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.

“Right now, I’m dreaming,” Ward said after celebrating with his trainer, Virgil Hunter. “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.”

A crowd packed the lower bowl of Oracle Arena for Oakland’s first world title fight since 1967, and Ward didn’t disappoint.

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.”

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.”