A while back, retired great Andre Ward raised a good many eyebrows by stating how he believes a fight with Joe Calzaghe would have been “tougher” for him than one with heavyweight Anthony Joshua. Ward, who spoke with trade paper Boxing News, said his “fluidity” along with the “physical strength” he possessed would have seen him to a win over AJ.
Not everyone agrees with Ward, naturally. Ward never boxed above light heavyweight, and as we know, AJ is a big, strong, power-punching heavyweight who comes in at around 250 pounds. But Ward insists he would have found his way to victory.
“I know nobody can imagine me being able to go strength for strength with Joshua because of his size and the way he looks, but I don’t think I’d have been overpowered from a physical standpoint,” Ward said of this mythical fight. “The key thing would have been my movement and my inside fighting, believe it or not, and my goal would have been to wear him down. He has a rocket right hand that is very, very strong if you stand in line for it. I don’t see a whole lot outside of that. It’d have been a dangerous proposition because you don’t wanna get hit with that with a guy his size. I would have let the fight come to me. I’d definitely have been trying to win.”
Well, Carl Froch, who lost a decision to Ward in 2011, the fight close on two cards, is having absolutely none of Ward’s claim that he’d have ben able to hang with AJ, or even defeat him. Froch, speaking with Lord Ping, said he thinks Ward’s comments on Joshua are “f*****g ridiculous.”
Froch says he’d enjoy watching Joshua flatten Ward.
“I think Andre Ward’s comments on Anthony Joshua and Joe Calzaghe are f*****g ridiculous because Anthony Joshua is far too big for him,” Froch said. “It would have been a mismatch because of the size difference. I don’t get where he’s coming from. AJ is six feet and 18 stone, Andre Ward wouldn’t have had a f*****g chance! Boxing is a weight governed sport, Ward is talking nonsense. I think he gives Calzaghe a really tough fight, though, that’s a tough night for Calzaghe, a great fight. But he’s talking bulls**t about Anthony Joshua. AJ is too big and too strong for Andre Ward, I’d actually enjoy watching AJ knock out Andre Ward, I’d pay to see it.”
Now, it’s worth noting how Froch has never really had much of anything good to say about Ward, and even now, in retirement, the grudge seems to still be there from “The Cobra’s” side. However, it’s tough to disagree with Froch here. Ward against a massive, powerful heavyweight in Joshua? It would surely have been what Froch says it would have been – a mismatch.
Still, Froch DOES give Ward some credit when he says Ward “does beat Calzaghe, he doesn’t really have any chinks in his armour.”
A fight between Ward and Calzaghe, both of whom retired having never tasted a pro loss, would have been a genuine 50-50 affair. Ward against Joshua would have been something else entirely.