Ward claims Kessler's WBA title, fight stopped

OAKLAND, California (AP)

American Andre Ward claimed the WBA super middleweight title from Denmark's Mikkel Kessler on Saturday in a bout that had to be stopped early, leaving the ex-champion's camp complaining of dirty tactics.

Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) added his first world championship belt to his Olympic gold medal with an upset victory in his hometown.

A ringside physician stopped the fight midway through the 11th round after looking at a growing cut on Kessler's face, which was caused by a head butt.

A fight is decided on the scorecards in a technical decision. Sweden's Mikael Hook favored Ward 97-93, while South Africa's Stanley Christodoulou and California's Steve Morrow both scored it 98-92 for Ward. The Associated Press also had it for Ward 97-93.

It was a surprise defeat for Kessler (42-2), the WBA champion for most of the past five years and the early favorite to win the Super Six super middleweight tournament.

"Right now, I'm dreaming," Ward said. "I can't compare this to winning the gold medal, because it's going to take a while for it all to sink in," Ward said.

"Everyone said we got the bad draw, but we just beat the toughest guy."

Ward acknowledged there were two head butts which contributed to Kessler's injury, but said they were accidental.

"I'm not a dirty fighter, everybody knows that."

However Kessler was angered by his opponent's tactics, and adamant he could have fought on.

"He was the better man tonight, but I would have liked the fight to go another minute," Kessler said. "I knew I could have continued. I was cut, but the cuts weren't that bad.

"He threw a lot of elbows, and there were a lot of head butts, and he never got any warnings. ... I don't want to sit here and complain all the time, but I wasn't happy with the referee."

Kessler's camp was upset even before the fight about the selection of California-based referee Jack Reiss, asking for an official from a "neutral territory," as mandated in the Super Six contracts. After the fight, Kessler and his camp criticized Reiss for allowing too much holding and inside fighting, leading to head clashes.

"Without taking anything away from his win, the referee helped him from the first minute," said Wilfried Sauerland, Kessler's promoter. "He used his head, he used his elbow, and he didn't even get a warning, he didn't get a caution. That was a bit much."

Ward hasn't lost a fight since early in his amateur career more than 10 years ago. He rolled through the Athens Olympics five years ago, including a quarterfinal victory over Russian world champion Evgeny Makarenko - the last fight in which he faced such long odds.

Kessler had won his past three fights since his only loss to Joe Calzaghe in 2007, briefly relinquishing the WBA title he has held since 2004. The Dane was the favorite in the tournament matching six of the world's top super middleweights, and he was confident enough to fight stateside for just the second time in his career.

After a slow start, Ward turned the fight in the fourth round with an uppercut that rocked the more aggressive Kessler and opened a cut on his face. Ward then took charge, repeatedly landing combinations and sneaky shots.

Ward was much busier than Kessler, opening a cut above the Dane's left eye in the middle rounds. Kessler's struggled against the American's busier style, and he began backpedaling, with Ward landing enough punches to hurt him repeatedly.

"I felt like it was my time," Ward said. "I was not intimidated by Kessler's record.

"I was surprised that Kessler didn't change up at all. He kept doing the same thing over and over."

After a convincing victory over Edison Miranda in May, Ward made the Super Six field along with fellow Americans Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor, who both lost their first bouts to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, respectively. After each boxer has three group-stage fights, the top four will advance to the tournament semifinals - which means Ward and Kessler very well could meet again within two years.

"This will make the tournament more exciting," Kessler said. "I don't want to be the favorite."