In 2004, Super Middleweight Andre Ward unselfishly moved up in weight to make room for more talent on the U.S. Olympic team. He went home from Athens with the Gold Medal in the Light Heavyweight division.
On Saturday night, the 25-year old Ward (21-0, 13 KO) added professional gold in front of a rabid hometown crowd at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, to close the first round of the “Super Six World Boxing Classic” tournament. Fighting with poise and a bag of tricks as varied as any seasoned veteran, Ward used his hands, arms, feet, and head to dominate the man who entered the tournament as the de facto number one seed, 30-year old WBA titlist Mikkel Kessler of Denmark (42-2, 32 KO), winning a decisive technical decision after the contest was stopped due to cuts in the eleventh round.
Both men came into the bout in fighting trim, Kessler a pound beneath the division limit at 167 and Ward weighing in at 166 ½.
After an intense staredown where both men rocked back and forth, their eyes never off the other man, Ward stepped forward with a hard lead left hook at the opening bell. The blow missed but Ward made contact with some snapping jabs and a counter left over a lazy Kessler right. Switching to southpaw, Ward popped in a lead left to the body and he stayed at distance. Ward would continue to vary his stance while Kessler stalked, throwing little until attempting to unspool his jab in the final minute of round one.
Both men fired jabs to start the second, Ward also finding another blinding left hook. A pair of Kessler rights sailed over the shoulders of a ducking Ward, later joined by another missing right and a blocked left hook as Ward circled the ring. Kessler found contact with a pair of rights to the body, followed by a jab to the chest, as Ward skated near the ropes. In the closing thirty seconds, both men grappled in clinches, Ward bursting out with two left jabs and landing a measured right just before the bell. Ward missed with a big right seconds in the third then, after briefly clinching, opened up and landed to the body then with a right and left upstairs. As the round wore on, Ward continued to land with both hands, his speed overwhelming the aggressive but ineffective Kessler. Kessler headed to the corner with the beginnings of a swelling beneath his right eye.The action heated up considerably in the fourth round of an already fast paced fight. Near the midway mark, Kessler landed a big left hook, stunning Ward who slipped the following right and clinched. Seconds later, Ward landed his own big right hand and forced a backwards step from Kessler. Ward, who was clinching often, was able to land in explosive bursts between holds.
Round five opened with another slashing Ward right hand but as the round wore on Kessler slipped more shots. Halfway through the round, Kessler landed a hard left hook and Ward a right almost simultaneously and in the final minute the titlist’s offense emerged as a factor. A hard right near the ropes slowed Ward’s output and the Californian appeared to lose a bit of steam as the closing bell approached.
Both men were at center ring well before the clang which initiated round six, both landing hard jabs before a hard Kessler left hook brought a motion of acknowledgement from Ward. It was a brief respite from frustration as Kessler continued to struggle with the speed of Ward’s clinch-throw-clinch approach. In the final minute, Kessler landed a right but found the left hook blocked only to be slowed again by rapid holding from Ward. Ward closed the sixth with two right hands to the face of Kessler as the Dane searched for answers.
Clearly behind at the bout’s middle, Kessler found the scoring hole only getting deeper, able to land a token left hook while being raked with right hands. By round eight, it was Kessler initiating clinches as he tried to catch his breath and stem the tide of leather raining onto his face. A short right early in the round and an early return of his jab were his only notable offense before a sneaky left in the final minute. Ward rocked his head back with rights to avenge the latter slight and Kessler trudged to the corner, blood streaming from a cut opened over his left eye during a late clash of heads.
For the second round in a row, Kessler complained to his corner that he couldn’t see but Kessler said no when asked if he wanted to stop. Told by his corner he needed a knockout to win, Kessler walked into a right and left to start the ninth. Attempting to measure Ward coming in while back pedaling for most of the round, Kessler would take steady punishment until landing a flurry of blows in the closing seconds. It was his most spirited, sustained punching effort of the fight to then.
