Not impressed with Ward

Cityofgod. You are chatting the latest. Kessler was outfought and outthought. As for Wards power check out the end of the fourth round when Ward rocks him with that cross. The shock on Kessler's face says it all.

 

What was a pleasent surprise, but Kessler was a big letdown.
Regarding the headbutts you can't deny they were there fan or not, intentional or not. The headbutts was not the main issue even though it could have been nice if they didn't happen; the issue was speed, angles and movement, oh and the clinching and inside fighting were Ward was best.
Ward still needs to prove himself though cause Kessler looked very bad, and despite the accidents and everything Kessler was still going in the 11th, and Ward really lacks power in his punches, he's gotta outbox his opponents to win imo.

 

The fight was not all that great for either of them. Kessler looked rusty and was clearly out boxed by a more motivated Ward and he would have won even if the fight weren´t stopped. and even if there had been no headbutts. clinching etc. I still think Ward would win.

But yea, this win is not all that great, it would have been if Ward controlled his body rather than hurling it at his opponent =)

 

There was nothing stopping Kessler butting back or throwing a few illegal blows of his own.

 

Another Ward-Kessler thread Cityofgold aka FrochNutHugger started:

 

I´m not sure that it would have been ignored.
And well he has always said no to doing things like this It might not be his smartest thing, but it shows his character:happy

 

Correct, it even seemed Ward was getting affected by Kesslers punches downstairs, as Wars clinching and headbutting got worse by the later rounds. Kessler exploits every opening he sees and if Kessler had had a 12 like he did against Calzaghe Ward would be in trouble. However, the TD stoppage prevented this.

 

Forget about the headbutts for a moment.

I think Ward dominated Kessler but I wasn't particularly impressed with his style. Considering he demolished his world class opponent, and he's fast and an olympic gold medallist from the USA, I would expect a slicker, smoother, more polished type of performer. I thought Ward looked very messy, a little bit amateurish.
Maybe just a bad style match-up, I'll see how he develops.
Then again, fighters aint what they used to be.

 

I'm not ready to put any kind of a crown on Ward. All I know at this point is he is a much better boxer and much quicker than Kessler. I think that the people who are focusing on the head butts are being dishonest and are clinging to that as some kind of false security blanket. I've watched the fight twice now. In rounds 1-3, Ward is beating Kessler to the punch and slipping everything Kesser is bringing. In round 4 Ward starts to turn it on and rounds are even more clearly his. Kessler was overmatched skillwise. I don't see excessive amount of headbutting. Ward is often jumping in to limit Kesslers attack. The holding was mutual and not excessive. Except for that one clear headbutt, somewhere in the last three rounds, there isn't that much to complain about. I don't know if it was accidental but I do know it's not the real story here. Ward's complete outboxing of Kessler is the story and you know it. Also, claiming that all that wear and tear on Kessler face was from headbutting is a lie. The scores of sharp, quick punches had something to do wtih it.

 

Ward is ok i wasnt all that impressed with him........The ref didnt do his job all that well during the clinches and it was obvious to me he had a favorite....either way he could have won the fight non the less without the dirty tactics.

 

he'l get beat.

all in good time.

 

Ward was exceptional. Even if the ref stopped the clinching,Ward would've had a plan B or C. Very intelligent fighter who it seems will always find a way to win.

 

i'd like to see him try the rough stuff with froch

 

the butts weren't intentional and they basically had no effect on the fight whatsoever. ward still competely embarrassed kessler and was on his way to winning 10-11 rounds anyways if it had gone the distance. get over it.

 

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