Rasheed Catapang – Andre Ward’s win over Chad Dawson marked the spot where he now stands in the grand scheme of things. Dan Rafael of ESPN said he’s the best boxer in the planet not named Mayweather. Kevin Lole of Yahoo stated something along the same lines, adding that Ward has already overtaken Pacquiao. They’re close but not quite.
Andre Ward is, at this point in time, simply Boxing’s No.1.
Pacquiao has long since been on the decline, never showing in his recent fights the buzzsaw skills that saw him dominating Dela Hoya, Hatton and Cotto. Now, he’ll be facing Marquez the fourth time, not really being able to master the man in so many tries. In fact, Marquez is looking more as the likely winner this time around. There goes the legend of Pacquiao.
Mayweather himself is on his last leg against Father Time, standing toe-to-toe more often and on his last fight taking the worst beating of his career from a similar past-his-prime Cotto. That’s simply not his style. Many experts not willing to let go put a positive spin to that – putting weight on the Cotto win and hailing that as a career-defining one. Well it was in a way because Mayweather had never really fought a quality opponent for the longest time, feasting on no-hopers or those that break on cue ala Victor Ortiz. Those kind of win from an unbiased standpoint however, doesn’t merit pound for pound points.
Andre Ward’s wins do. They’re a series of ugly moves and wins meshing in to create the wonder in the end. It was “gangnam style” for lack of a better word. The craze brought about by the Korean’s Psy fittingly describes what Ward and his reign is all about.
We’ve seen what Ward brings to the table in his fights. He’ll frustrate the opponent. One, who possibly within the first 2 rounds, has all the moves read by Andre Ward. He then, as he sees fit, proceeds to beat the opposition 10 moves in advance.
No surprises. No dramas. The win for Andre Ward to take is always within his grasp the entire time.
Sergio Martinez, another claimant to the throne, went down against Chavez Jr and escaped with a win. Of course Martinez lost in the grand scheme of things. It sealed the deal for the new king.
Mayweather, Pacquiao and Martinez are teetering on the brink of pound for pound irrelevance. They can sort out with themselves where they currently rank. But the top now surely belongs to Andre Ward.
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