Kessler-Ward: Can Andre pull off the upset?
October 19th, 2009
By Dave Lahr: So far, the fighters that were predicted ahead of time to win have come out victorious in their fights this past weekend. In the case of Carl Froch, he won the fight with a high amount of controversy, but not matter. A win is a win, despite what some boxing fans might think. Few people are giving American Andre Ward much if any chance next month in his fight against Mikkel Kessler at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California.
What Calzaghe showed is that if you crowd Kessler, hit him with a lot of light shots, he’s not able to get his punches off and isn’t as dangerous. Calzaghe didn’t stay at the ends of Kessler’s punches and instead worked close enough where Kessler didn’t have the same kind of power. Kessler was still able to land a lot of hard shots in the fight, but he seemed to slow way down when faced with a constant flow of incoming shots.
It appears that Kessler doesn’t like to get hit very much and that he can dish it out, but doesn’t like to take it in return. In training for the fight, Calzaghe must have seen how slow and methodical Kessler is with his way of fighting and seen that he could fill in the in between parts with punches to basically prevent Kessler from setting up his offense.
The bad news for Kessler is that Ward is capable of mimicking Calzaghe’s playbook to the tee and throwing as many punches as Calzaghe did in his fight against Kessler. Indeed, Ward may actually be better because he’s capable of putting much more power on his shots compare to the feather fisted Calzaghe. Ward is probably harder puncher than Kessler and as equally powerful as Arthur Abraham when he’s sitting down on his shots.
I doubt that Ward would load up all the time in a fight with Kessler if he’s just trying to gum up Kessler’s offense by throwing lots of punches. But Ward is a consistently harder puncher than a fighter like Calzaghe, who tended to mostly slap with his shots.
Ward with his good power would have a great chance of breaking Kessler down if Ward is able to implement a similar Calzaghe-like strategy against Kessler. Of course, Kessler will in turn be looking to adapt and use movement to keep Ward off of him. But if Ward can follow him around, duck under Kessler’s powerful jabs, he can set up on the inside where Ward can create all kinds of difficulties for Kessler to have to deal with.
Tags: 20 Responses to “Kessler-Ward: Can Andre pull off the upset?”
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
@MAN
The first honest European to post a comment concernning the “Americans vs. Europeans” Super Six Tournament. We all know that its more white vs. black. So I can’t be mad at you even though you are pretty pompous. I agree that the White dudes have been handling business and the Brothas haven’t. Yet.
Dirrell should have been trying to knock Carl Froch out. Taylor is done. But Andre Ward is far from a hyped up fighter. This guy won a gold medal in the Olympics. He is the real deal. I think that he has the heart and maturity to step up to this level of opposition. He in no way can be said to have the power of an Arthur Abraham because he hasn’t shown it yet. Kessler is not a one punch power hitter either, but anyone can land the perfect punch. Ala Rahman/Lewis.
I believe Andre Ward has everthing it takes to defeat Mikkel Kessler. He just needs to prove that he is ready for the big time in the professional ranks. He has already proven that as an amatuer. I’m picking Ward to defeat Kessler and meet Arthur Abraham in the final.
He might pull off an upset if he dont run like Dirrell the Squirrell
pizat , yes Hatton and those typical english boxers were bums, but over here in America, I give the Welshman Calzaghe credit.
In a word… “NO”.
CALZAGHE TOOK TO THE SLAPPING PUNCHING BECAUSE OF HIS WEAK BONES, CHECK HIS EARLY FIGHTS WHERE HE PUNCHED STRAIGHT. THERES NO WAY HE PUNCHED SOFT BECAUSE FIGHTERS WOULD HAVE WALKED THROUGH HIM .KESSLER DIDNT EVEN LOOK LIKE WINNING THE FIGHT AND I THINK KESSLER IS QUALITY.
if calzaghe fought b hop or rjj in their prime he would have gottttt murderedddd and chad dawson would KO calzagheee……joe=overated english biatttttttttch
Calzaghe had no power? The state of rjj face at the end of the fight begs to differ. That huge cut was cause by a calzaghe left hand! Feather fisted LMFAO Dream on! (RJJ had NEVER been cut in his whole career according to the HBO guys). Don’t even compare calzaghe to ward its just a laughable comparison.
Calzaghe beat Roy and Bernard (and destroyed an undefeated Jeff Lacy), and don’t forget he also beat Mikkel Kessler who is the favorite to win the Super Six. Whether you like or not, Joe is a beast. I would have loved to see a fight with him and Bad Chad Dawson, but after seeing how Chad faded in the later rounds of the last Glen Johnson fight, I would have to give Joe the nod, he just doesn’t stop punching.
I dont know if anyone remebers this , but reguarding the endless …slapping … contrivercy . Calzage was once a power puncher , he then broke his hands so much he had to adapt his style to save his brittle hands . hence he throws very fast arm punches then plants his feet and throws a hard one from the heels . personally I was always amazed how he did that . Natually everyone throws arm punches . Then you learn to plant your feet and throw from the hips . Once you do this its almost impossable to throw arm punches again . You have to actually think about it and then throw an arm punch . he could switch in milliseconds .
WARD IS ANOTHER HYPE-JOB, THE VIKING WARRIOR IS GONA MAKE EM LOOK REALLY BAD, MY PREDICTION, A 12 ROUND BEAT DOWN, LIKE I MEAN BEEEEEAAAATTTTT DDDOOOOWWWWNNN!
ALthough i love articles i find that the majority of posts are very pro american in their stance.
Calzaghe had absolutly no power at all
Calzaghe had all the power you would want, but he concentrated on speed, the key to his greatness.
Carl Thompson at cruiserweight couldn’t knock eubank down. Calzaghe did. Feather fisted? Look at his stoppage percentage. Malignaggi is feather fisted.
Dave – do you know much about boxing?
I don’t claim to know a lot, what I do know is ward is no calzaghe and calzaghe doesn’t slap, get in the ring with him and see how his ‘slaps’ will do to you. You cannot be as fast as calzaghe with his punches and throw bombs at that speed and the rate he throws every round, no one can.
Ward has a chance, a punchers chance that is. Kessler is the best SMW right now and he will beat ward by probably UD and could it TKO/KO in the latter rounds.
Ward may be better than calzaghe lol what a joke.
These black Americans must be hurt to watch all these white Euro fighters beat their fighters non stop!lol
They have beat your boxers over 60 years in the Olympics guys relax,only difference is that now they can turn professionals because they are not commies no more,so they beat black weak dudes in pro level as well,so simple,deal with it!
ward has an excellent chance to win this fight, but I disagree that he has a power edge over kessler. who knows, he may beat aa also but to compare him concerning power is ridiculous.
another bad anti calzaghe writer, getting abit boring now.
Roy Jones and Jeff Lacy didn’t look like they’d been slapped, they definitely looked like they’d been punched repeatedly. Are you American by any chance? Ward punch as hard as Abraham – you’ve got to be kidding. He’s definitely got the skills to win it, but making him out to be harder hitting than Abraham isn’t going to win you any fans in the truth stakes or give your article any credibility.
Good article, I hope this is another good fight.