Tag: WBA

Andre Ward knocked out Sergey Kovalev via TKO 129 seconds into the eighth round of their legendary rematch. It was June 17, 2017, in the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, before 10,592 fans and distributed live by HBO. Andre Ward is a two-division world champion. He is the reigning unified WBA, WBO, IBF and RING Magazine Light Heavyweight World Champion, the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and the best pound for pound fighter in the world. His fans love him.

This fight, Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev, felt like the Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries fight of July 4, 1910, between world heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson and undefeated, coming out of retirement heavyweight contender, James J. Jeffries. Both fights were billed as the “Fight of the Century.” Both occurred during a time of hostility and escalating racial tensions between Afrikan people and people of European descent – and in a U.S. known for its Jim Crow laws and the rise of the KKK.

Dominican-born Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (24-0-16 KOs) needs his mouth washed out with soap for making an obviously inflammatory, untrue, publicity stunt claim that Andre “SOG” Ward (26-0-14 KOs) is “definitely a dirty fighter.” Later, Rodriguez was quoted as having said: “I’m trying to be in a clean sport. I don’t believe he’s (Andre Ward) dirty at all. I think he’s a great fighter ….”

When Andre Ward stood on the ropes and raised his arms in victory after demolishing Chad Dawson, I was reminded of a similar scene when a young Cassius Clay stood next to the ropes with a raised fist after demolishing “Big Bear” Sonny Liston, and said: “I shook up the world. I’m the greatest.” Both tend to beat their opponents psychologically before they get into the ring.

On fight night, Nov. 27, World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre “Son of God” Ward defended that title for the third time by fighting a grueling and aggressive war against the very dangerous, power punching Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika and coming out the victor in a 12-round unanimous decision fight.