by Geoffrey Ciani – WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KOs) proved once again that he is amongst the best pound-for-pound fighters in boxing with a lopsided victory over former middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (32-3, 26 KOs) in the first semi-finals matchup of Showtime’s Super Six Boxing Classic. The final judges’ scorecards read 120-108, 118-110, and 118-11. With the victory, Ward is now in position to face the winner of the intriguing June 4 semi-finals showdown between Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch (27-1, 20 KOs) and veteran Glen Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KOs).
Things did not start easy for Ward, however. Abraham came to fight working behind his jab while uncharacteristically moving forward. Ward was mostly roaming about the ring as Abraham applied pressure and looked for openings. Ward, for his part, was using his left hand as a range finder and was not truly committing to his punches. The second round was another feeling out round with both fighters attempting to dig to the body. Abraham started having success and landing some good shots in the third whereas Ward was having trouble finding openings in between the high turtle shell guard of Abraham who continued being unusually aggressive.
Things all seemed to change in round four when Ward came out firing and began finding his spots in between Abraham’s gloves. He landed a nice body combo which seemed to slow Abraham down. Despite his aggressive start, Abraham began settling into his more familiar style where he laid back while looking for one big shot. Ward continued controlling the action in the fifth as Abraham began resorting to rough house tactics. Ward, for his part, was more than happy to retaliate in kind and the action seemed as if it could soon unravel into something ugly.
Starting in round six Ward really started dominating things with his jab. He was shooting it out like a piston and finding ways to maneuver around Abraham’s guard. He was throwing some nice one-twos and he was in total control. This trend continued throughout the second half of the fight with Ward starting fast and putting together a nice variety of various short combos which included every punch in the book along the way, which included some sneaky left hooks, quick short uppercuts, and blistering right hands. He was mixing his shots upstairs and down and occasionally switching to southpaw which prevented a frustrated Abraham from finding a way to properly time him and find his groove. Abraham landed a few nice left hooks of his own in the final round, but Ward never strayed from his game plan and never let Abraham capitalize.
Andre Ward is a talented boxer with an extremely high ring IQ. He knows how to fight and he knows how to win so regardless of who comes out on tope in next month’s other semi-finals match-up, any foe of Ward is going to have his hands full. Ward is capable of fighting both inside or at range, he can brawl and he can box, he can press forward and attack or layback and counterpunch, and he is not afraid to engage in rough house tactics when the situation calls for it. He may not have the most aesthetically pleasing style, but he is effective and consistent and he has a tremendous ability to adapt and adjust.
When people think of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, they typically think of guys like Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Sergio Martinez, but take notice—Andre Ward is here for the long haul and he only seems to be improving with time.
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