Andre Ward: God's Super-middleweight Sheriff?

There's a new sheriff in the violent and exciting wild west show of a town that the super-middleweight division has become...and his name is Andre Ward. In fact, to listen to sheriff Ward, it's God who handed him the badge. Let's address that first. Andre...are you aware that by claiming God is in your corner and giving credit to him and his son Jesus Christ for your victory, you're not just implying...but you're saying that Mikkel Kessler is less favored in God's eyes than you are? How charitable is that? And which of the deadly sins, if you subscribe to that list, is that? Oh yeah...pride.

My point is...please Andre, feel free to wear your faith on your sleeve and give credit to your faith in your creator, but stop intoning that if "God is in your corner, can't no one be against you...". It's a boxing match. And when you lose, will God have been against you? Of course not. It will all have been in his big plan, right? Well, so then was this.

Next, a big thank you to Showtime for this next installment in the Super-middleweight Showdown Super Six Tournament. This definitely felt like a fight that would never have been made, but for the tourney. Why would Kessler travel to Ward's Oakland backyard to put his title on the line? He wouldn't have, particularly since there are plenty of european names in the division (participating in this tournament...Froch, Abraham) or less dangerous names like Bute or Andrade who would still pad the resume. Credit to Kessler for agreeing to put his belt on the line in the name of division supremacy. Without him, the whole idea falls apart.

I wonder how Kessler feels today though, now that the risk seems to have outstripped the reward? He'll get his chance for redemption, but if last night was any indicator...he's got no answer for Andre Ward. As we've learned clearly lately (about 30 pounds south), speed kills. Well last night it killed Kessler dead.

The WBA champ Kessler looked like the overmatched challenger all night. Former USA Gold medalist Ward settled in early, realizing his speed advantage, and never took his foot off the gas. I agree with Al Bernstein of the Showtime crew that he looked a little reckless in the middle rounds, throwing wildly and taking unnecessary risks, but I suspect that he sensed Kessler was totally confounded. Used to walking his opponents down, Kessler clearly hadn't faced anyone with such a sizeable speed advantage since he'd logged his only previous defeat to Joe Calzaghe.

By the third round, Ward was loading up and by the sixth of a scheduled twelve, Ward was backing Kessler up and moving him around at will. I gave a desperate Kessler the 9th round (the only round he won on my card) on sheer aggressiveness, but he was ineffective. The ringside judges managed to find another round to give to Kessler (the imported dutch judge found even one more...though how is one of the mysteries of boxing scoring), but it easily could have been scored a shutout.

Now there is no question that Ward was tying up more than was Kessler and one of his butts looked intentional to me, something he denied in the post-fight interviews. Denying he is a "dirty fighter", the replay showed Ward turning his whole body in toward Kessler, head down, and showing no effort to bring his gloves up. Classic billygoat move. Because this came later in a fight where another such move had prompted a mild warning from the referee, I would have taken a point for it. However, otherwise his holding wasn't as excessive as Kessler claimed in a slightly cringe-worthy whining post-fight interview, especially for a longtime champion who was so thoroughly outclassed. Kessler managed to pack a lot of whine into a two minute interview for a guy who absorbed so much leather: the ref home-towned him, he was held all night, he was deliberately butted.

Even if all that was true...he got his behind whupped by a superior boxer. In the end, that was all that mattered. Indeed, the fight did go to the scorecards in the eleventh after the fight was stopped because Kessler's cuts were too severe to allow him to continue and the offending cut was ruled to have been caused by an unintentional headbutt. The scores were lopsided, as they should have been. I had it 99-91 for the challenger and two judges had it 98-92, with the last imported judge scoring it 97-93.

So...how good is Ward? Well, he looked tremendous and made Kessler look slow by comparison. But the beauty of the Super Six tournament, as was ably pointed out by Jim Grey (whom I'm loathe to laud), makes it possible that the next scheduled opponent can dethrone Ward. Who is that? Jermaine Taylor. He who has been so consistently written off by...well...everyone. How will Jermaine do? I predict he beats Ward. Unless these KOs he's recently endured make him drop a step, which I don't think they will, Ward will take him light and it will cost Ward his new crown. Taylor is underestimated, even now...and Ward doesn't have the one-punch power to endanger Taylor at fight's end (the way Froch and Abraham have done).

Great fight. Great tournament. Looking forward to the next installment. Now can we PLEASE stop showing the MMA fighters on boxing night. Herschel Walker is a fool to try MMA. I know at the opening of this website, I've given props to the courage of MMA fighters and that is unchanged, but if you've read this deep into my posts than you can now know what I think of the sport itself: human cockfighting. The fighters are often underqualified, the matches are made without regard to skill and the pool of fighters is shallow and the entire sport run by one or two men who own all the fighters, purses and matchmaking. Interestingly, boxing is deep, strong and honest by comparison. MMA will see it's day pass and thank God (see Andre? I can go to the well, too) for Pacman and Mayweather...the latest in a series of fights to "save" boxing. The bloodsport just civilized enough to survive and thrive against all comers.