiserweight; Who started his professional career at 200 lbs. That's more than a 32 pound weight discrepancy.

This fight will be a mismatch. Ward would be giving up too much weight, size and power to the 6'3 Usyk; Who is not only a good boxer but is also a huge puncher as well.

ward was big at smw...at this point he's a "natural" lhw. but yea, it is a big size discrepancy, but it isn't quite like a fw fighting a mw. obviously ward would have to add a bit of size and make it ugly...but it's not like he doesn't have a chance at all. and I don't consider usyk a huge puncher...he's got good power, but that's not really his game.

[champion4ever]

Ward will find a way. People claimed Kovalev was a killer and we all know how that ended. Ward can knock this guy out.

No, it's not the same. As much as anybody I like Andre Ward and am a fan of his. However, just like the rest of us even he has his limits.

He would be giving up too much weight, size and youth to a man who is more than 32 pounds heavier than him. Likewise, Oleksandr is the naturally larger, wider and stronger of the two also.

I just think that given Usyk's overall skill level, athleticism and physical ability; It would prove to be too much of a insurmountable odd for Ward to overcome at this stage of his career.

Let's say if Dre was at least seven or eight years younger, then I will probably say maybe or yes but at the age of 35 I will have to say no; Forget about it.

[ralex]

This is less crazy than Mikey fighting Spence.

I’m guessing Ward sees something he can exploit as well.

[BM dnobagaV]

Dude got outboxed by Kovalev. Come on bruh.

[CrowsNestWest]

Ward ain't and all time great and losing to Usyk will solidify that. Opportunistic fighter, terrible commentator.

[bigjavi973]

What is called cheating is a big category of behaviors, some of which are easy to judge, some not so much. Lets look at some examples.

1) A guy loads his gloves with a substance. Well in the old days some types of hand treatments were used ubiquitiously by fighters for the purposes of not breaking the hand. This is different than a fighter putting cement in their glove to hit harder. the second action is cheating and is not defensive in nature, the first action is something that was necessary when gloves were smaller so that the hand would not break on the forehead. And if you ever fought full contact karate with no hand protection and reversed punched a forehead.... There was a need to protect the hands.

2) headbutting and elbowing. In the early days of boxing there was not a big problem with head butting because guys did not square up. Whenever a fighter comes in face forward hands up there is a chance for heads to clash. Its not deliberate so much as an occupational hazard. If a fighter uses the forehead deliberately (ive seen Holyfield do this) then this is cheating yes.

Elbows are used in boxing all the time! You redirect blows, push the guy off with them, put them on the neck. This has to be addressed by the ref and by the defensive tactics of the other fighter... A professional prize fighter must learn to deal with elbows using tactics. The exception to this is hitting with the elbow, that is cheating.

3) Holding and Hitting. This is part of professional prize fighting. Otherwise they would penalize a fighter for clinching. Clinching is a natural reaction to getting hit, protecting oneself. Its part of the sport at the professional level. Refs penalize Excessive holding...Not clinching at times.

Trying to hold the hand ties both fighters up, its also part of inside fighting. Getting the gloved hand neutralized against opponents body is a type of holding and it takes skill to do so, You can't grab someone with a boxing glove in a manner that totally stops their punching. Wrestling got position, using the shoulders to push...all part of the sport.

4) Weigh ins should be same day. Take the option to cheat away from the fighter. Period.

5) Roiding is a very complex problem. Roids that help an injury should be allowed. A lot of older fighters need that sort of help and it has been shown time and time again that most roids do little to help a fighter. fight better.

In terms of using roids for performance, this is complicated. I cant say that I have thought this through enough to come out as either for, or against all performance enhancers. We have to see how much cycling these drugs during training will be part of progress. I still maintain that even in the heavyweight division of a guy trained like fighters used to train, he would have an amazing advantage over others...even others who use enhancers. Show me a heavy weight who can punch hard, throw punches for 12 rounds continually, and stay on his toes...Not a muscle bound fighter who looks like a statue.

Hope this helps. These are not simple issues Bats.

I dont even know why you bothered.

you dont have to prove yourself to nelson or anyone here for that matter...

[bigjavi973]

Nice, I see 2 shot posters got buried here...more shot than Sonny Corleone...you know who you are...

Ward MOST DEFINITELY ruined your lives.

What those losers and many other uneducated fans don't know is...Ward was/is so versatile he could/can defeat opponents anyway he wants or has to...

You haven't even really seen his stick and move style he would use against Usyk or guys noticeably bigger and stronger than him...

Fun Flashback: Go watch Round 1 of Ward-Kessler...have you ever seen a green, supposed underdog come out and straight OUTBOX a fairly respected champion like that?

From the build up to the weigh in to the bout...Ward looked like he was The Champ, and Kessler looked like the out of depth contender.

#UsykFansWardHatersSTARTS**TTING

every thread they are guaranteed to go crying

[bigjavi973]

Dude got outboxed by Kovalev. Come on bruh.

[Dontbeahater]

Dude got outboxed by Kovalev. Come on bruh.

Really? I didn't know that. I really wouldn't have known that from watching both fights.

[Dontbeahater]

if ward legit beat usyk then wow that would be really impressive, but lets face it, he lost the first kov fight pretty clear and was dropped in it too, in the rematch he was better but all those fouls, man that was plain cheating plus usyk is a fair bit bigger than kov with no stamina issues and much better overall, if ward took this fight and won cleanly i would never say a bad word about him again

I guess you talk smack about almost every fighter then because if that's your criteria then in our Era, Outside of Floyd, whose more proven, multiple weightclass champion, and undefeated?
I can't name one....

Calzaghe maybe but his best wins were a controversial win over Hopkins and beat a 39 rjj after he never recovered from going to hw.

Rjj could have been the same but he kept fighting after ruiz. Had Rjj retired at 36 or 37, he would be p4p #1 and no one could have talked smack imp.