Is Ward hated because he beat Kessler?
June 14th, 2010
By Scott Gilfoid: If you take a look at a typical boxing forum or comment section on the net you’ll often notice that WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) takes an abundant amount of criticism from boxing fans related to his win over former World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler last November. Ward is called a dirty fighter because he and Kessler clashed heads a number of times in the fight.
When you point out that Kessler was coming forward during most, if not all, of the times that they clashed heads, they still don’t want to listen. I think there’s a lot of anger towards Ward because he beat Kessler, a fighter he wasn’t supposed to beat and fans are having a hard time dealing with Ward’s upset still. They’re just going to have to get over it and deal with it.
Ward owned Kessler in that fight from start to finish, and he’s very likely do it again if Kessler is able to make it to the semi finals of the Super Six tournament. I seriously doubt that Kessler will make it that far, though. He’ll probably get eliminated in his next fight against Allan Green in the stage 3 part of the Super Six tournament.
But it seems like some fans can’t forgive Ward for spanking Kessler and handing him a loss. Believe me; the cuts had nothing to do with Kessler losing the fight to Ward. Kessler just didn’t have an inside game and was severely lacking in hand speed as well. As soon as Ward realized that Kessler was slow and couldn’t fight on the inside, the fight was as good as won.
Ward already saw all these things on video before he even fought Kessler, so the fight was already won before the two fighters ever stepped foot in the ring. All Ward did was accomplish out what he had already known in his mind.
I expect a lot of still bitter fans to be rooting against Ward this Saturday night against Allan Green when the two fighters go at it in the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. And I expect there to be some hurt feelings when Ward again dominates another opponents and shows how talented he is. The Kessler fans that angry with Ward need to understand that losing is a part of the game.
Kessler had already been beaten before he entered the Super Six tournament and has been starting to show his age as he enters his early 30s. For this reason, it shouldn’t have to such a shock to the Kessler fans when Ward battered him the way he did. That’s what happens when a fighter gets old and faces a young star. I do think Kessler was briefly able to recapture a last fleeting glimpse of glory when he defeated WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch in his stage 2 Super Six bout last April.
However, father time is going to catch up with Kessler again when he fights Green in his stage 3 tournament bout. I expect Kessler to get dominated and probably knocked out by Green. Kessler then will be drummed out of the Super Six tourney, and will probably be accompanied by Froch after he loses to Arthur Abraham – if ever fights him.
Tags: 48 Responses to “Is Ward hated because he beat Kessler?”
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Scott, what would you have said, if the referee had been Danish (instead of friggin Californian!), and it was Kessler who had opened gashes on both of Wards eyelids, as well as holding him whenever necessary to win? PLEASE ANSWER, SCOTT!
Seriously, Gilfoid is a joke as usual…Green to beat Kessler..HAHAHAHA…Green can’t even beat Miranda…what the heck is Green doing in the Super6, to this point, I would rather see Andrade or maybe even…Steiglitz HAHAHAHAHAAHHA Get the point Mr. ProAmericanCantBoxWriter
Sincerely,
Someone fed up with your Pro USAtism
“Predicting the Super Six stage 2 winners – Dirrell, Kessler and Ward and losers – Abraham, Froch and Green”
February 12th, 2010
By Scott Gilfoid: “…Mikkel Kessler – Next to Dirrell and Ward, I see Kessler as the next best fighter in the tournament. He’s got it all – power, speed, defense and movement. He’s the whole ball of wax. Kessler would have breezed through the first round of the tournament had he faced Green or Froch…”
nohhh! lets face it kessler is strong and can punch, but agility and speed are suspect.
It was just a bad night for Kessler vs Ward. He isn’t old. He still has talent, and his new trainer has proven that. I doubt Green wins against Ward, but that isn’t to say that Ward is all that amazing. Yes he has alot of talent, but he isn’t the godsend that some think he is, and this home field advantage he seems to get in the tournament is pure b.s. and has to stop. He’ll be exposed before long. And BTW, Ward did foul Kessler ALOT during that fight. Green vs Kessler is another story. That will be a tough, close fight. I think Kessler wins it, but not by alot.
Super 6 in the 140 division would be amazing and it’s the only way you can avoid ducking. Khan ortiz bradley alexander maidana and maybe katsidis. Makes financial sense as well as all these fighters are well known. All these fighters knw that a few losses at this stage would ruin thier careers an that’s the only reason it won’t happen.
