The most controversial bout of the weekend occurred in the United Kingdom this past weekend as Carl Froch (32-2, 23) retained both the IBF and WBA "super" Super Middleweight title with a 9th round stoppage of fellow Brit George Groves (19-1, 15). Although a stoppage it was one of those "British Stoppages" that has fans around the world screaming and shouting at their TV's.
The first round was a huge shock as Groves didn't just start well but dropped Froch, scoring just the second knock down against Froch in his 34 fight career. Unfortunately for Groves the clock ran out out of time before he could pounce on a still hurt champion.
Although Groves had failed to jump on Froch when he was hurt he did manage to continue his success through the first four rounds as he used his speed and movement to make Froch look like a somewhat clueless fighter. The right hand hands and jabs of Groves were the dominant factor through these early rounds as Froch was tagged almost at will by Groves.
As we got to round 5 however Froch began to come in to the fight, in fact it was in round 5 that Froch began to have his first real success landing his own right shots whilst Groves began to slow. Although Sky commentator Jim Watt was refusing to give credit to Groves the fight was beginning to turn around and Froch was beginning to have more success on a round by round basis.
Although Froch has a good round 5 Groves came back well in round 6, unfortunately however he was warned for leading with the head and was really not looking like the fighter who had won the first 4 rounds. This was shown in round 7 as Froch has ended the round with a big flurry.
The finish of round 7 by Froch seemed to continue in to round 8 as Froch arguably won his second round of the fight as he rocked Groves. Groves was still certainly in the round but was beginning to make mistakes and show his inexperience as Froch began, finally, to find his own rhythm.
In round 9 Froch had his best round as he hurt Groves then went for the kill. Groves fougfht back as the two men brawled and then, almost as if he was told when to step in, Howard Foster stopped the contest awarding the bout via 9th round TKO, to Froch. This stoppage came as both men traded.
Showing posts with label WBA Super Middleweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBA Super Middleweight. Show all posts
Saturday, 23 November 2013
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Carl Froch v Mikkel Kessler II
When we get a rematch of an excellent bout they rarely live up to the original though for Carl Froch (31-2, 22) his rematch with Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35) will have been sweeter than the original.
When the two men first met back in 2010 it was Kessler who came out on top in an enthralling brawl for the WBC Super Middleweight title. That loss was Froch's first as a professional and one that he seemed to genuinely resent having against his name. The rematch was his chance to avenge the loss and unify both the WBA and IBF titles and claim himself as one of the sports genuine stand out fighters.
The fight started as "round 1" as opposed to the expected round 13 and it was a slow paced affair with both men looking to use their jabs and straights. Through the round it was Froch who seemed more at ease with the style of the bout though there was little to separate them as they had a feeling out round.
After the slow opening round the bout did start to warm up with both men unloading more as the fight started to catch light. Kessler seemed, throughout the fight, to be the more cautious fighter throwing significantly less through he was also the most effective landing at a notably higher connect rate, despite this he couldn't keep Froch away as the English men was relentless.
Although Froch was much more active Kessler was doing enough to take a number of the rounds and keep the bout competitive, especially through the middle and later rounds though in round 12 Froch had a huge round and appeared to hurt the Dane with a flurry just before the bell that could have forced a stoppage had it come earlier in the fight.
Despite the fact the fighters are now 1-1 against each other I'd really doubt we'd be seeing a rubber bout between the two as Kessler has faded, notably, since their first bout whilst Froch has become a more confident and much better fighter. A third bout between the two would likely see Froch come out a clearer winner than he did here where the scorecards, although all in his favour, were close (especially the 115-113 card of Jean-Francois Toupin).
When the two men first met back in 2010 it was Kessler who came out on top in an enthralling brawl for the WBC Super Middleweight title. That loss was Froch's first as a professional and one that he seemed to genuinely resent having against his name. The rematch was his chance to avenge the loss and unify both the WBA and IBF titles and claim himself as one of the sports genuine stand out fighters.
The fight started as "round 1" as opposed to the expected round 13 and it was a slow paced affair with both men looking to use their jabs and straights. Through the round it was Froch who seemed more at ease with the style of the bout though there was little to separate them as they had a feeling out round.
