Andre Ward's Super Six Victory over Carl Froch Makes Him a Top P4P Contender

Andre Ward asserted his dominance at super middleweight in a victory over Britain's Carl Froch to win Showtime's Super Six competition.

Without a doubt Ward is far and away the best fighter at 168 pounds now, but where does his win rank him pound-for-pound?

Using The Ring's P4P rankings, Andre Ward went into the Super Six final ranked ninth pound-for-pound in the world.

Then, in Atlantic City, Ward put on a masterclass against the rugged Froch. From the first bell until the last, Ward threw the cleaner punches and avoided being hit by Froch.

Ward took full advantage of the Cobra's low left hand, consistently landing shots to Froch's head. Ward particularly scored well with a constant stream of mean, short hooks that Froch could not pick.

Froch tried to rally in the later rounds and had some success in the final two rounds. However, Ward at no point looked in danger of being knocked out, still ducking and skipping out of reach of Froch's gloves.

Somewhat surprisingly, Ward also won the physical battle. Whenever the two got close, it was Ward who was outmuscling the Brit, pushing Froch onto the ropes and allowing him no space to let his punches go.

Froch comes out of the Super Six having established himself as one of the gutsiest fighters around, but when it came to the final, he was clearly beaten by the better fighter. He admitted as much after the fight, saying "I couldn't really get anything going, he was too slippery".

Froch will look to fight his way back into title contention, but for Andre Ward, the title of best fighter in the world is not too far away.

His Super Six victory means that, in my opinion, he leaps over at least the five men in front of him on the Ring's list.

Ward has now beaten Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Sakio Bika, Allan Green and Mikkel Kessler in his last five fights. Not only has he beaten them, but he's barely lost a round doing it.

That elevates him above Timothy Bradley, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Wladimir Klitschko, Juan Manuel Marquez and Nonito Donaire.

For me, Ward now sits alongside Sergio Martinez just behind Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Splitting Ward and Martinez is a tough job, but the run of fights that the Argentinian has been on coupled with his stunning KO of Paul Williams mean that Martinez stays put at three.

If all goes as expected, Ward's next fight will be against unbeaten IBF champion Lucian Bute. If Ward wins this fight, then people could start to argue that he should be alongside Pacquiao and Mayweather.

As blasphemous as that may sound to fanboys of Manny and Floyd, it's the truth.