Ward Arrives to Dominate Passive Kessler
23-Nov-09 22:42
Comment by Paul Upham: There was a certain familiarity in watching Mikkel Kessler’s performance against Andre Ward in Oakland on November 21. With his proven reputation of being a dominate fighter with a knockout punch, the expectation was that at some point the “Viking Warrior” would hurt the American Gold medallist and establish the outcome of the fight. But it never occurred. Just like his passive performance against Joe Calzaghe in November 2007, it was an amazingly unremarkable performance from Kessler in losing his WBA world title for a second time.
Yes, some of the refereeing from Jack Reis was a little curious, at one stage I thought he was also going to ask announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr to leave the ring before he gave his final instructions, but Kessler has been used to fighting so well on the outside for so long throughout his eleven year career, that rarely has he been required to fight skilfully on the inside against a skilled boxer he knew how to nullify his best weapons.
Ward’s use of his head may have been Holyfield-like on one occasion, but the other head clashes appeared to be usual for two boxers fighting at close range. In the end, Ward was simply the better fighter on the night and Kessler has no one to blame but himself for the defeat.
While Ward boxed with skill and flair like fellow American Andre Dirrell did against Carl Froch, when the opportunity arose to hit Kessler hard, the 25 year-old used surprising power to visibly hurt the Dane.
There was no doubt left in the minds of the television viewers, fans at ringside and the official judges that Ward was winning the fight.
The pre-tournament favourite, Kessler is certainly not out of contention yet, one of the benefits of this Showtime production, but Ward now assumes equal favouritism to be the eventual winner with Armenia knockout artist Arthur Abraham.
Onward to round 2 and where Jermain Taylor now has one final chance to resurrect his career and win a world title at 168lbs against Ward, if he wants it.
Paul Upham
Content Editor, SecondsOut.com
uppy@optusnet.com.au
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