By Ted Sares
With the decade drawing to a close, it’s time to acknowledge the Fighter of the Decade. There are plenty to choose from; it’s not an easy task.
Maybe an argument can be put forth for Manny Pacquiao, but it likely wouldn’t hold up. PacMan lost four fights this decade. True, two of those losses – vs. Timothy Bradley Jr in their first meeting and to Jeff Horn – were controversial, but losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and being knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez keeps him out of this discussion. Instead, let’s cut to the chase. Canelo Alvarez, Andre Ward, Gennady Golovkin, Vasyl Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Floyd Mayweather Jr. emerge as the Big Six.
The most active fighters among these six were Crawford (25-0 with one fight pending), Alvarez (23-1-1) and Golovkin (22-1-1). Lomachenko clocks in at 14-1, Ward at 11-0, and Mayweather at 10-0.
Canelo has surged and is finishing the decade strong, albeit with controversy. There is an urge to go with the Mexican redhead, but two grueling fights with Gennady Golovkin and a KO over Sergey Kovalev may not be enough, qualitatively speaking. Moreover, many of his wins were close if not controversial (Lara, and the two GGG fights to name three) and he did lose to Mayweather. Sure, his KOs against Baldomir, Kirkland, Khan, and Kovalev were frightening, but the last one raises the question: was Canelo that good or was Kovalev that used up (in part thanks to Ward)?
As for Gennady Golovkin, a 40-1 1 record with 22-1-1 coming between 2010 and 2019, certainly gets him into the conversation. After torturing and stopping Kassim Ouma in 2011, he gained notice and then built up a 23-fight KO streak before going the distance with Danny Jacobs in 2017. But the two grueling fights with Canelo followed by an equally draining battle with “The Technician,” Sergiy Derevyanchenko, in October suggests GGG’s best days are behind him.
Qualitative
Terence Crawford may be the most talented fighter on this list, but his opponents were hardly a Murderers Row. He unified the super lightweight title, winning all four belts, but the man he defeated to unify the title, Julius Indongo, was wiped out in two rounds by Regis Prograis in his very next start. A qualitative analysis over one that is quantitative would point more to Mayweather or Ward.
Floyd Mayweather’s finishing bouts against Andre Berto and the self-promoting Conor McGregor tarnished his legacy, but in the decade that is drawing to a close, Floyd defeated four future Hall of Famers: Shane Mosley in 2010, Miguel Cotto in 2012, Canelo in 2013, and Pacquiao in 2015. But Mosley, Cotto, and Pacquiao were past their prime when Mayweather fought them and Canelo hadn’t yet hit his peak.
When it comes to dominating opponents in their prime, Andre Ward stands out. A cerebral fighter who could fight rough and tough inside or use the ring as a chess board, S.O.G., as he liked to be called, never backed down from anyone and built upon the old-school foundation and skills that earned him a Gold Medal in the Olympics and carried him to a 32-0 pro record with only one close fight on his ledger.
Unfortunately, Ward lost two years of the decade to retirement and some additional time due to promotional issues, but when he fought, he won—and most importantly, he won against other elite fighters including Mikkell Kessler (okay, that was in December of 2009, not quite in this decade), Alan Green, Arthur Abraham, and Carl Froch in the Super Six Classic. The combined record of these four in-their-prime fighters was 131-5. Add in another elite fighter in Chad Dawson who Ward stopped after the Super Six tourney and the figure goes to 162-6.
The only close fight S.O.G. was in was the first Kovalev outing when Kovalev’s name could be found on almost every P4P list. Ward quite possibly ruined Kovalev in their rematch. “Not even Floyd Mayweather has beaten a fighter of Kovalev's pedigree twice,” wrote Brian Mazique of Forbes.
The salient point here is that Kovalev was a dominant fighter in his own right, but he in turn was dominated by Ward.
S.O.G, who was never very good at self-promotion, retired in 2017 at 33 years of age, keeping in mind that he had been fighting competitively since age 9.
“I want to be clear — I am leaving because my body can no longer put up with the rigors of the sport and therefore my desire to fight is no longer there…If I cannot give my family, my team, and the fans everything that I have, then I should no longer be fighting,” said Ward.
He retired with his health intact and many awards including Fighter of the Year by Ring Magazine and the BWAA in 2011. (However, it’s worth noting that the BWAA awarded Floyd Mayweather Jr. Fighter of the Year in 2013 and 2015.)
If it’s not Ward, it should be Floyd Jr. Two tactically brilliant boxers. And yes, there’s certainly room for debate so have at it.
Postscript: Will Andre Ward return to fight Canelo? No booze. Stays in shape. Knee has had time to recover…Style matchup totally favors him. Shocked if he doesn’t at least bring it up. -- Jim Lampley
Ted Sares can be reached at tedsares@roadrunner.com
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