Ward didnt headbutt him He whooped his ass. Get over it,
this tournament has pretty much sucked donkey ball$ up to this point, i guess that´s the reason there aren´t more tournaments like this, too much bs, they might as well fight in the tent at Ringling Bros.
the rest of the tournament is going to go like this
Round 2
Ward beats Green
Round 3
Ward beats Dirrell
Abraham beats Froch (KO)
Green beats Kessler
(I believe Kessler has lost a step and gets cut easily now)
4 way tie Dirrell, Froch, Kessler, and Green
I dont know who will face who but I believe it will be the Americans facing each other and Europeans facing Europeans.
Dirrell beats Green
Froch beats Kessler (I believe he won the first fight)
(1) Ward beats (4) Froch (he is #4 because he got KO’d by Abraham)
(3)Dirrell beats Abraham (again)
(1) Ward beats(3) Dirrell (again)
Andre Ward came in undefeated and will leave undefeated!!!
A) ward isn’t hated by anyone. andre dirrell? now he is hated…
B) you have obviously never boxed. those were not “accidental” or “head clashes”. they were lowering the boom into kessler’s face. blatant headbutts ripped straight from the classic holyfield playbook.
everyone i know says ward is talented…but he was filthy in that fight. thats not “hate”…it’s just saying what happened.
That’s a good question. Is Ward really hated, or is it just by Kessler fans. I can understand why Kessler fans wouldn’t like Ward, but does this hate expand beyond fans of Kessler?
If it did then I had no idea.
It’s weird, i’m actually starting to like Scott Gilfoid…not in the sense, that he’s a good writer, GOD NO!
It’s more like, a disabled cousin, who runs around, talking rubbish and drooling everywhere and it just makes you laugh so much.
Yeah, that kind of way.
Ward is hated now? Stop making stuff up Gilfoil.
Dirrell is a b level fighter, good for running & faking injury thats about it
Ward did use dirty tactics in his fight with Kessler, but even without the dirty tactics Ward easily dominated Kessler.
I tough it wasn’t the old Kessler we knew. He’s not the same anymore. And it was confirmed in the Froch fight. It was a very close fight. Kessler did win but Froch landed harder and cleaner shots than Kessler. Kessler managed to outwork him that’s why he got the decision.
I would not be surprised if Kessler loses to Green in the 3 round of the Super Six.
this article said it the best ward outclassed kessler from begin to end cuts had nothing to do with ward spanking kessler it’s just most european boxers can’t box
i had a feeling that ward is on to something it might be roid or a-side meth then i demand this dude to go random blood testing if he does’nt comply this dude is dirty and we can call him ”wardroid”.ho.ho.
@ Mr T
i actually totally agree with ur kessler comments .. i thought he was ring rusty as he only had like 1 fight since joe calzaghe and he defiantly underestimated ward as he was shellshocked from round 3 onwards
i however see two americans or 2 europeans in the final …. not a mixture
i see froch as the most hated boxer in the tournament as he is white and beat the american prospect … maybe froch wont even be in the tournament soon
@G
DiRRELL is a beautiful BOXER iN tht ring. He shows yu the “Sweet science”.
@MR.T
oh Ma bad bruh! im so use to ppl bein racist on stuff like this and the way yu was sayin it made it seem like yu were but uhm… Look here, DiRRELL beat FROCH easiLy but the ref and judges were on FROCH side as yu can see and WARD is a thinkin fighter. FROCH throws punches from angles he can easily get counter from, so WARD wiLL easier than DiRRELL shud have!!
Ward is good , could be up there with legends like Calzaghe, hopkins, Jones etc…….Dirrell is one people hate & see as a chump, he wont get far.
The buts just give people something to hate. If there hadn’t been so many, then the buts would be a non-issue. They should be a non issue anyway since buts do happen in boxing.
All that aside, Lesser lost that fight. He admitted that he fought Ward’s fight, and he did it in Ward’s backyard. Not a winning recipe if you ask me.
