Froch v Ward: Round by Round. Plus Brook Galarza
By Cain Bradley
Hello all and after my poor attempt to stay awake for the Khan fight last week (A fight I scored 114-112 to Peterson) I have promised myself I will manage the Froch fight. I’m given tonight the catchy headline ‘The Brits are coming’ with both Kell Brook and Carl Froch being big attractions. For Carl Froch he hopes this is the accumulation of all his efforts over his career and a key element in his legacy. For Kell Brook it is just the beginning of a career that looks destined for super stardom.
I have missed the first fight of the night which involved Cornelius White and was apparently a very good one. The next fight is the American debut of Sheffield star Kell Brook. Kell Brook has shown his class with wins over Michael Jennings, Lovemore N’Dou and Rafal Jackiewicz. He is taking on Puerto Rican Luiz Galarza. Galarza has only fought twice since 2009, winning against two guys with a combined 24 losses when taken on Galarza. Galarza is taking a huge step up in class and I can see Brook showing his class stopping Galarza within three rounds. Johnny Nelson in the studio believes Kell Brook will thrive on this atmosphere.
Kell Brook V Rican Luiz Galarza
Round 1: Slow start from Brook just some countering in the first minute while he feels out Galarza. Brook hasn’t been his usual dominant self but its early and Brook did seem to come into the round as it went on. Brook ends the round with a big jab that sends Galarza sprawling all over the place on the bell. Galarza would have been gone if Brook had 10 seconds longer.
Round 2: The last 20 seconds of the first round must give Brook confidence heading into the second round. Galarza is not just here to pick up a pay check though he fought back with some of his own shots and is still throwing. Brook has the movement to just avoid the majority of his punches. Once again Brook ends the round strong just landing lots of clean shots.
Round 3: Cut under the right eye for Galarza. Brook is really showing how good he is albeit against a fairly lacklustre opponent. Huge right hand halfway through the round which seems to hurt Galarza. How has Galarza stayed up? Brook hits Galarza with some brilliant shots during the middle of the round but Galarza somehow stays on his feet. That right hand was just shown on the replay and it was huge. Could score the round a 10-8 but I don’t think we will need the judges anyway.
Round 4: The referee has visited Galarza’s corner and has told him if there is another round that dominant the fight will be stopped. Another right hand lands at the minute mark for Brook, he is beginning to land it consistently. Left hook to the body seemed to hurt Galarza but as ever he stays up.
Round 5: Galarza is still coming out fighting, quite impressive from him. Brook starts to real land at about the halfway mark and the ref jumps in. The final punch was the right hand that Kell Brook was landing all night. The stoppage was probably a good one, Galarza was still willing to fight but had no real fight and was taking vicious shots from Kell Brook.
Brook 10 10 10 10
Galarza 9 9 9 9
Kell Brook was very impressive although you have to look at the level of opponent before you describe it as ‘punch perfect’ like Jim Watt did. Mike Jones, Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi are all opponents Kell Brook should be looking to next. All would provide Kell Brook with a world ranked opponent who would be a good test. Promoter Eddie Hearn says its ’100% he will definitely fight for a world title in 2012′.
Carl Froch v Andre Ward
Up now is the one we’ve been waiting for Carl Froch v Andre Ward. I wonder how many people picked this for the final when the Super Six was announced. I certainly didn’t, I picked Carl Froch mainly out of patriotism to be fighting Arthur Abraham. Andre Ward has been both the stand out and breakthrough fighter of the Super Six Series. His first fight was a dominant performance against tournament favourite Mikkel Kessler. He would win a wide technical decision with wins of four rounds by one judge and six by the other two. Since then he won his other two group stage fights and a semi final fight. He won all three by a wide unanimous decision beating Allan Green, Sakio Bika and Arthur Abraham.
Ward cannot boast the world level experience that Carl Froch can. His last six fights have been ranked opposition and each has been a brilliant fight. It started off with Jean Pascal who Froch would go to war with and emerge with a decision win. Next up would be Jermain Taylor who he would stop in the last round despite being behind on the cards. Next up would be Andre Dirrell in the Super Six who he would edge on a decision. In the next fight he would take on Mikkel Kessler and lose a close decision before dominating Arthur Abraham to qualify to the semi finals. In the semis he was unimpressive but did enough against Glen Johnson.
