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Andre Ward is lacking quality challengers, says Glenn McCrory

Image: Fleeter Andre: Ward is too quick and too slick for his rivals, says Glenn

Andre Ward may not be the most entertaining fighter around but that's only because he's so good.

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Aces
Plus, at light-heavyweight, you have the hard-hitting Adonis Stevenson, who has no issues with confidence, and Sergey Kovalev, who has Nathan Cleverly's scalp on his CV. However, it was noticeable that when Stevenston stopped Bellew in six rounds in Canada, he only called out Froch and when Kovalev beat Ismail Sillakh on the same bill, he called out Stevenson! Even though Stevenson and Kovalev would hold some of the aces if they boxed Ward at their weight, they are still not clamouring for him - and it's easy to see why. Ward has great variety, a cracking offence and defence, and beat Froch at his own game, so it is hard to see how you could stop him but there are a couple of things you could attempt to throw him off his game. The most important thing is to try and negate his skills, which means boxing at a pace, putting him on the back foot and stopping him from controlling the rhythm of the fight, as once he does he is virtually unstoppable. One thing we have not seen from Ward is whether he can do what Froch did against Groves - recover from a good hiding and then bounce back in the second half of a fight - as he has never been out of his comfort zone. Darnell Boone knocked him down earlier in his career and you thought then he might turn out to be a bit lightweight, but now any flaws have disappeared - or are very well hidden - and he has made the super-middleweight division his own. Ward is not a wild fighter - but he doesn't have to be.

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