Kessler v Ward

People are never going to let this one go. So many couldn't have been more wrong, however you try to spin it. Andre Ward made a fool out of a lot of people, especially Kessler, as he would any version of Kessler. What factors could those two years possibly decide? Very confused as opposed to very, very confused?

 

IMO Kessler is a better boxer of the two and it's a pity it had to go down like that. Ward used his head and dirty tactics all night long. They should have fight in a neutral place like London or NY. Kessler in his prime beats Ward anywhere but faded version couldn't beat Ward in Oakland.

 

True that Kessler faded a lot since the Calzaghe fight. Ward could probably have won the fight without his dirty tactics, but unfortunately he didnt. Wards win is 50 percent skill and 50 percent cheating in his fight against Kessler. If Ward (without his dirty tactics) fought a prime Kessler he would have gotten beat, although I would say that a cheating Ward beats any version of him.

 

I think Kessler underestimated Ward and did not prepare properly for the fight and definitely fighting cans for two years softened him up. Calzaghe had already laid out a blueprint to beat Kessler and Ward was clearly exploiting his weaknesses.

However, the fact that Ward is rated a top p4p fighter and rated the best SMW by some people is absurd when you consider the resume of Froch and Bute.

 

I doubt Ward is going to be a huge star. He is a good boxer but does not have the kind of style that is conducive to exciting fights (so your comparison to BHOP was correct in that regard) and he does not have charisma.

It is fair to say he is ovvverated at the moment.

 

Kesslers limitations were exposed by Calzaghe. Kessler never looked the same from then on, like Calzaghe stole alot of his confidence especially in the later rounds.
Ward does deserve some credit for his victory over Kessler, but the nature of the win and the praise has gone completely over the top, and America is trying to compare one win against a past prime Calzaghe, which is ridiculous, but i guess it is the only way certain narrow minded people can come to terms with the fact that Calzaghe beat America best SMWs along with Hopkins and Jones. The scoring for the two fights was similar.
Where it goes overboard is that Ward beat an unwell fighter in Kessler, Calzaghe didnt.
Ward used illegal headbutts at will which wasnt stopped.
Ward didnt beat Kessler when he was a prime undefeated fighter coming off of his big wins and full of confidence.

It was a good win for Ward, but soured by how dirty he fought, without question

 

After the Perdomo fight, Kessler took on a promotional tour in Denmark, then trained a little in Denmark before going to the US to spar for 2 weeks or so. No question Kessler, like many others, underestimated Ward.

On top of that we now know that Kessler's eyeproblems started in the preparations for Ward.

Finally Ward got away with headbutting Kessler's face into smithereens. This meant that Kessler from about round 3 or 4 complained to his corner about being unable to see, hence the alarming ease with which Ward could catch Kessler with the right and hence Kessler for the first time being unable to use his jab effectively.

It is what it is though and the bottomline is that Kessler lost. Big.

 

Both beat an unwell Kessler. Kessler didn't spar the last 2 weeks for Calzaghe due to an injured right hand so he went into the fight injured and underprepared yet he still gave Calzaghe his toughest fight.

 

Kessler pre Calzaghe and Kessler post Calzaghe were two completely different machines

Calzaghe ruined Kessler like he did Lacy, shattered his confidence

Add on to that the 2 year lay off

The fighter you ended up with was still good enough to match Froch, but Wards on a different level

Prime Kessler vs Ward would have been awesome and REALLY tested how good Ward was, something no 168lber around today can do

 

location: Denmark

 

Does it matter? I just stated facts. Not opinions other than the toughest fight bit which is Calzaghes own words and I think the opinion of most people.