The Andre Ward Show Rolls on to the Finals

CARSON, CALIFORNIA–In the first Super Six World Boxing Classic semi-final, tournament favorite Andre Ward continued his unbeaten run through the competition with a decisive twelve-round decision over Arthur Abraham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on Saturday night.

Abraham (32-3, 26 KOs) of Berlin, Germany by way of Yerevan, Armenia did have his moments in the early going. Ward (24-0, 14 KOs) of Oakland, California did not appear to be comfortable in rounds one and two. Abraham, 167, kept Ward, 168, out of his rhythm while making the former Olympian fight his fight.

The fight got rough and ugly in the third, as Abraham, the WBO #1/WBA #3 ranked super middleweight, got on the inside and smothered Ward. Not much was accomplished, but it was Abraham that landed the only clean blows in the round.

Incredibly after winning all of the first three rounds on this writer’s unofficial card, Abraham reverted back to his shell defense of previous fights to start the fourth. Slowly as the round progressed, Ward began to open up offensively, while Abraham remained defensive. Just before the end of the round, Ward began to break through Abraham’s guard. A heated exchange to close the fourth woke up the crowd.

Each fighter had their moments in a back-and-forth fifth. Two rights for Ward stunned Abraham. The Germany-based, Armenian-born crowd favorite managed to catch Ward while chasing the champion into a corner. After a warning from referee Luis Pabon for holding, Abraham landed a solid left near the end of the round.

In the sixth, Ward began to find a home for his one-two combinations. The jab forced Abraham to cover up, but Ward would place his follow-ups where he could find openings. Abraham’s body also became a more available target once Ward began utilizing his jab. Before round’s end, Ward landed a clean uppercut followed by a hard right hand. Again, Abraham just covered up and offered nothing in return.

Rounds seven, eight and nine were near mirror images of each other. Abraham remained defensive and Ward found success boxing and moving his hands. Not everything landed clean, but even when Ward hit Abraham’s gloves it took an effect on his face, which was hiding behind them. In the tenth, a now ultra-confident Ward turned southpaw for the longest stretch in the fight and pounded away at Abraham while facing no consequences.

After making little visible effort to win from the middle rounds of the fight, Abraham made a somewhat spirited attempt at making something happen in the final round. It would be far too little too late. Ward weathered the brief on rush was out in front again by the end of the round. The scoring was academic, as judge Ingo Barrabas had it 118-110, James Jen-Kin, 118-111, and judge Stanley Christodoulou, 120-108.

Given the large Armenian community in Southern California, Ward had the crowd against him for the first time in a long time Saturday night. It was something Ward, who has received criticism from pundits as well as opponents’ promoters for fighting at home in recent bouts, welcomed with open arms.

“I told people before, who said they thought he might have more fans, ‘He might have more fans but it’ll be fun.’ That’s what it was, because you have to prove you as a champion that you can win under different circumstances,” said Ward at the post-fight presser. “I know that I can perform under any circumstances, but it was good to let the people know I can perform under any circumstances.”

With the victory, Ward retained his WBA 168-pound title and moves on to the tournament finals where he will meet the winner of the June 4th clash between Carl Froch and Glen Johnson, which takes place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Froch is currently the WBC Super Middleweight ruler, and a unification bout is something Ward looks forward to. “I want that green belt,” said Ward, citing its historical relevance as the reason.

While Ward does not discount Johnson’s chances in the bout, he expects Froch to come out victorious and move into the finals. It is a fight that Ward eagerly anticipates, should it come to fruition. “He’s been calling for it,” said Ward of Froch. “We want to give the fans what they want. It is going to be an action-packed fight. It’ll be a live atmosphere like it was tonight.”

Chris Arreola (31-2, 27 KOs) of Riverside, California came in shape, but fought a risky fight en route to a third-round knockout over Nagy Aguilera (16-6, 11 KOs) of Newburgh, New York. Arreola, 234, landed a right hand that staggered Aguilera, 238, early in the first. With Aguilera in the ropes Arreola opened up, but left himself open to a right hand counter that looked good. But Arreola did not flinch and kept coming before rocking Aguilera again.

Arreola, the WBC #3/IBF #5/WBO #12/WBA #15 ranked heavyweight, worked over Aguilera again in the second, but the New Yorker remained game. Late in the second round Arreola went for the kayo, but ended up punching himself out. Aguilera took note of Arreola’s waning energy level and opened up himself to some success.

Arreola came out swinging and wobbled Aguilera with a right in the third. As the Riverside native unloaded a combination, referee Raul Caiz Jr. almost jumped in to stop the fight. However, Aguilera would fire a wild swing every time the stoppage looked eminent. When Arreola took a break and flurried again, Caiz decided Aguilera had taken enough. Right when Caiz leaped in, Aguilera fired a wild shot. While Aguilera was coherent and angry over the stoppage, Caiz made the right call. Time of the stoppage was 1:58 of round three.

