Andre Ward Defeats Mikkel Kessler To Win WBA Title

Undefeated American boxer Andre Ward defeated WBA super middle weight champion Mikkel Kessler in front of his hometown crowd.

From the opening bell, it was apparent that Ward was the faster and more aggressive of the two fighters. Out-landing the champion and often times landing at will with out any answer from the Danish champion.

It appeared the speed of Wards' hands and foot work was just too much and confused Kessler from ever really finding his rhythm and getting into the fight. There were a serious of accidental headbutts that occurred from Ward's fighting stance of lunging forward head first. These headbutts caused Kessler to bleed both above and below his eye lid causing him to complain to his corner that he could not see.

Finally at 1:42 of the 11th round, the referee stopped the fight to have the doctor take a closer look. This resulted in a technical decision and going straight to the judges score cards to determine a winner. One judge scored it 97-93, and the other two scored it 98-92, all in favor for Andre Ward.

Andre Ward wins the WBA super middle weight title and obtains two points for his technical decision in the tournament.

In the post-fight interview, Ward wanted to give the glory of his win to God, and he felt Kessler had a tough time adjusting as he studied the fight with Joe Calzaghe.

Kessler complained in his post-fight interview of the referee being a "home judge referee". He expressed he never experienced a fight where he felt there was excessive holding and punching as well as intentional headbutts allowed by the ref. When asked if his cuts leave him at a disadvantage for his next fight in the tournament he responded that he felt the cuts were a disadvantage for him.