Following a clash of head which brought an audible yelp from Kessler in round ten, and a fresh cut over the right eye, Kessler and Ward engaged in a heated exchange and Kessler took punches in multiple while hoping for a turn-around bomb. He ended the round slammed with a left hand to the mouth.
The championship rounds reached, Ward needed only to stay afoot for six minutes to claim his first major title as a professional…in theory. Just shy of two minutes into the eleventh, the cut over Kessler’s right eye worsened after another clash of heads and the ring doctor ruled the fight closed. The cuts having come via referee Jack Reiss’s ruling of accidental headbutt, the bout went to the cards where scoring was academic, judges Stanley Christodoulou and Steve Morrow favoring Ward in eight rounds at 98-92 and judge Mikael Hook giving Kessler the benefit in a single frame more at 97-93.
All of the scores appeared closer than the fight itself.
Ward was jubilant in celebrating the biggest victory of his career so far. Before commenting on the action in the ring, Ward reflected with faith. “I have to thank God for this because he constantly puts me up against giants. He puts me in situations where naturally I’m not supposed to overcome but, I’m telling you, that God…there’s nothing impossible with Jesus Christ in your life.”
Turning to the victory, Ward stated, “I just felt like it was my time. I wasn’t intimidated by Kessler’s record…I was surprised he didn’t make the adjustments. He kinda’ kept doing the same thing over and over. Taking nothing away from (Kessler), I know he’s a super champion and I know why he’s been champion for so long.”
A dejected Kessler remained frustrated after the bout with the holding tactics and head work of Ward. “I’m not used to that the referee don’t stop the fight when you’re holding. And he was using his headbutt all the time. Every time he got in, he head butted me. And every time I (attempted to break) he let him punch me. I’m not used to that…I think it was unfair with the headbutts, the holding, and the home judge referee.”
Kessler sounded unsure about his future in the immediate aftermath of his loss. “I have to look at how the fight went on, see what I can do better, and see if I still got it.” Kessler’s only other defeat came in November 2007 when, while holding the WBA and WBC belts, he lost a unification battle with future Hall of Famer Joe Calzaghe of Wales.
The much anticipated “Super Six World Boxing Classic” tournament completes its first round with Ward joining Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch in the winner’s circle. The previous two bouts of the opening round occurred last month, on October 17th.
Based in Germany, the 29-year old Armenian Abraham (31-0, 25 KO), a former IBF Middleweight titlist, knocked out 31-year old former World Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KO) of Little Rock, Arkansas, in the twelfth round in Germany.
The 32-year old WBC Super Middleweight titlist Froch (26-0, 20 KO), of England, won a narrow and debated split decision verdict against 26-year old 2004 U.S. Olympic Middleweight Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO) in his hometown of Nottingham.
Under the points system utilized in the three preliminary rounds of the “Super Six,” Abraham leads the field with three points (two for the victory over Taylor, one for knocking him out), while Froch and Ward each trail Abraham with two points.
The second round matches, set to begin in early 2010, are currently slated as Kessler-Froch, Ward-Taylor, and Abraham-Dirrell.
Taylor has been a source of speculation as to whether he would continue in the tournament. The Abraham loss was his third suffered knockout in his last five contests; including stoppage defeats in the first of two fights with current Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in September 2007 and to Froch in a fight prior to the Super Six in April 2009.
Asked if he expected to see Taylor in the next round, Ward said, “That’s up to him. I read a Twitter where he answered his fans and said he was training and preparing, so that’s who we’re getting ready for. We fought the best in the world tonight…people though I got a bad draw but we told everybody, ‘no, this is the right draw.’ So, we beat the top guy, we’re gonna’ rest a little bit.”
Saturday’s contest was broadcast on United States premium cable outlet Showtime, promoted by Sauerland Events and Goosen Tutor Boxing. ....source
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