Before this fight, Mikkel 'The Viking Warrior' Kessler was regarded as the best super middleweight in the world by many. However, Andre Ward staked his claim to being the best around by dominating his widely respected opponent.
Ward vs. Kessler Round-By-Round
Kessler started slowly, allowing Ward to take the initiative with the jab and dictate the pace of the round. However, in all fairness, even supporters of Kessler expected this, as he usually starts quite slowly.
The Dane got started in round two, but by no means did he win it. Ward was moving his feet to great effect, and his blurring hand speed was something Kessler was struggling to deal with. The left straight was the key punch for the 'S.O.G' in this round.
In the third, this writer questioned why people before the fight were so worried about the right hand of Kessler, because Ward's right fist was doing all the talking. Again, Kessler was waiting too long and allowing Ward to throw as many combinations as he wanted.
Kessler was badly hurt in the fourth after a savage right straight landed on his chin, although he managed to stay his feet. Ward was looking incredibly good at this point, and he cut Kessler around the left eye too.
By round five, Ward had completely relaxed into the fight, and was making Kessler look silly as he was hitting thin air most of the time. The quality work was once again coming from Ward, who was bamboozling Kessler completely with fast combinations.
In round six, the US Olympic Gold Medalist outworked and outhustled his more experienced foe. Kessler had no answer for the vast array of skills of Ward.
Round seven proved that Mikkel Kessler has one hell of a chin. He took right straight after right straight on it, and in desperation, he started looking for 'home run' punches. Kessler landed a couple of decent jabs in this round, but nothing that Ward would lose any sleep over.
The eighth stanza highlighted more of the same; Kessler was just shipping punishment and starting to look very disorganised. A massive cut opened over the let eye of the Dane too, put this turned out to be as a result of a clash of heads.
Ward started the ninth fast in a bid to finish Kessler, but the Champion wouldn't give up without a fight. Kessler tried just firing off a few combinations at the end of the round, but quite simply, Ward was just too cute for them.
The 'Viking Warrior' had occassional successes in the tenth, although once again, Ward was excellent. While Kessler looked exhausted, Ward looked completely fresh, and he still had a certain zip in his punches that was gone from his opponent.
The fight was to be stopped in the eleventh. The cut form the eighth round had developed, and the doctor called for the bout to be halted. Because the cut was from an accidental clash of heads, the fight had to go to the scorecards, although there was no doubt as to who the winner would be.
The Judges Render Their Decision
Two judges scored the bout 98-92 in favour of Ward, while the other scored it 97-93 (also in his favour), making Ward the new WBA super middleweight champion of the world.
Implications Of Kessler vs. Ward
Andre Ward looked truly special tonight, and based on that performance, he could win the whole 'Super Six'. Up next for him is Jermain Taylor, and that is a very winnable fight for him.
As for Kessler, don't count him out of the tournament becuase of this. He will fight Carl Froch next, and that will undoubtedly be a war.
