GOLD MEDALIST WARD ROUTS WBA CHAMP KESSLER

Many boxing experts thought that WBC champion Mikkel Kessler was the man to beat in the ‘Super 6’ middleweight tournament, and that Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward got the short end of the stick with such a tough draw in his opening fight.  In front of a capacity crowd in his home town of Oakland, Ward turned that dynamic on its head as he dominated the fight throughout en route to a technical decision victory.  The fight had to be stopped in the 11th round due to a severe cut around Kessler’s eye caused by a clash of heads, and Ward was well ahead on the scorecards at this point.

Ward also rewarded those who bet on boxing and ‘invested’ in him as a +150 underdog.  Kessler had been priced as high as -220, though he was anywhere from a -200 to -180 favorite by fight time.  The OVER also cashed on the over/under round prop at 9’ OV -235.  The victory by Ward threw future book wagers in disarray, as Kessler had been favored by most experts heading into the ‘Super 6’ tournament.

After the fight, Ward tried to explain what the victory meant to him:

"Right now, I'm dreaming. I don't know what I'm feeling. I can't compare this to winning the gold medal, because it's going to take a while for it all to sink in. Everyone said we got the bad draw, but we just beat the toughest guy."

Trainer Virgil Hunter hoped that the victory would earn Ward some long overdue respect:

"They've minimized him for his whole career, but we're glad that they did. The way Andre does things, the strategy he uses and the skills he possesses, he never gets credit. Hopefully this will do something about that."

Team Kessler, meanwhile, was left to whine about a myriad of excuses.  The fighter himself at least conceded that Ward was the better man on this night:

"He was the better man tonight, but I would have liked the fight to go another minute. I knew I could have continued. I was cut, but the cuts weren't that bad. He threw a lot of elbows, and there were a lot of head butts, and he never got any warnings. ... I don't want to sit here and complain all the time, but I wasn't happy with the referee."

Wilfried Sauerland, Kessler's promoter, all but called the officiating crooked:

"Without taking anything away from his win, the referee helped him from the first minute. He used his head, he used his elbow, and he didn't even get a warning, he didn't get a caution. I think that was a bit much."

Ward was nonplussed by the criticism:

"I felt like it was my time. I was not intimidated by Kessler's record. I was surprised that Kessler didn't change up his style at all. He kept doing the same thing over and over. ... There were two accidental head butts. I'm not a dirty fighter, everybody knows that."

The format of the tournament is such that Kessler and Ward could meet again in the semifinals.  This time, however, Ward would most likely be the favorite.  Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham are also in the ‘winners’ bracket’ with their earlier victories over Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor.