Future of Boxing: Andre Ward

By Peter Wells: After looking at Welshman Nathan Cleverly I’d like to go to the other side of the Atlantic to talk about American hotshot Andre Ward. The Californian Super Middleweight is just 25 and unbeaten in 21 with the WBA title already around his waist. Andre has entered the Super Middleweight Super Six tourney and has already beaten favourite Mikkel Kessler in the 1st stage. Kessler may have been cut, but was ultimately beaten even before the cuts. Andre has a great career ahead of him and after the Super Six he has plenty to look forward to, and now being the winner isn’t so unlikely after all. His next two fights are against the replacement for Jermain Taylor, Allan Green and fellow American Andre Dirrell. If he wins or loses in this tournament he should still be a great fighter when he comes out in 2011. The 6’1” boxer has great skill and has a very good chin, he’s fought top guys like Edison Miranda and Mikkel Kessler and the “Son of God” is still unmarked. Andre has great speed of hand and foot and uses his straight punches well. At first I doubted him against Kessler but he proved me wrong and now I can see why he could be a great champion. Ward isn’t a huge knockout puncher with just 13 stoppages but has good power for a Super Middleweight and hasn’t picked easy opponents along the road, and beating Kessler proved he is a world class fighter and will be favourite against Green and Dirrell. There’s always a chance everything could fall apart though and Ward could be outgunned – just like Kessler was – against either of those two Americans. I’ll defiantly enjoy watching Ward after the tournament and fights with Lucian Bute and Paul Williams and Kelly Pavlik will be lurking around for his future.