Andre Ward 2004 Olympic Champion
ANDRE WARD HAS SHUT THEM ALL UP!
San Francisco, CA– After taking the World 168 lb. title from Mikkell Kessler, the non-believers of Andre Ward had little choice but to recognize him as such. Pitching a near shutout before Kessler quit in his corner, Ward left the ring unscathed and on top of the world. Still, there were naysayers lined up around the block. The “number” Ward did on Kessler should have been enough to elevate the 2004 Olympic champion at 178 lbs. to the upper echelon of boxing elite. Still, people had their doubts. Since Kessler, Ward has defeated three foes all by decision. Once beaten Allan Green didn’t land a significant punch and was criticized by pundits for talking a ton of smack.
GREEN WAS LIKE “PUDDY” IN WARD’S HANDS
Lacking any desire to mix it up with Ward, Andre beat Green by smothering him and taking away his thought to be potent left hook. Switching back and forth from boxing right handed to lefty, Green didn’t have possess a clue, had no game plan, and after six frames the Oklahoman was just looking to go the distance and get paid. Participants in the Showtime Super Six Boxing Classic, a round-robin form of competition, a fighter could lose and he’d still be in the tournament. Green (34-3, 21 KOs) would go on to face Glen Johnson, who was brought into the tourney after 2000 Olympian Jermain Taylor was knocked out twice in succession and withdrew. A decisive underdog, Johnson turned Green out in Las Vegas with a TKO 8.
168 LB. “WILD CARD” LUCIEN BUTE SHUT DOWN AGED JAMAICAN
In his next Super Six appearance, Johnson lost a Majority Decision 12 to Ward’s Saturday opponent Carl Froch(28-1, 20 KOS) by scores of 117-111, 116-112 & 114-114. Last month, Johnson (51-16-2, 35 KOs) who turns 43 on January 2, 2012, took on the only significant 168 lb. fighter not in the tourney, unbeaten (30-0, 24 KOs) IBF titleholder Lucien Bute, a Romanian fighting out of Canada and won one round on one of the scorecards. We will talk about Bute, the so-called “wild card” at 168 a little later as he appears to be the man in line to face the victor of Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KOs) and Carl Froch.
ANDRE HASN’T LOST MANY ROUNDS IN TITLE FIGHTS
Ward would roll with ease over Sakio Bika (29-5, 20 KOs) 13 months ago (UD 12, 120-108 & 118-110 twice) and in May of this year schooled Arthur Abraham (32-3, 25 KOs) with another dominant performance (UD 12) by scores of 120-108, 118-111 & 118-110. Now while Ward hasn’t lost but a handful or so of rounds in his last four fights, the thought here is that he appears to be a level better than Britain’s Carl Froch. A 3-1 underdog in my book, Froch will try and do what others have clearly failed at. That being, getting Ward to lose his composure and slug it out with Froch. That may happen in the later rounds, and if so, look for Ward to stop the game but outmatched Brit.
WARD WILL NEXT TRAVEL TO CANADA & SMOKE BUTE LIKE A BLUNT!
Although Showtime hasn’t really made much noise about a Ward-Bute fight, it’ll happen next April or may in Canada. Not fearing the hometown crowd that backs Bute to the wall up north, Ward will clean up on Bute and with the win and become the household name that he was destined to be. Having not lost since 1997, the only active professional with a longer span of wins is World 147 lb. (welterweight) champion. Truth be told, it’s going to be a while before Ward is really challenged. If he were to stay at 168 lbs., he just might retire undefeated!
Pedro Fernandez