http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=31056&cat=boxer As you can see the Italian ref had it 107-102! I think Taylor was behind by 1 rd maybe two, but not 4 or 5, no way! In fact I didn't see that many rounds where Abraham was actually DOMINANT, apart from 9 and 12.
You don't win a round only when being "dominant". When either fighter doesn't connect much, it's a toss-up which fighter appeared to be "more aggressive" to each judge. If they would be allowed to score 10-10 rounds, the amount of controversy would be much lower.
5 rounds is definitely ridiculous, but Taylor didn't hit nothing much. Basically he was jabbing into Abraham's gloves most of the time. I had Abraham ahead with 2-3 rounds going into the twelfth.
Dibella is the only promoter there that I could even partially trust but it could be that Goosen was getting even with Saurland who said on t.v. that "Ward should of kept his f_______ mouth shut". That was some tasteless mafia-like attitude if you ask me. Disrespect shown toward foreign fighters such as Ward and Kessler is a very stupid and dangerous thing IMO. Oh and although the Dirrel/Froch fight was as sloppy as all get out, I found it very entertaining and evenly matched.
I was referring more to the reffing and the trouble with the press conference etc. I though the fight was fun in a sort of brainless kind of way.
Yeah, a month after Dirrell got robbed, Ward schooling Kessler hurts the tourney!?!?!? Noicccccccccccccce, just ****ing noiccccccccccccccccccccce!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found it hard giving Taylor more that four rounds. He was just hitting Abe's gloves - you don't get a B+ for effort. He wasn't hitting the target, Abe was. End of discussion. Dirrell wasn't robbed - he threw a close fight away by acting like a *****, and I even scored it for him at the time. But he only has himself to blame for losing a fight he could have taken. Ward outboxed Kessler, but the refereeing was awful. He was warning Kessler for the holding - it was ridiculous. The holding should have been stopped after the second round when it was clear Ward was using it as a tactic rather than it happening naturally. The headbutting was unfortunate, and a factor in the fight, but the ref did call it later on. He never clearly went to nut Kessler, and he never did it while in the clinch - he just led with the head. It's a rotten tactic, but it's hard to catch. Kessler lost fair and square, but it was a joke of epic proportions: hometown ref, hometown judge, hometown venue... poor show.
Andre Ward put a ****** wrench in Sauerlands program. I am glad Ward exposed Kessler for what he really was, and now most Europeans can't get over it. Arthur Abraham is gonna have issues too now that he's done fighting that nice set up fight they had for him.
Don't be too sure. Kess did look somewhat rusty and slow against Ward. Froch showed against Dirrell that he has decent speed and footwork. Probably enough to cause big problems for Kessler. Kessler needs to add three major "items" to his game if he wants to be a player among the absolute best. 1) Versatility 2) Better tactics. (Have a plan A, B, C ...) 3) A greater punch load. To obtain the above Kess has no other choice than changing trainers. Richard has shown unable to add to Kessler's skills at this late stage of Kessler's career.