After the slow opening round the bout did start to warm up with both men unloading more as the fight started to catch light. Kessler seemed, throughout the fight, to be the more cautious fighter throwing significantly less through he was also the most effective landing at a notably higher connect rate, despite this he couldn't keep Froch away as the English men was relentless.
Although Froch was much more active Kessler was doing enough to take a number of the rounds and keep the bout competitive, especially through the middle and later rounds though in round 12 Froch had a huge round and appeared to hurt the Dane with a flurry just before the bell that could have forced a stoppage had it come earlier in the fight.
Despite the fact the fighters are now 1-1 against each other I'd really doubt we'd be seeing a rubber bout between the two as Kessler has faded, notably, since their first bout whilst Froch has become a more confident and much better fighter. A third bout between the two would likely see Froch come out a clearer winner than he did here where the scorecards, although all in his favour, were close (especially the 115-113 card of Jean-Francois Toupin).
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Brian Magee v Mikkel Kessler
Sang in by Danish rock band Volbeat, Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35) successfully claimed the WBA Middleweight title as he stopped the brave but thoroughly outclassed Brian Magee (36-5-1, 25) thanks to sickening body shots that took the fight from Magee.
The opening round was relatively even with with neither man landing too much serious though Kessler did seem to just nick it with some solid shots late on. Although it was close Kessler was looking for Magee's body from the off often touching him with the jab and seemed to be working Magee out from the off.
The early jabs to the body turned into hurtful straights in the second round as Kessler settled against a somewhat nervous looking Magee, who did land a left hand early in the round. The straights to the body were effective as soon as they landed and Magee went down early in the round with a genuinely nasty shot. Magee did manage to get back up from the first knockdown though Kessler continued to attack the body and hurt Magee numerous times in the round with shots to the same area. It was another body shot at the end of the round that again saw Magee hurt with the Northern Irish man turning his back on the Dane and then going down.
Kessler wasn't wanting to waste time and inside 20 seconds of the third round he again dropped Magee with a body shot before the referee called a halt to the proceedings with Magee still on the canvas.
Although Magee did get up from the first two, it was clear that he never really recovered from the first body shot and although he showed guts (literally) to continue he was never able to give Kessler any questions at all to answer.
It's likely that this will be the end for Magee who has had a very under-rated career, though for Kessler we're hoping the future includes a rematch with Carl Froch in what could easily be one of the stand out fights of 2013 and a WBA-IBF unification bout.
The opening round was relatively even with with neither man landing too much serious though Kessler did seem to just nick it with some solid shots late on. Although it was close Kessler was looking for Magee's body from the off often touching him with the jab and seemed to be working Magee out from the off.
The early jabs to the body turned into hurtful straights in the second round as Kessler settled against a somewhat nervous looking Magee, who did land a left hand early in the round. The straights to the body were effective as soon as they landed and Magee went down early in the round with a genuinely nasty shot. Magee did manage to get back up from the first knockdown though Kessler continued to attack the body and hurt Magee numerous times in the round with shots to the same area. It was another body shot at the end of the round that again saw Magee hurt with the Northern Irish man turning his back on the Dane and then going down.
Kessler wasn't wanting to waste time and inside 20 seconds of the third round he again dropped Magee with a body shot before the referee called a halt to the proceedings with Magee still on the canvas.
Although Magee did get up from the first two, it was clear that he never really recovered from the first body shot and although he showed guts (literally) to continue he was never able to give Kessler any questions at all to answer.
It's likely that this will be the end for Magee who has had a very under-rated career, though for Kessler we're hoping the future includes a rematch with Carl Froch in what could easily be one of the stand out fights of 2013 and a WBA-IBF unification bout.
Saturday, 8 September 2012
Andre Ward v Chad Dawson
Often in this sport we are happy to predict that when 2 relatively boring fighters face off, we will end up with a boring fight. Predictions however can be wrong and that's exactly what we saw as Andre Ward (26-0, 14) defended his WBA "super" and WBC "regular" Super Middleweight titles against Chad Dawson (31-2-0-1, 17) in a relatively entertaining bout.
The bout started in the expected manner with neither fighter really doing much at all. To be fair the first 3 rounds were unmemorable with more holding and posing than actual punching. If anything Dawson was perhaps in a slender lead having landed a number of eye catching right hooks in round 2. It wouldn't take long however for Andre Ward's class to pay off.
