Can Andre Ward be considered great if......

[IronDanHamza]

who is that?????

Felix Trinidad.

[Mike Haynes]

So you dont think Hopkins was great before moving up?

Sheeid how great was he? His best win was Tito. If BHop retired after that fight his greatness would have been questioned. Which is why I chose Andre Ward in particular with regard to this question. I personally think at this point he would have to go to LHW to be considered great.

[Mike Haynes]

Pretty much all of the heavyweight ATGs were one-division champs.

I don't see why not. But I think Ward will go wandering upward as he gets older, and good luck to him.

I actually meant to say "Not including heavyweights"

[KnockUTheFukOut]

Absolutely. Hagler had sixty something fights at middleweight and fought some great competition (that moved up) throughout his career.

Ward has nothing left to prove at 168 and we haven't found the beast at 160who's moving up in weight that would be a threat to Ward. Plus there is a lot of competition at 175 in America.

???

The Dirrell Brothers, Lucian Bute, Robert Stieglitz...also up and comers like Thomas Oosthuizen, Edwin Rodriguez, George Groves...

Ward is just getting started in his Division and as a fighter he is just entering his PRIME, Super 6 was just the FIRST CHAPTER of Ward's Pro Career

but yeah he will probably move up to 175 eventually

[Mike Haynes]

???

The Dirrell Brothers, Lucian Bute, Robert Stieglitz...also up and comers like Thomas Oosthuizen, Edwin Rodriguez, George Groves...

Ward is just getting started in his Division and as a fighter he is just entering his PRIME, Super 6 was just the FIRST CHAPTER of Ward's Pro Career

but yeah he will probably move up to 175 eventually

I doubt if any of those happen at 168. Ward can go up to 175 and take on all of these dudes, but he has Chad coming down to 168. Who does that? Go up to 175! If he beats Chad Dawson at 175 he'd be on the road to greatness.

[intoccabile]

To be a great fighter today, you almost have to be a weight jumper, kinda of stupid, but whatever. But to really be great, no matter what, he needs to fight Bute and Dirrell. If he does that and makes a Hopkin's style run at 168, maybe he could be considered great if he never moved up.

No.. just no bro. I'm sorry. Bute had never fought anyone worthwhile and the moment he did he lost, BAD. He's still a prospect as far as I'm concerned, he was just being hyped up so ridiculously. People seem to forget his first test in the extremely limited Andrade ended badly. Dirrell fits in that same discription. Having only fought 2 big fights and he performed well in both, but 1 of them was a career MW who proved that he was too slow and too small for the division, so it's really hard to give full credit for that win, but it's in the books.

He has beaten the other great fighters in his division. Kessler, Froch. Those are the only other "great" fighters in his weight, he's beaten them. Bute is not "greaT" or anywhere near it, nor is Dirrell. They are just good fighters, aspiring to be.

There are tough fights ahead for him, but he's beaten the whos who of the top of the food chain IMO, at this point everyone else is just to increase his name. I expect to see him move to 175 and get either a Kess Rematch (assuming Kess keeps impressing in another fight) or accepting a challenge by the Cloud/Pascal winner.

[sdcluser]

Man already has kickass resume. Just give him some time.

[MJ223]

Simple answer....... Yes

[#1Assassin]

ofcourse he could, plenty of great fighters only fought in one weightclass. its all about who you beat and theres plenty of talent at 168.

[ShoulderRoll]

If he beats Dawson then Ward will have beaten the best of two divisions.