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Ward surprises
Kessler; snatches WBA super-middleweight crown with dazzling
speed from both sides of the plate... by George Elsasser
The Stage 1 - Super Six World Boxing Classic finale over Showtime cable last noche from the
Oracle Arena at Oakland, California, delivered what
was perceived as an upset win for local favorite Andre
Ward - but don't tell that to the confident
switch-hitter that showed from the opening bell he came
to bring home the proverbial bacon.
Ward, the more relaxed in demeanor, displayed the far
superior speed and technical skills than Kessler, his
age 30, veteran opponent of some 43 past kept
appointments. Took Ward no later than numero uno
to put the plodding Dane on notice it would be a long
night - with the seconds ticking down to a precious
few, we first see Ward making the switch from orthodox
to port side - the straight left hand finding the
target.
Mayfield stops Santana in Kessler-Ward undercard...
This past Saturday in Oakland CA, on the undercard of
the Super Six World Boxing Classic featuring
Mikkel Kessler
vs
Andre Ward,
undefeated welterweight prospect,
Karim "Hard Hitta"
Mayfield
(11-0-1, 7 KO's) continued his
winning ways, scoring an impressive fifth round TKO
over
Francisco Santana
(11-2, 5 KO's). Both fighters squared off in March of
2008, with Karim winning a close split decision.
This time around, Mayfield made it more decisive and
showed much improvement showing the fans in attendance
that he is the superior fighter as he landed his
signature overhand right while using his quick feet to
avoid damage.
The Tale of the Tape: Andre Ward vs. Mikkel Kessler ...
by Danny Howard
Now that Manny Pacquaio and Miguel Cotto have settled their
business, it looks like there may not be any more fights to
get up and excited for in regards to the remaining lineup
for the rest of the year in boxing. Anybody remember the
Super Six? Despite two less than stellar fights in its
opening stanza it is still generating good press and getting
attention, especially when Mikkel Kessler faces off against
Andre Ward this Saturday night in Ward's hometown of
Oakland. Kessler has been considered the top fighter in the
division since the departure of Joe Calzaghe but has yet to
solidify those claims whereas Ward is a superstar in the
making, looking for his big moment.
Andre Ward training camp update...
At the midway point of training camp preparation for
his first shot at a world title and his first bout in the Super Six World
Boxing Classic, undefeated American boxer Andre "S.O.G." Ward and his
trainer Virgil Hunter have declared they are on schedule and building
momentum toward the November 21st meeting with WBA Super Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler at the Oracle
Arena in Oakland, CA.
The 25-year
old Ward (20-0, 13 KO) who, in Athens in 2004, was the lone and most recent
-- American to claim Olympic gold, will attempt to wrest the WBA title away
from Denmark native Kessler (42-1, 32 KO) in Ward's own hometown while also
preventing the Europeans from shutting out American fighters in the first
round of this unique tournament being televised by SHOWTIME.
JERMAIN TAYLOR
RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL IN BERLIN...
On Sunday,
October 18th Jermain Taylor was released from the Hospital
in Berlin, Germany, having been given clearance by a team
of doctors to continue with a planned vacation in Europe.
Taylor was admitted as a precautionary measure after
suffering from concussion-like symptoms following his fight
with Arthur Abraham on Saturday night.
"I want to thank all my fans and those
concerned and let everyone know I'm doing just fine and
feeling good," said Taylor. "I want to congratulate Arthur
Abraham on his victory and wish him well in the tournament.
Right now my plans are to relax and enjoy my vacation in
Europe with my wife, Erica."
ABRAHAM POWER
RIGHT HAND CRUSHES TAYLOR, FROCH NIPS DIRRELL VIA SPLIT
DECISION... by George Elsasser
The Super Six Boxing World Classic Tourney from Berlin, Germany opened on a
hot note with local Arthur Abraham closing the show with former middleweight
champion Jermain Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas, with stanza twelve KO at the
2:54 mark.
Part two of the Showtime televised twin-bill, from Nottingham, England saw
WBC champion Carl Froch nipping Andre Dirrell of Flint, Michigan via
split-decision.
ABRAHAM AND FROCH SUPER IN VICTORY!... by Kenny
Perrault
The Super Six Boxing World Classic Tourney
got under way Saturday night
and it did not disappoint. To start the night former world
middleweight champion Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor met
"King" Arthur Abraham. Jermain Taylor worked behind the jab
most of the night trying to break Abraham's peek-a-boo
style defense.
