Ward-Dawson thread

[Sugar Floyd Louis]

First topic message reminder :

Cagey start..

[88Chris05]

I think from the outset, beating the Shumenovs, Clouds and Pascals of this world, along with the names he's already vanquished, wouldn't be the sort of win column you'd expect an all-time top twenty-odd man to have. But as I've said on other threads, longevity, level of sheer dominance and virtuosity all play a part to; how else does Jofre possibly command a top fifteen spot, for instance?

If Ward were to defend his 168 lb belts a couple more times, beat Dawson at 175 lb to remove any doubts, and then clear out the division by beating the likes of Pascal, Cloud etc before retiring, doing it (and this is the key part) in a similar style to how he's cleared out the Super-Middleweights, then a top twenty spot wouldn't be out of the question at all. But he would need to maintain this current level, leaving us all mightily impressed (well, almost all of us) rather than scraping through.

I think there's a chance that, starting very soon, Ward could have a good, long run as the tip-top pound for pound fighter, utterly dominant to the point where rounds scored against him become collector's items, much like Roy had. If he were to time his retirement well, then who's to say where we might be ranking him in a few years?

The exciting thing, at least from Ward's point of view, is that there's basically nobody on the horizon who could prevent him from doing all of this, which is why I'm hoping that we'll see him in action three times in 2013. He should strike while the iron's hot and while the stars are alligned as they are.

I don't usually plan that far ahead with any fighter, or make such bold claims of what I'd expect them to achieve, but I can't help it with Ward. It's all there for him and he's got the tools to do it.

[TheMackemMawler]

When Ortiz does

what Dawson did

he gets slaughtered??

[KingMonkey]

Got to admit, I'm pleasantly surprised at the lack of 'quitter' jibes I've seen aimed at Chad.

[manos de piedra]

When Ortiz does

what Dawson did

he gets slaughtered??

Ortiz was still well in his fights when he had enough though. Dawson was getting beaten up and you would have to think the KO was just around the corner if he carried on. With Ortiz it looked like he just decided he had enough despite still being in front on the cards. Makes it look worse to some people I think in comparison to Dawson who dominated. If it became a habit with Dawson aswell I could see him getting more stick.

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