In round 3 the bout came alive with Andre Ward finding a home for his fast left hook and surprisingly he dropped Dawson with a beautiful single shot. After dropping Dawson, Ward seemed to put his foot on the gas and really started to let his hands go at the end of the round with his left hook tagging Dawson's head time and time again. The following round Ward really turned the screw not only dropping Dawson again but going all out for the stoppage and buckling the legs of Dawson again.
The 2 knockdowns seemed to effectively kill off Dawson's hopes and Ward began to really impose his will on the bout as Dawson struggled to land anything of note. Despite having a reach advantage Dawson was unable to do anything with his jab, his hook's were being neutralised and Dawson was effectively shut down.
After a number of slower rounds Ward again turned up the heat in round 8 as the two men fought up close with Ward ripping a number of hard and clean uppercuts to Dawson's chin. Whilst the two men clashed heads on a number of occasions it was the clean punches that Ward was landing landing that were really catching the eye.
By the start of round 10 Ward really was just beating Dawson up. Dawson was doing very little as Ward did as he pleased landing every shot in the book. Ward just continued to beat up Dawson through out the 10th round and wobbled Dawson before the challenger took a knee. Despite recovering to his feet Dawson looked like he didn't want to continue and Steve Smoger waved the bout off.
This performance really did show how good Ward can be on both the defense and offense. Not only did the "Son Of God" shut down Dawson's offense but he also became the first man to stop Dawson. Sadly however we do need to remember that Dawson was "dragged down" from Light Heavyweight for this bout and as a result he may have been feeling the effects of making the lower weight. The performance was brilliant but it could be considered tainted.
For Dawson, he may write his loss off as a loss at a lower weight however he was simply dominated. He may well return to 175 but I dare say he'll never be the fighter he once was, his confidence will be bust by this loss, he was out sped, out muscled and dropped repeatedly before being forced to quit. It may be a long road back for Dawson mentally.
The bout started in the expected manner with neither fighter really doing much at all. To be fair the first 3 rounds were unmemorable with more holding and posing than actual punching. If anything Dawson was perhaps in a slender lead having landed a number of eye catching right hooks in round 2. It wouldn't take long however for Andre Ward's class to pay off.
In round 3 the bout came alive with Andre Ward finding a home for his fast left hook and surprisingly he dropped Dawson with a beautiful single shot. After dropping Dawson, Ward seemed to put his foot on the gas and really started to let his hands go at the end of the round with his left hook tagging Dawson's head time and time again. The following round Ward really turned the screw not only dropping Dawson again but going all out for the stoppage and buckling the legs of Dawson again.
The 2 knockdowns seemed to effectively kill off Dawson's hopes and Ward began to really impose his will on the bout as Dawson struggled to land anything of note. Despite having a reach advantage Dawson was unable to do anything with his jab, his hook's were being neutralised and Dawson was effectively shut down.
After a number of slower rounds Ward again turned up the heat in round 8 as the two men fought up close with Ward ripping a number of hard and clean uppercuts to Dawson's chin. Whilst the two men clashed heads on a number of occasions it was the clean punches that Ward was landing landing that were really catching the eye.
By the start of round 10 Ward really was just beating Dawson up. Dawson was doing very little as Ward did as he pleased landing every shot in the book. Ward just continued to beat up Dawson through out the 10th round and wobbled Dawson before the challenger took a knee. Despite recovering to his feet Dawson looked like he didn't want to continue and Steve Smoger waved the bout off.
This performance really did show how good Ward can be on both the defense and offense. Not only did the "Son Of God" shut down Dawson's offense but he also became the first man to stop Dawson. Sadly however we do need to remember that Dawson was "dragged down" from Light Heavyweight for this bout and as a result he may have been feeling the effects of making the lower weight. The performance was brilliant but it could be considered tainted.
For Dawson, he may write his loss off as a loss at a lower weight however he was simply dominated. He may well return to 175 but I dare say he'll never be the fighter he once was, his confidence will be bust by this loss, he was out sped, out muscled and dropped repeatedly before being forced to quit. It may be a long road back for Dawson mentally.
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