WARD SURVIVES BIKA TO ONCE AGAIN DEFEND WORLD TITLE AT HOME
Super Six World Boxing Classic Semifinals Set With Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch vs. Glen Johnson
Replay of Saturday’s Telecast Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHO2
OAKLAND, Calif., (Nov. 27, 2010)–Andre “S.O.G.” Ward out-brawled and out-battled a rough and tumble and otherwise worthy opponent in Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika on Saturday night, winning a unanimous 12-round decision to defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Middleweight championship belt in front of his enthusiastic hometown fans at the
Oracle Arena and on SHOWTIME.
Earlier in the day, Ward’s Super Six World Boxing Classic opponent was learned as he will next face Arthur Abraham in the Tournament Semifinals. One of the pre-tournament favorites going into the Tournament, Abraham lost a 12-round unanimous decision against Carl Froch in Helsinki, Finland, also on SHOWTIME. Froch will take on Glen Johnson in the other Tournament Semifinal.
The tournament’s top-seeded Ward won on all three judges’ scorecards, 118-110 twice and 120-108. SHOWTIME commentator Al Bernstein actually saw the fight closer giving Ward the victory by a four-point margin. “Bika proved to be a tough out,” Bernstein said. “This just shows another side of Andre Ward. He’s a chameleon and can beat you in so many
different ways.”
SHOWTIME play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson called Ward’s second defense of his world title a “dirty and nasty war” the likes of which Ward had not seen before in his career. Ward remains undefeated at 23-0 (13 KOs). Bika falls to 28-5-2 (19 KOs).
“I did what I had to do,” Ward said. “I’ll have to watch the tape to see what I did wrong and to see what I did right. I’m hard on myself. I don’t think I fought a good fight tonight. But we got the win and I’m proud of that.”
He added: “Bika’s and my styles clashed. There were head butts and elbows, but we found a way to win.”
The 31-year-old Bika couldn’t find an answer to Ward’s left jab all night and was never able to really hurt Ward, 27, with his big right hand. Ward did suffer cuts under both of his eyes and said after the fight that each one of his cuts was due to a head butt or an elbow.
Referee Dan Stell kept busy all night, coming between the fighters and repeatedly warning them. Bika fell to the canvas in the fourth but Stell ruled it a slip after the two got tangled.
After the fight, Ward called Bika a “tough and rugged fighter” and added, “It’s not how you win but if you win.”
Bika was just thankful for the opportunity and called Ward a great boxer and champion. “I can’t complain,” he said. “We both fought a great fight. I gave everything I had. He’s a great champion. I’m just thankful he gave me the opportunity.”
The standings after the Group Stages are as follows:
FINAL GROUP STAGE SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC SCOREBOARD
Record Fighter Points
3-0 Andre Ward 6
2-1 Carl Froch 4
1-0, 1 KO Glen Johnson* 3
1-2, 1 KO Arthur Abraham 3
* Johnson wins tiebreaker based on total judges’ scorecard points.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
It’s time for Andre to take the next logical step and challenge for one of the 175lb title belts. He has mopped up the super middleweight division and it’s time for him to move on to bigger things. I have great confidence that his uncanny skill set will carry him to victory vs any of the current 175lb belt holders – Kovalev, Stevenson, or Braehmer – and look good doing it.