Sunday November 22, 2009
Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward scored the first upset in Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic with an eleventh round technical decision over WBA super middleweight champ Mikkel Kessler in Oakland, California. Ward dominated a flat Kessler from the opening bell, opening up numerous cuts around the champion's eyes - some from punches and others from a series of unintentional headbutts. In the eleventh round, the fight was stopped due to a cut that came from an accidental clash of heads in the previous round so the fight went to the scorecards. After ten complete rounds, Ward was ahead 97-93 and 98-92 twice so he was awarded the technical decision victory.
Kessler complained after the fight that the referee permitted too much holding and that Ward was intentionally using his head. The cuts clearly bothered Kessler but they did not determine the outcome of the fight - Ward was simply too fast and too busy for the somewhat mechanical Kessler.
Friday November 20, 2009
According to HBO, the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto megafight generated 1.25 million buys and $70 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue, making it the biggest boxing PPV event of 2009. HBO will replay the fight this Saturday night at 10 pm ET/PT.
The Sept. 19 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez bout did 1.05 million buys, making this the first time in a decade that two PPV events have generated at least one million buys in the same calendar year. 1999 featured Felix Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya and the first meeting between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.
A fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather would likely shatter numerous pay-per-view records. Let's hope negotiations go smoothly and a date is set for Spring 2010.
Wednesday November 18, 2009
On Saturday night, Mikkel Kessler defends his WBA title against Andre Ward in Oakland, CA in the final fight in round one of Showtime's unprecedented super middleweight tournament.
Who do you think will win? Kessler or Ward? Vote in our poll!
Saturday November 14, 2009