It turned out to be a good thing though. It exposed a lot of things about Kessler that he probably hadn’t realized before. His win over Froch, which was very close, proves that Kessler still has some fight left in him. It’ll be interesting to see how he approaches his next American opponent.
ward is a good fighter but he does come in head first & he shouldnt be doing that.
the showtime commentator in his own words said that ward time and again went in like a ‘billygoat!’, the fight was stopped on cuts, and ward did fight a dirty fight, but all kudos to him, its boxing not tiddlywinks. but to say that the buts had no outcome on the fight is just ludicrous. ps, thats what happens when a fighter gets old and faces a young star – calzaghe/lacy?, calzaghe/kessler? bhop/pavlik?
scott with all due respect how you are still composing articles on this website baffles me as much as your patriotic garbage you cositantly come up with.
Ward is not hated by all. Of coarse the Denmark fans are probably irratated by Wards boxing talents.Hey thats boxing.
S.O.G.?……WHAT THE FU_K IS THAT?……
andre ward he is boring out of the ring with all that god sh_t he is a boring person
Believe me; the cuts had nothing to do with Kessler losing the fight to Ward…..ermmm yeah they did thats why it was stopped on the CUTS!
I haven’t seen much evidence of hatred towards Ward. He’s a decent guy, doesn’t run off at the mouth. He had some unfortunate head clashes with Kessler but nothing deliberate. Kessler was badly prepared. I think people respect Ward and wish him all the best in this competition. Dirrell however is something else. I find Dirrell to be a dispicable personaility, a faker and a coward, and I would be very upset if he got anywhere near the final of the supersix.
I like Ward I think he’s talented and very smart in the ring. I don’t see how anyone would dislike hime honestly.
Gotta say i never knew anybody hated Ward. There is critisizm that can be put on him like his constant home advantage his leading with the head and what ever anybody else wants to put on him but there no need to get so defencive about it.
Every boxer faces critisizm in some sense, all of them. I like Ward, like Dirrell he looks a class act, the 2 of them have impressed me more than anybody else and are a class above the rest right now.
joe calzaghe will give that clown andre ward a boxing lession where was andre ward and the super 6 boys when joe calzaghe was dominating?….carl froch was the only one calling out superior joe…Lucian Bute just became a title holder when calzaghe was exercises domination over top eurpean mikkel kessler did he call the (superior dominator) out?……NO….Lucian Bute is scared to say (joe calzaghe)….he have never mention joe calzaghe name not ever….andre ward needs to fight carl froch in the u.k to prove himself…british fighters dominated the super middleweight division and carl froch is the next air apparent to..Nigel Benn,,Chris Eubank,,Steve Collins and the superior dominator joe calzaghe
@TRELG – Is there something wrong with your Caps button?
It’s not about Europeans vs Americans – I just see the fights going this way. I think Dirrell would most likely beat Froch if they fought again (provided he adopted a more aggressive attitude) but I just see the fights and results lining up this way because of the styles of the fighters. The beauty of the Super 6 is that there is no one best fighter. I think all could beat some of the others but no-one fighter could beat everyone else.
@sorren
Yessssss ii agree 100% man and WARD is ma #1 FAV and DiRRELL is ma #1 1/2 FAV man! iiLove Both of these guys(Niggas) and ii thought FROCH & KESSLER wud be the BEST fight of the super6 but ma pick has change in less than 20min… But ii ride with WARD to the end so, WARD close decision.
@Mr.T
yo picks are super wrong!! there wiLL NOT, i repeat, WILL NOT be 2 EUROPEAN fighters iN the finaLs. WARD wiLL defeat aLL three of them juss Like he did KESSLER. It’ll be WARD & ABRAHAM iN the fiNals dude… oh & rethink abt tht KESSLER & GREEN pick, tht wiLL be ALLAN GREEN’s 1st title and he’s taking tht out the tournament with hiM haha oowwiiee thts gon be funny!!
ward is getting to much hype he fought a great fight with kessler be that is it he is boring out of the ring with all that god sh_t he need to fight in europe agenst superior eurpeans to prove him self the best because eurpeans dominated the super middleweight division since 1990-present day
wards style is sort of boring.hes got that amateur style to the way he fights.most people like fighters who brawl and/or knock people out.the ward/kessler fight was really disappointing to watch because I dont have showtime and it was on free that night and I was looking forward to a good fight which turned out to be really boring
As usual, the responses on this site are much more intelligent than the articles themselves.