Tonight I think the key is how the fight is played out. Ward will be looking to box smart because as we all know ‘speed kills’ and Ward has plenty of speed. Froch will be looking to get into a brawl with Ward. Froch is known for his iron chin and hard hitting. If Froch gets into a brawl I believe he has the power to stop Ward. The advice from the Sky sports team to Froch is ‘you gotta go get him.’. My last minute prediction is Ward wins a pretty easy unanimous decision although my heart says Froch will stop him in the 7th round.
As we saw last week the referee can be key in a fight and the referee for tonight is Steve Smoger a very experienced referee. He is known for letting fighters fight and not getting involved which is probably more advantageous for Froch.
Round 1: I’m getting that big fight feeling. And it beings. Froch starts with his usual left hand down backing Ward into the corner. We get out first taste of Smoger letting them fight when he doesn’t call break and Ward hits him with a left hook. Not a huge amount of action in the first two minutes. Ward on the counter seems to have won the first round.
Round 2: Carl seems to be more used to the referee in the first thirty seconds as he works while they are holding. Ward speed is a clear advantage and he gets the better of the first half of a round. Froch is being taken apart on the counter with Ward waiting for him to punch and moving so only he can land. Froch comes more into the round at the end of it with some decent body shots.
Round 3: Carl starts the round better but Ward is so quick that he can generally hit Carl whenever he throws. His speed is still the defining factor so far with Ward countering beautifully.
Round 4: Carl is known for starting slow occasionally but he needs to star getting into his. Early left hooks from Ward troubling Froch. Ward seems to be getting the better of every single exchange. Worrying signs for Carl. Good fourth round the ref is letting the two work up against the ropes. Ward is really pushing the action up against the ropes. Best round of the fight.
Round 5: Good left hook which seems to catch Froch clean after about 15 seconds. Good exchange for Ward with good work to the body. Have to agree with commentators who think Froch needs to win a round or land a big shot. Froch pushes Ward backward for probably the first time in the fight. Ok my virgin box picks a weird time to freeze. Froch seems to control the last bit of the round so assuming nothing significant happened during the freeze the round goes to Froch, just!
Round 6: Froch doesn’t seem to work enough when the ref doesn’t call break. Froch seems to be looking for big shots throwing an overhand right a minute into the round. Ward is in charge of the rest of the round, pushing Froch up against the ropes just like the fourth round.
Round 7: Carl Froch seems very willing to go to war at the round of round seven. Ward is just using his speed to connect with Froch and he lands a nice right early. Froch is oddly looking quite tired something I didn’t really expect. Ward is dominant.
Round 8: Froch needs to win all rounds as far as I’m concerned just to get a draw unless he gets a knock down. Jim Watt has the same score as me at this point also giving Froch the 5th. He doesn’t look like winning this round either though unfortunately. Ward is just picking him apart. Froch really needs to get going as soon as possible.
Round 9: Go on Carl! Mix it up. Ward is just dominant marching Froch down at the start of the round. Froch is trying to go to war but Ward just makes him miss and comes back with his own punches.
Round 10: Only three rounds left for Froch to make an impact. Ward’s ability to make Froch miss and land his own punches is really impressive. Froch just cannot get Ward to engage into a war.
Round 11: Froch is looking to chase Ward around the ring now. Froch is definitely looking for a knockout similar to the Jermain Taylor fight. Ward is clever enough to avoid the heavy hands and not risk a knockout.
Round 12: 1-2 left hook right hand is the instructions from the Froch corner. 3 minutes for Froch to keep his title. Froch is chasing Ward, how much does Carl wish 15 round fights still existed. Or 20 because I’m sure Carl would keep going. Carl should be proud tonight, Andre Ward just looks an amazing fighter. Ward is still landing with the straight right then backing Carl onto the ropes. 20 seconds. Ward just avoids Froch’s punches and he must be the champion. Jim Watt scores the fights 117-112 to Andre Ward.
Froch: 9 9 9 9 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 9| 110
Ward: 10 10 10 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 10| 118
Result: With scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 118-110 the winner of the Super Six World Boxing Classic is Andre Ward.
How good was Andre Ward? Incredible. He is the real deal and I think this win puts Andre Ward into the 4th spot in my pound 4 pound list. Ward will be looking at either Lucian Bute or Andre Dirrell next to complete his resume at 168 pounds. Lucian Bute has to be the perfect fight for Ward, he will outclass the Romanian with ease. Dirrell I think would be the harder fight as they share similar tools with Dirrell probably being the only man of similar pace and difficulty to hit. I would be surprised if Carl Froch doesn’t fight a big name, I think he will try to avenge his defeat to Mikkel Kessler next.
