Just re-watched Ward/Kessler (Thoughts on Ward's dirty tactics).

Pretty much spot on. No doubt Ward took a huge page from Holyfield, but from the first round of the bell you can clearly tell that it wasn't Kessler's night , and to be fair Kessler was a man enough not to make any excuses after the fight about the headbutts or anything else, he took the loss like a man. It's a good loss for Kessler, it' will teach him to stay active, train properly (not sparing enough or sparing with southpaws in this case and thinking he'd get away with it), and not be so overconfident.

 

I share your opinion completely - Ward should´ve been given warnings and even point-deductions, even so he still would have won clearly. The punishment of a point deduction, especially to a young fighter like Ward is important. One thing Ward learned at that fight, was that he could get away with rubbin´and head wobbing. I hope he doesnt hang on to that, ´cause he clearly dont need it!

 

"He was a better man," Kessler said. "He gave me my due." That doesn't sound like a man making much excuses, and if you call what you referenced to as an excuse, that we've all certainly heard worse in this business. You were just never a big fan of Kessler :yep :good

 

Thoughts? Kessler got his ****ing head handed to him. REGARDLESS of ANYTHING. Would a boxing fan say anything otherwise?????

Ward WIPED THE FLOOR with Kessler. END OF.

Mass ownage ensued. Mass crying ensued.

 

While it may get the job done, it won't bring the fans in. All I will say is that Ward-Dirrell will be an absolute snoooozzzeee fest. Both do more holding than actual boxing.

No doubt he's a favorite for the tournament after the Kessler performance, but I sure as hell won't be in any hurry to tune into any of his future fights.

 

true it didn't sound that good...:think

I would be very mad the way the fight was stopped instead!
the cut over the eye was fixed and the other one was below the other eye.:verysad

Kessler was beginning to find a way in the late rounds and always gives 120% in the 12. round... it would have been a great round to end the fight no matter what.

 

Ward gave Kessler a boxing lesson and won fair and square the rest is just excuses.

 

The word "dominated" is a bit too much for my taste. Also, I think Ward was clinching more than necessary. Of course the headbutting should have been removed entirely from the fight by the ref.. It didn't happen. I think Ward would have won even without all the dirty stuff though, but unlike most I think it was because Kessler looked bad as opposed to Ward looking great. (Looking forward to Dirrell-Ward. Can Ward dismantle Dirrell in a convincing manner, without the ugly tactics, I take my hat off for Ward.)

 

I'm not a fun of clinching and head scratching. Even if he won it clearly, its still not a good thing to see on a fighter with youth and talent. (i don't mind "veteran" tactics on old men like Bernard though so maybe i've got a double standard there)

 

Ward fought the way he wanted to and Kessler fought the way he wanted, the headbutts hurt Kessler as much as they hurt Ward. Have any of you taken a headbutt before?, it's not treated as a punch BOTH fighters get dazed from it and Ward's attacks were sometimes fast going in and Kessler moving his head encouraged the headbutts.

When both were boxing in the middle of the ring it was Kessler backed off, spanked, hurt and outclassed completely. People here talked about Kessler like he's the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ simply because he lost to one of the biggest frauds of the generation, Joe Calzaghe and we all know desperate Calzaghe fans here would promote Tocker Pudwill like he's Ali if they have the chance, there's NO ONE ELSE on Calzaghe's record to brag about. They all picked Ward to be KO'd cold with 2 and when they saw Kessler outclassed completely and the one hurt in the 2nd round a lot of glasses of cheap beer hit the floor.

 

He was cut over both eyes and they were nasty. He didn't seem too upset that the fight was ended though. I don't see how he was ad******g at all....I thought he looked worse actually as the fight went on, at times throwing wild shots that didn't have a prayer of landing. But all it takes is one punch to turn a fight around....you never know.

 

what gets lost in the mix of the ward/kessler conversation is that there are ways to deal w/ someone with a gameplan that ward had. kessler looked absolutely helpless trying to fight on the inside or fight out of the clinch. "fight out of it gentlemen!!" who the hell hasnt heard that in the ring? and ward did just that. kessler looked like he has never even heard of it. as far as leading w/ the head is concerned, yeah its dirty but you gotta learn how to deal w/ that as well. an elbow works great when your already cut from a headbutt and the guy is leading with his head again and trying to rub his head in your cut.

 

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