Shawn Estrada (12-0, 11 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California did what he was supposed to in knocking out Joseph Gardner (7-3-1, 1 KO) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island early into round one. Estrada, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, was the much bigger man in the fight and it showed. Estrada, 174, landed a right hook, left hook combination to drop Gardner, 166, in the first round. The referee immediately waved off the bout at 1:27 of the first.

In Gardner’s two previous losses it took former world title challenger Elvin Ayala four full rounds to get a stoppage and prospect Vladine Biosse only managed a four-round decision. Given that information, Estrada’s performance looks pretty impressive on paper. However, much of the praise he would have received for outshining Gardner’s previous foes will not come due to the fact that Estrada, a middleweight as an Olympian, came in several pounds over the contracted weight on Friday. At the scales Estrada outweighed Gardner by eight pounds, a differential that was likely increased by first bell.

Goossen Tutor Promotions’ Javier Molina (6-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over durable Danny Figueroa (3-2, 2 KOs) of Hastings, Minnesota. Molina, 148, was clearly the more technically sound boxer and used those skills to outbox the determined Figueroa, 148. After four-rounds, Molina, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, had scored a shutout on all three cards, 40-36. Molina will get a quick turnaround with a fight already scheduled for May 27th at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. Molina is slated to take on David Lopez in a swing bout that may be his initial foray into the six-round scheduled distance.

Dominik Britsch (23-0, 8 KOs) of Neckarsulm, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany stopped Delray Raines (18-10-1, 13 KOs) of Paris, Arkansas in the fifth-round of a bout that was put together at the last possible minute. Britsch, who had his opponent switched several times in the last month, scored one knockdown each in the second thru fifth rounds. Most of them looked brutual enough to warrant the stoppage. The one that did it in the end was a right that sent the journeyman down in a heap. Referee Ray Balewicz had finally seen enough at 2:21 of the round.

Armen Ovsepyan (11-1, 9 KOs) knocked out Arturo Brambila (9-15, 4 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in the first round of a scheduled four-rounder. A two-punch combo started with the left dropped Brambila to the canvas and referee Raul Caiz Jr. opted not to begin a count. Time of the stoppage was 2:44 of the first.

Rising bantamweight prospect Matt Villanueva (6-0, 5 KOs) of Van Nuys, Caifornia overpowered young journeyman Frank Gutierrez (2-10-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California in an impressive first-round knockout. Gutierrez, 118, was game us usual, but also outgunned as usual. Villanueva, 117, went swing for swing with Gutierrez before placing a blow that looked to catch the Highland resident behind the head. However, the referee ruled it a knockdown. It was quickly downhill from there, as another right knocked Gutierrez down and out. Official time of the stoppage was 2:56 of the first.

Andrey Klimov (11-0, 6 KOs) of Van Nuys, California by way of Klimovsk, Moscow, Russia scored the most impressive win of his young career with a third-round knockout of former prospect Ty Barnett (18-2-1, 12 KOs) of Washington, DC. Klimov, 137, was in control of the fight from the outset before putting Barnett, 135, down and out in the night’s opening bout. Official time of the stoppage was 1:12 of the third round.

Bowie Tupou (21-1, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles by way of Nuku’alofa, Tonga battled back from some tough early rounds to stop former world ranked contender Manuel Quezada (29-7, 18 KOs) of Wasco, California in the final bout of the evening.

After a feeling out first round, Quezada, 233, turned up his aggression and took control of the fight in the second. Quezada stuck Tupou, 245, with a hard left early in the round. The shot put Tupou against the ropes and set him up for a clean right. The series put Tupou in clinch mode, which helped him get out of trouble.

After winning the third close, Quezada was got caught by a suddenly wild Tupou in the fourth. One flurry forces the Wasco native to the ropes, but Quezada managed to avoid Tupou’s fiercest bombs. After a shaky fourth, Quezada battled back in the fifth and got the better of some heated exchanges.

The fight then turned against Quezada in the sixth, as Tupou suddenly discovered his right hand. After some hard shots upstairs, Tupou landed a combo to Quezada’s body that had the former contender bending at the waist. Another right to Quezada’s body seemed to score a knockdown for Tupou, but it was waved off as a slip by referee Jerry Cantu.

Further illustrating the fact that Tupou had really scored a knockdown in the sixth, Quezada was quickly in trouble after the start of the seventh. With “El Toro” against the ropes, Tupou landed a clean left to his face that forced Quezada to his knees. Stunned with a bloody and perhaps broken nose, Quezada failed to get up off of his knees and was counted out. Official time of the knockout, the most significant win of Tupou’s career to this point, was 53 seconds of the seventh.

Photos by Stephanie Trapp/[email protected]

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].