By Chris LaBate
At the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (23-0, 13KOs) won a unanimous twelve round decision over Sakio Bika (28-5, 19KOs) to retain his title. The scores were 120-108, 118-110 and 118-110.
The first half of the fight was very entertaining. Bika came to fight and made it very rough for Ward at certain points. Bike tried pressing and threw a lot of hard shots. Ward stayed on the inside and accepted Bika's call for a war. Ward landed some crushing hard hooks on the jaw of Bika, who took them well and kept coming. Ward had a cut above each eye. One from a punch and another from a cut.
The second half of the fight saw more rugged tactics from Bika. Ward landing some very accurate punches and began to do some pressing of his own. Bika started to lose some steam by the ninth round and Ward was coming on strong. Bika suffered a cut above his left eye in the eleventh round. Bika did well in the twelfth, but it was mainly because Ward seemed to be coasting to the final bell.
Undercard Results
Bantamweights Jonathan Alcantara, (4-3-2, 0 KOs) and Michael Ruiz Jr. (6-0-1, 3 KOs) fought to a six round draw.
Lightweight Khadaphi Proctor (7-5) pulled off a major upset over Stan Martyniouk (10-1, 1KOs) by winning a six round decision. Proctor dropped Martniouk twice in the first round and once in the third. The scores were 58-53, 58-53 and 56-55.
Cruiserweight contender Cornelius White (16-0, 15KO) stopped Demetrius Davis (20-24-5, 8KOs) in the first after scoring two knockdowns and letting his hands go.
Lightweight prospect Roman Andreev (10-0, 7 KOs) won an easy six round decision over Manuel Delcid (4-4, 1 KO). The scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.
