Andre Ward is the American Saviour in the Super Six! He will win the Tournament!

If he loses to Froch I'll admit I overrated him bigtime.

I think I underrated Ward's maturity going into the Kessler fight, although the outcome did not surprise me much. But Kessler was what I thought of him. Also, I saw some spots where Kessler landed some nice shots on Ward that went unnoticed by the commentators and probably most fans.

Since the first day I saw Ward I felt that once fully developped he would become a p4p guy, and that includes becoming a better fighter than Kessler, which he probably already is.

 

Ward is being very overrated

 

we'll find out on fightnight i guess.
froch might be confident but he's also the most limited fighter in the competition.

 

i think a lot of people will be disappointed if this isn't a good fight.
me included.

 

I think you are downgrading both Froch and Kessler a little too much. I have been following Froch long before this tournament got started. I picked Froch to win by KO over Taylor.....and won quite a bit of money. And he just didn't win the fight because he caught him with a punch in the 12th round. He won the fight by KO because of the work he did over the course of the fight which set Taylor up for the KO. He was winning the late rounds of their fight.

Now I had no doubt that because of Dirrels skittish style Froch would not look dominant, but I also had no doubt he would win.

Too many people on this forum get caught up on speed, power, or skillz as they put it.

Fights come down to a combination of your talent, skills, confidence, preparation, and the style you are facing.

I didn't wager on the Kessler-Ward fight, but I did tell friends at work who ask me about the sport, that the Kessler-Ward fight was a possible upset special. Kessler's biggest problem going into the fight was inactivity. He was facing a fighter who had been active recently. And the one tuneup fight I knew just wasn't going to cut it. He also had a style issue, Kessler likes to counter punch and maintain distance.

But in his fight with Ward, because Kessler is slightly shorter in height and reach, and at a speed disadvantage he was going to have to be more aggressive. He wasn't prepared to be aggressive on that night. He probably underestimated Ward too. Kessler in order to beat Ward has to push Ward back and have him fighting defensive.

But I do agree with you that CONFIDENCE (Kessler's that is) is a significant factor in the Froch fight. Because Kessler has an opponent on paper that his style is more suited to, but if he doesn't show enough GRIT in the trenches with Froch he is doomed.

And I sensed in Kessler a lack of fire in the trenches with Ward, headbutting, holding be damned. Froch would have been scrapping in those clenches where Kessler was just waiting for the Ref to break them.

 

but the point with froch, and i give him all the credit in the world for seizing the moment and making the most of his opportunities, is that it was taylor's achilles heel and dirrell's unwillingness to be aggressive that led to froch winning those fights.

froch is on borrowed time, and i think both he and kessler are thanking the powers above that there is only one andre ward in this tournament.

after saying that, people are being way too premature building ward up after one win. adaptability and character are something developed over several fights at an elite level and, despite the limitations of fighters like froch and kessler, it's tempting fate to write-off fighters who have made it to that level.

 

Ward hands out beatdowns wherever he fights. Being the bad guy, getting booed, travelling the world...all nothing new to Ward. The beatdown he so handily issued to Kessler would have been the same beatdown if it took place in Denmark. Don't kid yourself. It would be wise to reserve your comments for fighters that you actually know about. The thing about Ward leading with his head is no more than a lame ass comment.

 

So are you trying to tell us that Al Bernstein knows more about it than people who post on ESB?

 

I firmly believe that Vegas is the most neutral spot to fight in the world. It easily makes the most sense for Dirrell vs. Ward.

 

I saw quite a huge separation between Ward and Kessler that had nothing to do with the crowd, nothing to do with the ref, and nothing to do with the judges. It had everything to do with their talent, their skills, their corners, and their preparation for the fight.

 

Not a chance in hell.