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.
Comments
Ward fought an excellent fight. I haven’t been a fan of his throughout his carear, but this was a masterpiece. He did headbut too much, but he also fought well on the inside and added some pop to his punches that Kessler He has to be the favorite to win after that performance.
Ward is impressive but he did fight dirty to beat Kessler, I have a mixed oppinion here. I think Ward would have won without head butting, the fact that he did and Kessler continued to fight fair makes me wanna see a rematch outside of this round robin tournament. Glad to see the US with the Belt though….oh well…. Hey Cant wait for the humiliation that the Philipinno will suffer at the hands of Money Mayweather….>>>>>Mayweather will TKO Manny, my prediction…..
LITO you don’t know what you saying, Pacman is not and easy fighter to beat up.