In one of the Mecca’s of professional boxing, the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, the 5000+ in attendance witnessed what can only be described as a landslide victory for Andre ‘S.O.G.’ Ward.
From the pre-fight build up, Nottingham-based boxer Carl ‘ The Cobra’ Froch appeared as confident as ever in his abilities to overcome Ward, with particular emphasis on his ‘iron’ jaw and his punching power, something of which he claimed Ward lacked.
To say British boxers have suffered in 2011 in World Title bouts is largely an understatement, with only Scotland’s Ricky Burns retaining his gold. David Haye succumbed to Wladimir Klitschko’s raw power and surprising technical prowess; Amir Khan lost a unanimous decision in the week prior to this fight against Lamont Peterson in Las Vegas, and now Froch losing his WBC super-middleweight title against a clearly superior Andre Ward.
From the first bell it was clear to see that Froch was a little out of his depth against a man of clear athletic and technical superiority. Froch entered the bout with his trademark ‘low-guard’, with his leading hand by his waist. A tactic he may of thought would not be so problematic given Ward’s lack of punching power. It was a slow start, with Froch struggling to break through Ward’s tight guard and already falling second to his speed and slickness. Reminiscent of the bout against Glen Johnson, Froch did not establish his authority and dominance until a number of rounds into the fight and this proved to be the case in Atlantic City, which ultimately came to late. As early as the first round, Ward made a statement with his jab and this set the tone for the evening, even catching Froch with a swift left hook. From then on, there was no coming back, with Ward barely taking a backwards step.
Within the next couple of rounds Ward unleashed his light-stepped footwork and essentially ‘danced’ around Froch landing a number of jabs, often doubling and even trebling up with his lead hand. Froch did begin to pick up some pace in the second and had Ward against the ropes towards the end of the round finally landing some his trademark hooks, albeit to little avail with Ward already shaping the fight.
This did, however, prove to ignite a spark in Froch’s game as he did appear to be more efficient going into the third round with him appearing to be on the front foot and getting Ward against the ropes and wearing him down slightly, although his style and movement often appeared sluggish. Even so, Ward returned and began to get his jab back into the game and began creating more gaps in Froch’s rather open defence. With Ward no clearly on the upper hand he dropped his heels, became flatfooted and began to unleash some ruthless power shots to the body and head.
Going into the fifth it became apparent that Ward had all rounds under his belt until that point, however, with Froch slowly gaining more pace since the third he came back in the fifth and had a much better round. He wrestled Ward to the ropes once again and shown his impressive ‘wearing’ down style from the inside, something of which he has become synonymous for. In what began to look like an almighty revival for Froch, it appeared to disappear as quickly as it came, with Ward returning in the sixth, seventh and virtually every round afterwards, his slick jab proving too much for Froch’s barely present head movement and dropped guard coupled with Ward’s fluent footwork.
After the eighth round it seemed clear from Froch’s corner that the only way possible to win this tournament would be via KO, although this proved to be an impossible task with Froch looking drained and Ward gaining even more momentum.
In the twelfth and final round, in what could be described as the most ‘passionate’ of the evening, both men came in toe-to-toe and Froch showed his ‘never say die’ attitude and his iron-jaw really came into play, yet as with everything before it all came to little to late, as Ward once again never let his guard down and his slickness and slippery defensive skills did not fade in the slightest. ‘He’s like an eel’, as Froch went on to say in his post-fight comments.
In conclusion of what was an extremely one-sided affair and lacklustre end to a tournament that has lasted two years in duration, two of the judges scored the bout 115-113, with one being slightly less impressed with the Englishman’s performance recording a mind-boggling score of 118-110.
It is more than fair to say the best man won on the night, and with that the entire super-six tournament, but will come of Froch now? Are there many options left for him in what some may call an extremely limited division? Perhaps a step up to light-heavyweight may provide a much needed new challenge with a possible rematch with Jean Pascal, and maybe a homecoming contest against Nathan Cleverly. For Andre Ward, the world is now his oyster, and the future certainly looks brighter than ever.
Matt Ward – Like2Fight.com
