QUARTER MASTERS
#9 ANDRE WARD 32-0 (16 KOs), 2004-2017 Titles held: Super middleweight (Ring, WBA, WBC); Light heavyweight (Ring, IBF, WBA, WBO) Ward is not the kind of fighter you’d pull up on YouTube to get a friend interested in boxing, and that’s not a knock on him. He’s the kind of fighter your grateful friend will pull up on YouTube by themself after a couple years of learning about what boxers do.
Ward was always the steadiest, most fundamentally sound boxer in the ring. Great jab, great defense, great conditioning, a wide range of punches and completely unflappable – his expression didn’t change much between when he entered the arena and when he left it with whatever world title he’d just won or defended. And one word followed him throughout his undefeated career: intelligence. Ward was a chess player who lived to figure his opponents out and shut them down with superior craft, not power. He won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, turned pro later that year and was under the radar until the 168-pound Super Six World Boxing Classic kicked off in 2009. Starting with a technical decision over Mikkel Kessler for his first world title and ending with a unanimous
decision over Carl Froch to become the unified Ring champion, Ward’s four victories in the tournament were proof- positive of his talents on a worldwide stage. He made two defenses, against Chad Dawson and undefeated prospect Edwin Rodriguez, before moving up to 175 pounds. His last two fights were controversial wins over previously undefeated power-puncher Sergey Kovalev, but Ward left the sport as a unified Ring champion at light heavyweight. Unfortunately, it takes a Queen’s Gambit -style dramatization to make chess interesting to a layperson, so Ward’s style never really clicked with the mainstream.
Ward came from behind to outpoint Sergey Kovalev in their first fight.
#10 CANELO ALVAREZ 63-3-2 (39 KOs), 2005-present Titles held: Junior middleweight (Ring, WBA, WBC, WBO); Middleweight (Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC); Super middleweight (undisputed); Light heavyweight (WBO) Though neither a mage-level boxer nor a cannon-fisted KO artist, the theme in Canelo’s early career, seen through the king-making lens of HBO, was that we were witnessing a rising young star with plenty of power who was
Canelo had too much of everything for former champ Jermell Charlo.
aggressive – particularly dangerous with combinations featuring shots to the body – and cerebral enough to learn from a crafty veteran like Shane Mosley or a prime contender like Austin Trout, the latter of whom he outpointed to win a Ring championship at junior middleweight. His rise to stardom hit a speed bump in Floyd Mayweather Jr., who relieved the 23-year-old Canelo of his belts and unbeaten record (42-0-1 going in) with a majority decision that should’ve been unanimous in 2013. But learn he did. As a quasi- middleweight, Alvarez won his second championship with a decision over Miguel Cotto, then roamed between 154 and 175 pounds picking up titles before settling at super middleweight, where he ruled the division, eventually as undisputed champion, for four years until running into Terence Crawford. His career has been plagued by criticism
about cherry-picking opponents and imposing catchweights, and the trilogy with Gennadiy Golovkin will always be “Exhibit A” for his detractors, but Canelo’s non-controversial accomplishments are numerous. His combos have given way to more of a stalking-and-thumping approach in recent times, but Alvarez remains an exceptionally well-rounded fighter who is able to write the narrative of a fight with intelligent pressure, good defensive movement and counterpunching, an array of weapons and a teflon chin (he has never been knocked down in his 68 fights). All of it has served him well in becoming “the face of boxing” for the past decade.
34 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
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