Andre Ward Oakland Bay Area fighter is he the latest Golden Boy?
By Sal V – Liverpuncher.com. While on my way to Oakland for Andre
Ward (21-0 13 KO) vs. Mikkel Kessler (42-2), I was thinking would the
people come out and represent bay area boxing? We had lots of sporting
events going on around the bay this weekend including the San Jose
Sharks, a Raiders home game, and not to mention BIG GAME football weekend with
CAL vs. Stanford.
Well, all that questioning would be ...read on for more..
put to rest that night when over 10,000+ fans filled the arena with little room to spare. There were Kessler fans representing with their Viking hats and flags turning it into a world cup atmosphere in the crowd while the vast majority were from the Bay. Chants of "USA" "S.O.G" and "Lets go Oakland" rang throughout the arena. Ward would not disappoint them by putting on a dominating performance over ex World Champion Kessler who flew over 5,000 miles to defend his title.
This was not your typical boxing match in the bay area, it felt like a big fight in Vegas. It had been over 40 plus years a title match featuring a hometown hero would take place in Oakland. The former Olympic Gold Medalist worked his jab and body punching early using his cobra like attack on the champion. Despite many experts picking Kessler to win Saturday night, Ward would not be denied.
“I just felt it was my time,” he said, “I wasn’t intimidated with Kesslers record.”
All the hard work over many years in the making paid off as the bay area and the USA had its newest World Champion. The 168lb division dominated mostly by European champions now had a US champ in its ranks. As one could imagine, the crowd went wild when Wards name was announced as the New world champ.
One could argue this has been the most dominating performance in the tournament thus far. Yes, there were headbutts in the match but the speed puzzled Kessler from the opening bell of round one. The Dane looked to setup the powerful right hand that never came, instead winging wild shots hoping to land in the later rounds.
This was not just great for Oakland, or for the Super Six, it was great for the entire sport.
In a city where the weekly newscast is filled with stories of crime or shootings, out comes Andre Ward. The city now has something to cheer about. A story of a young man who goes off to win a gold medal for his country and follows his dream to win a world championship. He’s boxings latest Golden Boy.
There were many who criticized his team early on for the pace to grab his world title at age 25. Younger fighters in recent years have taken the faster path to a title only to find their careers over by the time they reach their mid-late 20’s. Young guns like Jermain Taylor, David Reid and Fernando Vargas all had their time at the top, but that time was short lived. Ward may be able to find a way to make it last longer. The valuable experience in the amateurs together with a measured approach in the pro ranks may pay dividends for years to come as many are now beginning to take notice.
Time will tell if Ward reaches the accolades of Golden Boys of the past. He’s well spoken and gives us flashbacks of another more famous Golden Boy. For the time being more people are taking a closer look at this young champion from the Bay as he continues to impress and make new fans here and around the world with his performance.
i think ward has been underestimated for a long time. they said he was taking too long to fight top guys, but this guy has something other fighters didn't have, and thats CHARACTER.
there is a big difference between being a character, and having character. Andre Ward Has Character.
GOOD FIGHTER. WHEN HE FIGHTS THE PAUL WILLIAMS. PAVLICS, WINKEY WRIGHTS THEN WE CAN SEE IF HE HAS GOLDEN BOY SKILL. DOES NOT MAKE GOLDEN BOY MONEY. OSCAR WAS CALLED THE GOLDEN BOY BECAUSE OF THE NUMBES HE COULD GENEREATE.
In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, Sadaf Rahimi, an Afghan woman boxer, practices at a boxing club in Kabul, Afghanistan. As one of the first women to ever box in the Olympics, besides going after a medal in the boxing ring at the London Olympics, Sadaf Rahimi will be taking a few punches in the fight for equal rights for Afghan women.
