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Is Andre Ward the P4P No 1?
- Updated: November 21, 2016
Andre Ward must now be rated as the undisputed pound-for-pound king of world boxing. Sky Sports make the argument…
It doesn’t feel right for Ward to be celebrated as the best boxer in the world, his critics will say. He is a harsh character, which can sometimes make it difficult to passionately support him, who doesn’t produce enough knock-outs and, according to Sergey Kovalev, won on Saturday due to politics and the “wrong decision”.
Those accusations can be vehemently argued for but none change the truth that, in out-pointing Kovalev on all three of the judges’ score-cards, Ward has a name in his win column that trumps any other boxer in the world.
The pound-for-pound ranking is fantasy that perfectly sums up the chaos that ensues inside the ropes. The discussion and delirium that the question evokes is similar only to the intrigue behind the official scoring of a closely-fought boxing match, such as Ward vs Kovalev, because both revolve around perception. Do you prefer power punches or jabs? Body work or footwork? The big guy or the little’un?
So it remains easy to bat away Ward’s most recent accomplishment and offer up the evidence that Roman Gonzalez, Gennady Golovkin or whoever you prefer is a better fighter. But when the issue is rooted solely in facts, Ward’s rivals can no longer hold a candle to the unbeaten American’s record.
How should a boxer be judged, if not by the quality of opponents that they have beaten? Ward and Kovalev traded blows in the most significant boxing match of its generation, the first time …
