Yeah, I'm a big fan of inside fighting, a guy like Leo Santa Cruz or a guy like Bhop or Ward are very interesting for me to watch for different reasons. I tend to be a fan of aggressive fighters who never stop coming forward or pure boxers who can stick and move but also fight on the inside in a much more cagey manner. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely dirty fighters out there, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find guys who are adept on the inside and also aren't considered dirty by some fans. Just so much easier to bend the rules on the inside, I remember Rocky just bludgeoning the back of Ezzard's brainstem a few times and the ref never did anything, that was much worse than what you see by people nowadays for the most part.
Another cagey, pure boxing type of fighter I would mention who's also a great inside fighter is Floyd, dude is extremely underrated in that dept, think he might be the best guy right now or at least close to it. A lot of people who want to call Floyd a runner or whatever shit they say forget that he can give as good as he gets on the inside and isn't afraid to dig into the trenches and fight on the inside when he needs to. People try to call him dirty as well, and he's definitely bent some rules at times, but overall it's hard to come by any fighter who's good on the inside and also isn't being called dirty by at least some people.
Casamayor comes to mind as well, guy could hold his own on the inside but did it in a cagey way w/o just laying his head on your chest and trading shots with no regard like some guys do. Very interesting element of this sport to me since, like you said, its kind of becoming extinct these days compared to decades past.
Agree, I think the guy to beat Ward highly likely to be at 175 right now. Adonis and Kovalev might be able to catch him clean enough to stop him since they both have a lot of power and Adonis can actually mix it up and box a bit to switch things up. I would give them a better chance than anyone else at 160 or 68 personally.