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Ward Proves
Nothing With Shutout Win Over Brand
By Andrew LaPachet - FightNetRadio.com
Photo: Richard Lopez
Oracle Arena, Oakland Ca - Going into last night’s fight the
expectations were that the undefeated former undisputed
super middleweight champion Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KO’s) would
make easy work of journeyman Alexander Brand (25-2, 19
KO’s). Brand, a super middleweight moving up was listed at
5’10 1/2”, but looked much smaller than his 6’0” opponent.
Brand also had not been that active as of late, having only
4 fights in 3 years. He is short, heavy and slow, the
perfect opponent for a Pound for Pound fighter like Ward.
His opportunity to look invincible for his loyal hometown
crowd of 8,653 one last time before the plane flies to Las
Vegas for what will be the biggest fight of the 2016. All
Ward had to do was show up and perform.
Ward did just that with a shutout victory on all 3
scorecards. (120-108). The fight was never close or
competitive. Each round looked the same as the overmatched
Brand found it difficult to land punches throughout the
night. A total of 45 landed punches are what Compu-box
credited Brand with after the fight. Never touching Ward ten
times in one round. In three of the twelve rounds Compu-box
showed Brand landed less than three punches per round. As
for Ward, the story played out much differently. Landing 190
punches out of 490 total thrown. He landed at will and
looked flawless in almost every aspect of the fight except
for the fact that for the second fight in a row Andre’s
right hand has been a non factor.
In 2012, Ward had surgery on his right shoulder to repair a
tear. Reports indicated that the surgery was a success but
with little evidence as Ward would only fight two times from
September 2012 to March of this year. Both fights were
against limited opponents but Ward was given a pass simply
because of the situation he was in. Not only facing rehab
from surgery, Ward was in an ugly dispute with late promoter
Dan Goossen. It wasn’t until this year under new promotional
company Roc Nation that we have really had a chance to gauge
where Andre is at this point of his career. His first fight
in a new division was in March when he went up against
undefeated but also very inexperienced Sullivan Barrera.
During and after the fight many ringside observers felt Ward
had hurt his right hand. The question was asked but Ward
assured everybody the right hand was fine; we believed it
and moved on, again blaming inactivity.
The excuses have run out this time. In last night’s fight,
Ward not only tried beating Brand with one arm he also tried
switching to southpaw where he had little success. A few big
straight left hands landed but Brand also landed more
punches when Ward fought from the southpaw stance which made
the former champ rethink his game plan. Ward had huge lapses
during the early part of the fight where he didn’t throw a
right hand at all, a major flaw going into a fight against
the best right hand in the division. After the fight Ward
said it was his wife that asked that he switch back to
southpaw, but seeing how ineffective the right has been this
year makes one suspect it could be something else that is
making the Ward team rethink their approach. Was he trying
for fun or because he has no other option? That should be
the big question going into the November 19 fight with
Undisputed Light Heavyweight kingpin Sergey Kovalev.
From the outside looking in, Ward is either still fighting
with a hurt shoulder or taking poor advice outside of the
ring on how he approaches his new career, in a new division.
Whatever it is, the outcome will not be good against Kovalev
if he doesn’t figure it out soon. The rehab is over, in less
than four months Ward will be in the biggest fight of his
career. It is hard to imagine him coming out on top without
being 100%. Last night was supposed to be a showcase, but
when your hometown crowd boos at the end, it was anything
but that.
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