Ward's first win over Kovalev is better than a potential win over Usyk

[Chollo Vista]

Bellew ranked #3 at cw? All the top rated guys faced each other in the super series. Again, your basing your argument of lhw being better than cw on bellew losing to the top lhw at the time and moving up to beat a bunch of mediocre guys at cw. What about the rest of the fighters in those divisions? Anyway, this is a side bar argument...I was saying kovalev hadn't proven much before facing ward, and I stand by that. You're out to lunch if you think ward beating kovalev would be a better win than current usyk.

I think Kovalev was seriously considered a killer when Ward fought him; probably because he actually killed a man (RIP).

If Ward fights Usyk, I won't get that same fear for Ward's safety like I did with Kovalev; that's just my personal thoughts.

Out of curiosity, who would you say Usky's signature win is against?

[Simurgh]

Cannot agree.

Usyk is clearly a much better and significantly bigger fighter than Kovalev. Yes, Kovalev was hyped,
but the first fight (which I think he clearly won) showed all his fundamental flaws. Usyk already has done more than Kovalev, not to mention that he showed in the Amateurs he is much superior fighter.

Only thing Kovalev has over Usyk is pfp power and he managed to drop Ward and have him badly hurt before gassing out in the 1st fight.

Ward is HOF, he did it all. However, his chances against Usyk would be very slim - but that doesn’t take anything from him (Usyk is just as skilled, if not more, and much bigger).

[Real King Kong]

I think Kovalev was seriously considered a killer when Ward fought him; probably because he actually killed a man (RIP).

If Ward fights Usyk, I won't get that same fear for Ward's safety like I did with Kovalev; that's just my personal thoughts.

Out of curiosity, who would you say Usky's signature win is against?

Kovalev was seen as a killer at least in part due to hype. I get why a guy who's seen to be a puncher maybe more fearsome than a boxer puncher like usyk, but usyk is the far bigger ask imo.

I'm not sure usyk has a single signature win...for me it's winning the super series as a whole. He went through the best guys in the division, faced different styles/experience levels and unified all the belts.

[champion4ever]

I agree. Ward's been there and done that. He has nothing to prove against Usyk at this point. He is an Olympic Gold medalist, he's won the Super six tournament and ruined Sergey Kovalev's career, so what more does he need to cement his legacy?

[_Rexy_]

Wrong answer. Try again.

I said, who was the man (champion) at CW before Usyk? Was he beaten or did he retire?

and I asked if you meant the last LINEAL champion, or who was ranked the highest, or who had the most ABC belts.

I even answered two of those for you. The last two CW Lineal champions both moved up to Heavyweight. David Haye (Retired) and Tomas Adameak (Should be Retired)

The last Undisputed CW Champion was Evander Holyfield (Retired)

[Citizen Koba]

Ummm. Well I thought Kovalev deserved the nod first time round so...

Main difference is though that Ward essentially wasn't giving up size to Kovalev. Same height near as dammit (folk always seem to think Kovalev was particularly tall when in fact he just fights tall - key to his mobility) and same weight. Like many (possibly even most) fighters hitting the age of 30 he moved up a division, not particularly because he was coming to the ring much heavier but because cutting the weight was starting to become more difficult.

To fight Usyk he'd be giving up 3" in height and 7" of wingspan and at 35 years old would be either adjusting to a whole new body size (with all the implications for stamina, speed and mobilit ) or giving up a ridiculous amount of weight...

That said - if we're talking about Usyk - Joshua, proportionately it ain't all that different. In neither case would the smaller guy have a hope of bludgeoning their way to victory.

Hell. I respect Wards accomplishments a great deal, but this is just an ask too far in my book. If he could somehow pull off a W at this age and with such a size disadvantage it would rank among one of the greatest I can think of.