Mikkel Kessler?s withdrawal this week from Showtime?s Super Six tournament might be good news for Andre Ward, who leads the super-middleweight event.
Kessler cited an eye injury that predates the tournament for his withdrawal from his Sept. 25 tournament date with Allan Green and, hence, the tournament itself.
Ward (22-0, 13 knockouts) has been tentatively scheduled to fight Sept. 25 against Andre Dirrell, but the fighters? promoters have been unable to agree on the particulars for a bout between two friends who aren?t eager to engage anyway.
Ward doesn?t need the Super Six anymore. It already has propelled him to near-superstar status, and the tournament obligations are becoming more of a hindrance than a help to his progress.
Ward?s victory over Kessler last November in Oakland was the one Super Six fight that truly skewed the order in the 168-pound division. Ward and Dirrell, 2004 Olympics teammates, had been viewed as too inexperienced to seriously challenge in an elite super-middleweight field, but Ward?s victory over tournament favorite Kessler changed that.
Dirrell?s victory in March over Arthur Abraham, then the tournament leader, also changed the pecking order somewhat. So, to some extent, did Dirrell?s opening split-decision loss to Carl Froch in England, where many of us feel Dirrell was robbed.
That fight tainted the tournament somewhat, but the withdrawals of Jermain Taylor (replaced by Green) and now Kessler have spoiled it more. It seems impossible to carry out the format unless the Oct. 2 Froch-Abraham fight and Ward-Dirrell are deemed semifinals, with Green left out.
Froch isn?t the only participant to benefit from fighting at home. The home fighter has won every bout, including Ward, with his two victories in Oakland.
The hometown factor has been the chief impediment to negotiations between Ward promoter Dan Goossen. Goossen indicated to me Thursday that talks are ongoing on all fronts and nothing has been resolved. Goossen has been maintaining that Oakland would be the most profitable venue for all concerned, regardless of the hometown factor. Shaw, naturally, would like to see Michigan native Dirrell fight in Detroit, where he defeated Abraham.
Frankly, within the parameters of a tournament, it isn?t fair to stage all of Ward?s fights in Oakland. But outside the tournament framework, the marketplace would rule, and no one could complain about Goossen?s leverage for staging every bout in Oakland if Ward continues to draw fans here.
That having been said, Ward still is viewed by some as an overly coddled fighter. Before his victories in the past 15 months over Green, Kessler and Edison Miranda, he was viewed by those skeptics as severely overrated. Even now his image would benefit from going into Nottingham or Berlin and thrashing Froch or Abraham on his own turf.
But now Ward?s image would benefit all the more from beating the one prize 168-pounder who didn?t deign to join the Super Six ? Lucian Bute ? or by moving up to 175 pounds to fight Chad Dawson or even the man who just dethroned Dawson as light-heavyweight kingpin, Jean Pascal.
So let?s just declare Ward the Super Six champion and move on.
