Is Ward this Good?

[The Shadow]

Look, I had to take Kessler coming into this fight just because he's been in there with the stiffer competition. However, Ward showed me a ton tonight:

He never allowed Kessler to get in his range and smartly - like a seasoned pro - held Kessler and avoided his right with speed and holding. Kessler looked entirely befuddled throughout the bout.

Even Kessler in defeat - as he talked to the crown prince of Jackasses, who should have been KO'd by Pete Rose and Tyson years ago - questioned his abilities after saying that Ward had a home town ref and was intentionally Holyfield-ing him throughout the bout.

I must say that I'm astonished that Kessler put up such a weak performance and I'm certain that copious amounts of pint glasses were being thrown at the HD screens a many back in his homeland.

My question: Is Ward that good, or has Kessler just deteriorated? I've always been impressed with Ward's boxing skills - after all, he's a gold medalist - but he lacks power. I don't see him fairing well against Abraham, if it comes to that.

I'm just curious to get others opinion of the performance and the resultant
havoc this creates in the tournament.

For me Kessler was always a bit one dimensional , and wasn't as good as everybody was saying.

Perhaps, but Kessler made good showings against top-tier opponents before. The fact that he didn't have any southpaw sparring partners makes me question his corner. Some of his punches looked amateurish.

I've watched several of Kessler's bouts and he seemed like a talented pro; in fact, he could have beat Calzaghe if he didn't take off the first half of the fight. And Calzaghe is one of the most talented boxers I've seen in decades.

How do you see Kessler as one-dimensional? Are you just trying to point to the fact that he relies too heavily on his right hand? I really thought that there was much more to Kessler than he showed against Ward. But perhaps I completely underestimated Ward, who has proven he can bang with the best after tonight.