Ward dominates Kessler, earns super-middleweight top billing
It was a technical decision by a master of technique.
Andre Ward captured the WBA super-middleweight title Saturday night by being too fast and too skilled for Denmark's Mikkel Kessler, winning on points when the bout was stopped at 1:42 in the 11th round because of a cut inflicted on a head butt three rounds earlier.
At that point, the fight was decided on the score cards, with Ward winning 97-93 on one card and 98-92 on the others to pick up two points in the Super Six World Boxing Classic before a delighted hometown crowd of 10,277 at Oracle Arena and a Showtime television audience.
Ward (21-1) is scheduled to meet Jermain Taylor in his next bout, although it's not known if Taylor will be cleared to fight after sustaining a knockout in his first bout against Victor Abraham. Fighters get two points for a win, with a bonus point for a knockout or a technical knockout. They get one point for a draw and nothing for a loss.
Given that Kessler (43-2) with his only other loss to retired undisputed middleweight king Joe Calzaghe) was the pretournament favourite, Ward's win is an upset, although the Oakland-based fighter wasn't surprised.
"I feel like it was my time," Ward said. "I was not intimidated by Kessler's record. I was a little surprised they stopped it when they did. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened.
"Some fighters are feared. I think I'm the most underestimated fighter in the game."
Ward and Kessler collided heads for the first time in the eighth round, and again in the 11th. No points were deducted either time.
"They were two accidental head butts, clearly," Ward said. "I'm not a dirty fighter. Everybody knows that."
Kessler, in his first fight in the United States, conceded Ward was "the better man tonight" but questioned Ward's tactics.
"He threw a lot of elbows and head butts but never got any warning," Kessler said. "He got me out of my rhythm ... he was punching during the holder. He comes in with his head, he knows I'm not moving."
Ward, who was of the belief he could effectively take apart Kessler's stand-up European style, dominated the bout from the opening bell. He gave the 30-year-old Dane a boxing lesson, landing with virtually every kind of punch and giving Kessler different looks, fighting both orthodox and southpaw in the first round and occasionally switching up throughout the fight.
"It was just something to give him something to look at, keep him out of his rhythm, which was the key tonight" Ward said.
"He thought there was no way this kid with 20 fights was going to beat him, but I had other plans" Ward said.
In the seventh and ninth rounds, Kessler, growing desperate, missed Ward with wild, flailing punches, rare for someone who considers himself an accomplished boxer. Kessler won only one round, the ninth on all three score cards, his face cut and bloodied below and above the right eye and over left eye. There was also a cut on the bridge of his nose, with referee Jack Reiss going to the ring doctor after the 11th round.
Most ringside observers thought it was indeed Ward's defining moment as a professional.
"The guy's got his own flavour," Showtime analyst Antonio Tarver said. "He does his work in the ring, he talks with his hands. If he wins, he can be the new star in boxing."