Abraham's defense paid off as Taylor was unable to land his
right hand. Although methodical, Abraham gets the job done.
He doesn't have lightning speed or great footwork but he
does posses thudding power and sheer will to get to his
opponent. As the rounds passed by, Abraham inched closer
and closer to Taylor, landing serious shots to his ribs and
face.
SHOWTIME GIVES
BOXING FANS WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE... by Bill Stephens
Showtime Boxing gave the fans their money's worth as two undefeated warriors faced off in Nottingham, England. An
epic battle took place in London as Champion "The Cobra" Carl Froch faced off against the American, Andre Dirrell in
a battle for the WBC Super Middleweight Championship. Fighting in unfriendly territory and with a country against
him, Andre Dirrell fought a tough battle until the last bell rang.
Sgt Dirrell made the champion work hard to retain his title by landing some powerful blows and great combinations.
Andre Dirrell falls to( 18-1-13 KOs) in his first loss of his professional career. Froch (26-0, 20
KOs) retains the
title and remains undefeated in his quest for the Super Middleweight supremacy in the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
ABRAHAM STOPS JERMAIN
IN 12....by Per Ake Persson
"King" Arthur Abraham knocked out Jermain Taylor at 2.54 of
the 12th and final round with a big left hook that Taylor
partly blocked followed by a short, straight right that
landed flush on the chin of Jermain who went down and out
on his back to cheers of the 14,000 at the O2 World. As
referee Guadalupe Garcia began to count the ringside
physician entered the ring to tend to Taylor, who looked
exhausted and like he was in serious trouble, but luckily
he recovered quickly.
After eleven rounds Abraham was ahead on scores 106-102,
105-103 and 107-102. Taylor had a point deducted in the
sixth for low blows and was visibly hurt in the ninth. For
my money at third row, it looked closer but it was
difficult to score as Abraham usually takes long breaks,
during which Taylor threw a lot of punches but most were
blocked.
Abraham started as always very slowly with hands high high
allowing Taylor to jab. Most of the punches were blocked
but it wasn't until the fifth round that the former IBF
middleweight champ began to open up. As it was he proved to
be the stronger man while Taylor, boxing well throughout,
tired down the stretch. He made Abraham miss but failed to
make him pay and his jab was increasingly ineffective in
the later rounds.
This was the first fight in the Super Six World Boxing
Classic and quite possibly the last fight for Taylor. It
would be crazy for his management to send him back in
anytime soon in another do or die fight against a world
class fighter. He needs a rest and should consider
retirement.
For Abraham it's up and away and while still very strong he
also showed that stepping up in weight class isn't easy.
FROCH "THE
COBRA" BEATS DIRRELL "THE MATRIX" BY SPLIT DECISION... by
Frank Gonzalez Jr.
Thank God for the Super Six Super Middleweight
Tournament. This is exactly what boxing needs. It's a good sign that some
promoters finally recognize the importance of doing something to make boxing
more exciting and appealing to sports fans in general with a tournament
form competition, which has long been common place in most other sports.
I hope this tournament inspires more divisions to do
the same, maybe we'll live to see one real Champion in each division instead of
the circus we have today with four or more "champions" in each division. Kudos
to the promoters who made this happen.
This tournament is not perfect but it beats the hell
out of no tournament. So far, with only the first two contests in the books,
it's going as any respectable handicapper would anticipate. Both titlists won
their fights against the prospect and former middleweight titlist. The first two
were good competitive fights and what more can you ask for? Well, it would've
been better if Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade were involved. Bute is the IBF
titlist and Andrade is a definite top ranked contender, who in reality won by
TKO in the final seconds of his fight with Bute but the referee, Marlon Wright,
purposely took too much time to issue a count when Bute went down with five
seconds to go in the 12th round.
WBC super
middleweight champion
Carl "The Cobra''
Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) of Nottingham exults
after weighing in at 167-1/2 pounds.
WBC World Champion Carl Froch of Nottingham and challenger
Andre Dirrell weighed in at 167-½ lbs each on Friday in front
of an estimated crowd of 3,000 people at the famed Market
Square. Froch will be defending his title on home turf
at the Trent FM Arena, where promoter Hennessy Sports is
reporting a sellout crowd of about 8,000 people.
Froch is making the second defense of his world title.
Dirrell challenges for his first. Both fighters begin their
quest for
the inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic Cup on Saturday,
Oct. 17, live on SHOWTIME beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT
(delayed on the West Coast).
