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Wow....I mean it's great that America has a legitimate 168 champion but this matchup has been blown way way out of proportion...
First the commentary - utterly biased. From the erarly rounds they were pretty much wetting themselves everytime Ward threw a punch then after 6 rounds when they suspected the fight was in the bag for him they started criticizing hiom saying he was making 'mistakes' but that's national commentary so can be overlooked I guess.
Secondly Kessler started slow but as the fight went on held his own and vastly improved connecting more, throwing more comboes dodging Ward's dirty hits more not to mention throwing some mean convicting punches and some gorgeous uppercuts.
Third Ward's head use was truly horrific and his grabbing atrocious. It was shameful and he should have been docked points. It's pretty obvious that Ward's gameplan was to start fast, use whatever tactics necesarry and get alot of points early - as the fight went on he tired and his workrate dropped a little whereas Kessler's came up.
This was a good fight and Ward has skills but my word what a farce! Take away the grabbing and this would have been much closer and fairer. Ward would likely still have taken it on points but at least Kessler could have lost with honour knowing he was legitimately beaten.
Kessler's too nice for his own good. He'll fight anyone anywhere and doesn't believe in dirty tricks and Ward's caught him completely unawares - I draw attention to the fact how he managed to handle Ward's grabs and dirty punches better later in the fight
The bottom line was I have no idea what fight many were watching but this match clearly wasn't the shut out people are talking about.
First the commentary - utterly biased. From the erarly rounds they were pretty much wetting themselves everytime Ward threw a punch then after 6 rounds when they suspected the fight was in the bag for him they started criticizing hiom saying he was making 'mistakes' but that's national commentary so can be overlooked I guess.
Secondly Kessler started slow but as the fight went on held his own and vastly improved connecting more, throwing more comboes dodging Ward's dirty hits more not to mention throwing some mean convicting punches and some gorgeous uppercuts.
Third Ward's head use was truly horrific and his grabbing atrocious. It was shameful and he should have been docked points. It's pretty obvious that Ward's gameplan was to start fast, use whatever tactics necesarry and get alot of points early - as the fight went on he tired and his workrate dropped a little whereas Kessler's came up.
This was a good fight and Ward has skills but my word what a farce! Take away the grabbing and this would have been much closer and fairer. Ward would likely still have taken it on points but at least Kessler could have lost with honour knowing he was legitimately beaten.
Kessler's too nice for his own good. He'll fight anyone anywhere and doesn't believe in dirty tricks and Ward's caught him completely unawares - I draw attention to the fact how he managed to handle Ward's grabs and dirty punches better later in the fight
The bottom line was I have no idea what fight many were watching but this match clearly wasn't the shut out people are talking about.
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