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Is Andre Ward the Most Unbeatable Fighter in Boxing?

“Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, let it grow. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless-like water. Now, you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”
Bruce Lee
Timeless words from a pioneer in the art of fighting. Martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, originally schooled in the “wing chun” style of kung fu, considered the word “style” to be a major flaw when it came to combat. So much so, that he started to develop his own way of fighting. Using a no style as a style theory, Lee set about getting rid of any wasted motions and set routines within his repertoire, keeping what was necessary, he borrowed from other arts, such as judo, Karate and even western boxing. His new way of fighting would later be named Jeet Kune Do, which when translated means “the way of the intercepting fist.” Bruce Lee's views and philosophies changed the way people thought about martial arts. His theories were later documented in his book. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
In its simplest form, boxing is a fight, a fight where your only weapon is your fists. The sweet science however, is far more complex than that. It has multiple styles and nuances within its art. Pure boxing, brawling, pressure fighting and inside fighting are just some of them. One method for boxing fans and experts, when predicting the outcome of fights, is by looking at what particular style an opponent employs. Certain styles usually trump other styles. Boxers do better against brawlers. Pressure fighters can sometimes get inside on boxers.
So what would happen then, if a fighter takes Bruce Lee's beliefs, and applies them to boxing? Showing no limitations when it comes to versatility and adaptability? The answer is Andre Ward.
Andre Ward is boxing's renaissance man. Like a sponge, he has soaked every one of boxing's technique's and strategies and mastered them all. His way of boxing encapsulates everything Bruce Lee stood for. Shortly before his death, Bruce Lee had an idea for a movie-The Game Of Death. The movie's finale was to involve Lee advancing up a chinese pagoda, encountering a different opponent with a different style on each of the five levels. The idea was that Lee would have to adapt to every fighter’s style, in order to defeat them. It was to be the platform where Bruce Lee was going to showcase his skills and new adaptable way of fighting to the world.
The Super Six tournament was Andre Ward's platform where HE showcased HIS skills and adaptable way of fighting to the world. Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Sakio Bika {a tune up fight which took place outside of the tournament}, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch were the opponents, each with contrasting styles.
Level 1.
In his first fight, against Mikkel Kessler, the unfancied Andre Ward put on a dazzling display as he outboxed and outfought the pre tournament favourite. Kessler is a very good technician. A textbook fighter with a strong jab, Ward was able to take away Kessler's jab with his own jab and lead right hand. When Ward was on the back foot, Kessler could not get close as Ward’s superior hand and footspeed always kept Kessler one step behind. With Kessler badly cut, the fight went to the scorecards, where Ward won a technical decision.
Level 2.
In his second tournament fight, we got an early glimpse of Ward’s versatility as he took on a very different personna when completely dominating Allan Green over twelve, one-sided rounds. If in the first fight, Ward evoked memories of Ray Leonard with his movement and hand speed, this time Ward was more like that of Ray Leonard rival Roberto Duran, as he took away Green's left hook threat by smothering him against the ropes and turned in a fine display of in-fighting that the Panamanian legend would have been proud of.
Level 3.
Because of injury to proposed opponent Andre Dirrell, Ward decided to test his skills against the tough Sakio Bika, in a contest that took place outside of the tournament. Bika, a practitioner of the more sour science of boxing, is a supremely strong durable super-middleweight. Early in the fight, Bika tried to turn things ugly. Ward, showing new layers yet again, matched Bika in the toughness department, which saw both fighters looking like two bulls locking horns. Ward decided to take the fight to the outside where he proceeded to out box Bika. Ward earned himself a unanimous decision and was now starting to gain recognition as one of the sport’s premier fighters.
Level 4.
In his fourth showing, Ward demonstrated more variety, this time mixing up body attacks with laser accurate head shots. Abraham, a very hard puncher, was kept in his defensive shell for most of the encounter as Ward threw more in the way of combinations before claiming a wide unanimous decision. Ward was now in the Super Six final.
Level 5. Final Stage.
With Ward having now faced a textbook boxer, a left hook artist, a rough and tough brawler and a pressure fighter, it was now onto the style of the unknown. Carl Froch is a fighter who is difficult to label. He is neither boxer nor brawler. He throws punches from strange angles, has genuine ko power and is the owner of one of the best chins in boxing.
In a display befitting of his name, “Son Of God,” Ward put on THE performance of his career, as he completely perplexed Carl Froch in twelve rounds of one sided fistic brilliance. Resembling Shang Tsung from the video game Mortal Kombat, Ward morphed through his many styles as he performed a boxing melody. Landing left hooks, straight right hands, boxing at range and in close, Andre Ward dominated Carl Froch in just about every aspect of boxing you can think of.
With the final level of the pagoda conquered, André Ward was now the Super Six tournament winner.
The question on everyone's mind regarding Ward is the same. Just who is out there that can beat him?
The answer at the moment? Nobody.
Lucian Bute seems to be the only fighter with a chance. But in reality, no matter what Bute brings to the table, Ward will be able to cater for it. His ability to adjust and adapt to whatever is in front of him is as good as just about any fighter I’ve seen. Even at this early stage in his career, there seems to be no weakness in Ward's game. He can box or brawl. He can fight at high pace or slow pace. He is a master in close or from the outside. He can fight going fowards, backwards, side to side and any other way you can think of. His understanding of timing and distance is as acute as anyone in the sport. He is almost impossible to time himself, because he fights using broken rhythm, as opposed to rhythm. Ask yourself this…How does a fighter train for someone like Ward? What would be a fighter’s strategy? Ward doesn’t just take an opponents best asset away, he manages to take it and turn it into a disadvantage for them.
If one were to find faults with Ward, you could possibly say that he is too good for his own good. Ward is so dominant and his fights so one sided, sometimes you feel that it would be nice to see him go for the knockout. Ward's emphasis is WINNING, not entertaining and because of that, he has been wrongly labelled as boring. There are critics who don’t seem to appreciate him. Personally, I feel his utter dominance over world class opposition, whilst alternating his look depending on the occasion, is anything but boring, but hey, each their own.
George Foreman once said, “Boxing is like jazz, the better it is, the less it is appreciated.”
At 27 years-old, and seemingly getting better with each performance, i have a feeling Andre Ward, the most unbeatable fighter in boxing, will be underappreciated for a very long time.
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‘Krusher’ Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welter Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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