Challenger
Andre "The Matrix'' Dirrell
(18-0, 13 KOs) of Flint, Mich., required two attempts to make the
division-limit 168 pounds, but was all smiles after tipping scale at
167-1/2 pounds Friday before several thousand
people at the famed Market Square in Nottingham, England.
-Photos by Tom Casino/Showtime-
The battle of
unbeatens, the second half of a doubleheader
tomorrow/Saturday
on
SHOWTIME® (8
p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) -- will emanate live
from Trent FM Arena in Nottingham and will be for Froch's
world title and the first fight for Froch and Dirrell in
the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
In the opening Super Six Group Stage 1 bout on SHOWTIME,
undefeated former IBF middleweight champion
"King" Arthur Abraham
(30-0, 24 KOs), of Germany, will face former undisputed
160-pound titleholder
Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs),
of Little Rock, Ark., at 02 World Arena in Berlin, Germany.
The Abraham-Taylor 12-rounder will be shown on SHOWTIME on
same day delay.
BRC READERS PICK THE WINNERS IN TOMORROW'S SUPER
SIX FIGHTS....
We polled our Facebook friends
about the upcoming Super Six fights this weekend, and this is what they
came up with. 75% of our readers believe Arthur Abraham will beat Jermain
Taylor who received 25% of the voting. The readers also picked Carl Froch
with 60% of the votes to walk away the winner against Andre Dirrell.
It's
still not too late to vote, be our friend and vote by clicking
here.
We'd appreciate your input, which will be posted before the fights.
Thanks!
TALE OF THE TAPE: SUPER SIX DOUBLE-HEADER... by Danny
Howard
We are now only days away
from the beginning of probably the most unique event to happen in the sport of
boxing. I really don't need to go into any details, the whole industry is
talking about the Showtime Super Six tournament and this Saturday it kicks off
in high gear with a pay per view worthy doubleheader pitting current WBC
champion Carl Froch against undefeated Andre Dirrell and as the main event of the
evening, a clash between former middleweight champions Jermain Taylor and Arthur
Abraham square off in a heavily anticipated showdown. Before the excitement
overcomes me, let's look at the evening's fights.
JERMAIN TAYLOR SETS HIS SIGHTS ON ARTHUR ABRAHAM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17...
Sometimes a fighter can find himself up against the ropes. That's the feeling most people in
the boxing community have about Jermain Taylor. He's fighting an undefeated former champ in his hometown and he is the underdog. The
pressure is on, but nothing could be further from Taylor's mind as he prepares
to face Arthur Abraham on October 17th, at the o2 World arena in Berlin,
Germany.
"If anyone thinks I'm lacking in confidence or feeling any pressure, they're
dead wrong," said Taylor. "Just because I've lost a few fights, I'm not ready to
be written off. "Sometimes a fighter can lose and get beat up with that loss.
That has not happened to me. I beat myself in every fight I lost, but I have
learned from my mistakes. I'm a better fighter because of the losses."
Taylor is also a more focused and disciplined boxer in the gym. He's already put
in close to three months of training for the Abraham fight, including a 10-week
camp at George Foreman's Youth Center in Houston, Texas, where
a new road-work routine was added to his training. Taylor says he has enjoyed
the challenge of the new routine, which has him running a full mile and then
alternating 400- and 800- meter intervals with 100-meter sprints in-between. The
total track work adds up to five quality miles of road work.
WARD AND KESSLER MAKE THEIR PICKS FOR SATURDAY'S SUPER SIX...
2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist and Oakland native
Andre S.O.G. Ward and current World
Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight world champion Mikkel "Viking
Warrior" Kessler have to wait until Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., for
their first fight in the SHOWTIME® Super Six World Boxing Classic, but that
doesn't mean they won't sound off on
this weekend's fights from Nottingham, England and Berlin, Germany.
The historic tournament begins on Saturday, Oct.
17, with a split-feed doubleheader live at LIVE 8 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the
west coast) on SHOWTIME.
Ward will be rooting for the Americans on
Saturday night, and he says his money is on his fellow '04 Olympian and a former
middleweight kingpin against their favored European opponents.
Questions? Comments? Post them in
BRC's new Message Board...
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BRC friend in Facebook==
For Fight Recaps between January and May 2009, click here...
Fight Recaps Part I
(January-May 2009)
For Fight Recaps starting June 2009, click here...
Fight Recaps Part
II
(June-December 2009)
10-2009
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