Hate both guys. But Ward always delivered including winning the big ones. Oscar lost most of his biggest fights. I say Ward.
ODLH wins over: Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez, Hector Camacho, Ike Quartey, Genaro Hernández, Fernando Vargas, Arturo Gatti, Yori Boy Campas, Oba Carr Ward wins over: Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Sergey Kovalev, Chad Dawson, Arthur Abraham, Sakio Bika, Sullivan Barrera, Edison Miranda I say ODLH was greater by a good margin.
It is weird how much the official decisions sway our thinking. 90% of people considered Ward very lucky to get the nod over Kovalev. Whereas about 75% saw Oscar beating Tito. Had the verdicts gone other way, I don't think this would be much of a debate, even if the actual ring events were exactly the same
In Oscar's defense, it's true that no Ward opponent was on the level of Trinidad or Whitaker, or even Quartey for that matter. It's just that Oscar fights were almost always contentious, whereas Ward has clear wins. Purely as fighters, Oscar was more gifted and I think at 140 he peaked higher than Ward ever did. But Ward was most certainly a smarter and more adaptable fighter, and by a pretty big margin in that area.
I'd definitely rank Kovalev, Kessler and Froch at least on the same level as Quartey. Also I see this nearly opposite. I consider prime Ward as the more difficult guy to beat. However Oscar has the clear edge in overall resume
Tough one, would probably give the edge to Ward due to being more dominant though I still maintain the 2 Kovalev fights were abominations
No, we're basically on the same page. Oscar has a deeper resume, but hypothetically if they were the same size, it'd be easier for me to envision Ward beating Oscar than vice versa.
In a P4P match, Ward would just circle to DLH's right, effectively taking away his left hand, and win via stink. So by default, that makes him greater
If you go on their best 5 clear-cut victories who's resume is better? Ward has : Kessler, dawson, Kovalev 2, froch and Barrera Delahoya has: chavez 1, vargas, hernandez, gonzalez, ruelas
Ward. Oscar lacked physical bravery. No way Ward backs away from a guy like Tito after facing down a guy like Kovalev.
Whats with the tags to these threads? It used to be that I could post them, were my privileges revoked?
Oscar did challenge himself time and time again though, whereas Ward retired in the midst of his prime
Ward never took any chances.. retired early etc.. Oscar definitely took some chances and went outside his comfort zone...
Yeah it's a bit weird. Seems the only time it's taken into consideration and "erased" is if the bad decision gets mainstream attention like Whitaker-Chavez or Lewis-Holyfield and those ended up in draws, not losses on their record. Give Oscar either the Tito or second Mosley fight and Kovalev the fist one with Ward and i doubt many take Andre. On a side note when discussing resumes i think it should go beyond just victories. Quality of opposition and how one performed against said opposition should be taken into consideration when judging a fighter's career. Obviously a win is better than a loss but if you fight another ATG and lose a narrow decision (even if it was correct) it shouldn't mean zip because that fighter took an 'L'.
To me, he looked very comfortable there. It was as if there was a safety net included with this challenge
Yeah, this was a shameful ''performance'' by Weeks. If he has an ounce of honesty in him (doubtful) he'll gave us the Padilla's routine in a few years and gloat about how he did everything within his power to ensure Ward won.