Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KOs) advanced to the finals of the Super Six 168-pound tournament with a dominant unanimous-decision victory over Arthur Abraham (32-3, 26 KOs).
Abraham vowed to come to fight and he lived up to his word in the first round as he deviated from his usual passive, “wait and see” high-guard style and stalked Ward, throwing punches with bad intent.
It took Ward about a round to adjust to this unexpected change in style from the Armenian-born German former middleweight titlist. But once the Olympic gold medalist found his rhythm, he began to systematically break Abraham down.
From the fourth round on, Ward peppered Abraham from the outside, wearing down his opponent with hard jabs to the head and body, plus shots upstairs that got through and around Abraham’s high-guard defense.
Abraham attempted to land big shots on several occasions, but Ward played defense well, moving fluidly and, on occasion, smothering any potential big punches.
The judges’ scorecards reflected the one-sided nature of the contest with scores of 120-108, 118-110, and 118-111. The Boxing Tribune scored the fight 119-109, also in favor of Ward.
Ward, a native of Oakland, Calif., now advances to meet the winner of the June 4 Carl Froch-Glen Johnson contest.
On the non-televised undercard, a hard-charging and relatively svelte Chris Arreola (31-2, 27 KOs) took out Nagy Aguilera (16-6, 11 KOs) in three rounds.
Aguilera attempted to box Arreola, who weighed in at 234 pounds, but found himself trapped on the ropes on more than a few occasions.
The end came in the third, when a sustained barrage from Arreola with Aguilera pinned against the ropes convinced the referee to wave off the contest. The decision could be classified as a bit premature, but Arreola was in full control at the time of the stoppage.
