The "Son Of God" Defeats Mikkel Kessler To Win WBA Middleweight Crown
Andre “Son of God” Ward captured the WBA Super Middleweight Championship from Mikkel “Viking Warrior” Kessler in the Super Six World Boxing Classic when the fight was halted midway through the eleventh round by technical decision Saturday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
The referee decided to stop the contest due to cuts on Kessler’s face that were caused by Ward’s seemingly inadvertent head butts.
When the matchup was ceased, Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) was handily ahead of Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs) on all of the judges’ scorecards.
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“I’m not a dirty fighter, everybody knows that,” said Ward, 25, a Bay Area native who won a Gold medal as a light heavyweight at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Kessler, 30, a Danish professional boxer, mainly praised his opponent.
However, Kessler also expressed frustration with the roughhouse tactics that Ward employed in the ring.
“He was the better man tonight, but I would have liked the fight to go another minute,” said Kessler, whose only previous loss came by a unanimous decision to legendary pugilist Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) in November 2007.
“I knew I could have continued. I was cut, but the cuts weren’t that bad. He threw a lot of elbows, and there were a lot of head butts, and he never got any warnings…I don’t want to sit here and complain all the time, but I wasn’t happy with the referee.”
Kessler’s promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, agreed with his fighter’s assessment that Jack Reiss, a California-based referee, provided Ward with far too much leeway.
“Without taking anything away from his win, the referee helped him from the first minute,” said Sauerland. “He (Ward) used his head, he used his elbow, and he didn’t even get a warning, he didn’t get a caution. That was a bit much.”
Ward, who lives and trains in Oakland, said he was thrilled to defeat a pugilist of Kessler’s caliber.
“I can’t compare this to winning the gold medal, because it’s going to take a while for it all to sink in,” said Ward, who was not lost a fight since early in his amateur career more than ten years ago.
“Everybody said we got a bad draw, but we just beat the toughest guy.”
Kessler was considered a favorite to win the inaugural Classic when the competitors were officially announced.
Nevertheless, Ward, who won over 90 matches as an amateur, said he was confident that he was the most skilled boxer of the six selected to compete, and he believes that he is on the fringe of becoming a dominant prizefighter.
“I felt like it was my time,” Ward said. “I was not intimidated by Kessler’s record. I was surprised that Kessler didn’t change up at all. He kept doing the same thing over and over.”
Ward’s next opponent remains unknown at this juncture.
On the flipside, Kessler has been prepared to next matchup against British WBC Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KOs) for awhile now.
Kessler claimed that his loss to Ward will inevitably make the tournament more exciting, and he is apparently positive that he will trump Froch, 32, in due time.
“This will make the tournament more exciting,” Kessler said. “I don’t want to be the favorite.”
Primarily due to Ward’s fists and head, Kessler is no longer considered the favorite to emerge victorious in this unprecedented elimination event.
Andre Ward may have been officially unveiled as a terrific professional boxer this past weekend in Oaktown.
Ward has all of the tools to become one of the preeminent fighters in the sport of boxing for the next decade.
Henceforth, Ward can justifiably be recognized as the fighter to beat in the Six World Boxing Classic.
Still, Kessler is one of the “toughest guys,” and it would be unwise to discount his chances in the ring as well.
Perhaps Ward’s unintentional head butts will now only serve to make Kessler’s ultimate triumph “more exciting.”
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