MrBoxing101 – You may well be right about Ward v Froch. I just think that Ward is still a bit of an unknown. He won well against Kessler, yes, but there were the fouls, Kessler was ring rusty and maybe underestimated him. Aside from that win, I see Ward as unproven against world class opposition. Froch wouldn’t allow him any foul play and if the fight was outside the US I see Froch edging it. Close one though.
mr t you are crazy if you think that froch will beat Andre ward. If froch at home just about beat direll then he has no chance against a better boxer in ward. Ward would UD him 120-108. As for wards hardest fight I think that will be the 3rd rounds against direll. I see that being the bet of all the super 6 fights and a think ward edges it.
think it throught “hmm why do people hate andre ward?” maybe its because with him having all his fights at home he has an unfair advantage !! if it goes to a decision (even if the opposition is slightly better) i guarantee he will get the decision
every fight has gone in the way of the home boxer, all points/descions have been over exaggerated in favor of the home boxer = its fixed to the home fighter !!! who has all fights at home ? Ward !!!
but ok .. lets look at the rest:
Dirrel – 1 fight in england (lost) and 1 in USA (won..ish) next fight in USA (also dirrel likes his low blows and to “fall” when under pressure = bad sportsman)
Froch – Nottingham (won) (close decision), Denmark (lost) (close decison), unaware of venue Prediction Germany (loss via decision) Nottingham (win via close decision)
Kessler – USA (lost) (ref decisions were questionable), Denmark (win via close decision) next fight against green = win
Abraham – Germany (win Via KO), USA Lost (disqualification) ref was awful btw
if Ward does get through to the semis or final .. i hope they are staged in monaco were he will be judged on his ability instead of the biased crowds cheer !!
Mr T – Even though i don’t think those two are the best in the tournament, there’s a good chance of that happening.
The only one i wouldn’t agree so much with is Froch v Ward….I think there’s a good chance Ward can win that one. I just don’t want to see Dirrell in the final purely because he is possibly the most negative minded boxer i’ve ever watched (not to say he isn’t talented)
Also, Scott, it’s fairly hypocritical to write a piece on on how a boxer doesn’t receive as much acclaim due to their unpopularity, even though you consistently write predjudice articles about hand picked boxers you clearly have a personal dislike of.
I don’t think it is because he beat Kessler but more the way he beat Kessler ie with fouls. If he was a serious champ he would rematch in Denmark. I think Kessler deserves that.
Alright, Scotty – who is gonna whip who’s ass when your two faves, the ‘talented Andre Dirrell’ and Andre Ward fight in round 3 of the tourney? And why IS Andre Ward fighting at home all them time. I hope they make him move if he gets through to the semis.
Here’s my prediction for the rest of the tourney:
Rnd 2
Ward bt Green
Rnd 3
Abraham bt Froch
Ward bt Dirrell
Kessler bt Green
Ward, Kessler and Abraham through to semis + Froch because he beat Dirrell in their fight.
Then 1st (Ward) vs 4th (Froch) – I think Froch edges this one through heavy hitting and determination and stops him late on.
2nd (Abraham) vs 3rd (Kessler) Kessler outworks him for a close decision
Final – Froch vs Kessler rematch – take your pick!!
What do the rest of you think?
Could someone please explain to me why Andre Ward is getting to have all his fights at home ? I know Ward is talented but Green is coming into this tournament with a chip on his shoulder and if he lands that left hook Wards chin will be severley tested !!
Anyway why is he being allowed the home advantage ?
It shows very much that the purpose of this article is you to defend Ward for being hated by the fans. It´s a bit annoying making this article as a question just to attract readers attention. I feel like an idiot reading this article especially if you know where the article is leading to. It´s too early to be too confident and outcast Kesslers ability to rise in the occasion. It seems to me you don´t know him very well. Anyway goodluck to your article, hoping you get your satisfaction but pls. be objective next time. Don´t be too cozy and be conveniet with this kind of bogus article.
Well said Mike. I’m an Englishman and I too rate a fighter on what he can bring to the ring, and not where he is from. Scott Gilfoid judges a fighter first and foremost on his nationality, and if he isn’t from the US then Gilfoid has to criticise. I rate Ward and think he may win the Super Six, but I don’t think anyone can be written off just yet.
Ward is hated because he’s working with Victor Conte and the fact he’s having all his fights in Oakland.
No one hates ward you clown. I actually think ward will become one of my favourite fighters. I think he is going to whip allan green and yes i’m welsh so i have put up with all your calzaghe bashing articles. Unlike you i don’t criticise fighters because of the country they come from i judge them on their talent. Do us a favour and quit writing your a classless biased fool.