I have Kessler winning a UD after losing the first few rds. Never seen Ward other than on youtube but Kessler looked rusty as hell in his last fight and Ward is obviously better than that journeyman. You? :think
I like Ward by a hard-fought comfortable UD in which he surprises a lot of people. The victory will propel him to become the odds on favorite to win the tournament.
Watched Ward/Miranda, think Ward surprises people with his ability to stand in front of Kessler. For all his faults Miranda is strong and powerful in close and Ward handles pretty easy there. Kessler also surprises people with how good a pure boxer he is.
For anyone who hasn't seen these guys fight, check out Showtime now. It'll be replaying their fights all day.
Kessler is the bigger puncher. That is the one thing I can say without reservations. However, Ward is a very promising fighter, and if Kessler even remotely resembles the fighter he was in his last fight, he's in serious trouble. In his last fight he looked sluggish and slow and he was getting tagged by an absolute nobody in the first 3 rounds. In my mind, it's a toss up.
Kessler TKO round 9 :bbb Ward might take the first few rounds, but then Kessler steps up the pace...:bbb