Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham

Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham was a Super Middleweight championship fight for the WBA Middleweight championship. The bout was held on May 14, 2011, at Home Depot Center, in Carson, California and was televised on Showtime. In the co-featured non-televised portion of the card, heavyweight world contender Cristobal Arreola took on Nagy Aguilera of the Dominican Republic.

Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham

Date	May 14, 2011
Venue	Home Depot Center, Carson, California, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA super middleweight championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Andre Ward Arthur Abraham Nickname "S.O.G." "King Arthur" Hometown San Francisco, California, U.S. Berlin, Berlin, Germany Pre-fight record 23–0 (13 KO) 32–2 (26 KO) Age 27 years, 2 months 31 years, 2 months Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) Weight 168 lb (76 kg) 167 lb (76 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA Super Middleweight Champion The Ring No. 1 Ranked Super Middleweight WBA No. 3 Ranked Super Middleweight The Ring No. 8 Ranked Super Middleweight
Result
Ward defeated Abraham via unanimous decision.

Background

In his first match of the tournament Abraham faced Jermain Taylor in October 2009 at Berlin, Germany defeating him via knockout in the 12th round. He then lost his next fight by disqualification due to hitting Andre Dirrell while he was down in the 11th round. He then lost to Carl Froch for the vacant WBC Super-Middleweight title in his third fight of the tournament, losing by a shutout unanimous decision.

Ward defeated Mikkel Kessler on November 21, 2009 for his WBA Super Middleweight Championship in his first of the Super Six World Boxing Classic. After, Jermain Taylor announced his exit from the Tournament. Allan Green was selected as his replacement and challenged the WBA Super Middleweight champion. Ward defeated Green by a shutout unanimous decision on June 19, 2010.

Referee and Judges

The referee for the fight was Luis Pabon, and the judges were Stanley Christodoulou, Ingo Barrabas, and James Jen-Kin. Luis Pabon had previously been referee for the Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey fight in April 2011.

The fight

Ward started out slow with Abraham, trying to find a way to penetrate his tight defense. After a competitive first few rounds, Ward seized control of the fight, using his ring savvy and instincts to control Abraham. Although Abraham was somewhat passive at times, he gave an earnest effort and frequently threw combinations that were mostly blocked by Ward. Abraham hurt Ward a couple of times in the final round, but it wasn't enough to finish Ward, who won a lopsided unanimous decision.

Main card

Confirmed bouts:

• Super Middleweight Championship bout: Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham

Ward defeated Abraham via unanimous decision (120–108, 118–110, 118–111).

• Heavyweight bout: Chris Arreola vs. Nagy Aguilera

Arreola defeated Aguilera via technical knockout at 1:58 in the third round.

• Heavyweight bout: Manuel Quezada vs. Bowie Tupou

Tupou defeated Quezada via knockout at 0:53 in the seventh round.

Preliminary card

• Middleweight bout: Dominik Britsch vs. Ryan Davis

Britsch defeated Davis via technical knockout at 2:22 in the fifth round.

• Super Middleweight bout: Shawn Estrada vs. Byron Tyson

Estrada defeated Tyson via knockout in the first round.

• Light Middleweight bout: Javier Molina vs. Danny Figueroa

Molina defeated Figueroa via unanimous decision.

• Light Welterweight bout: Ty Barnett vs. Andrey Klimov

Klimov defeated Tyson via technical knockout at 1:12 in the third round.

• Super Flyweight bout: Matthew Villanueva vs. Frank Gutierrez

Villanueva defeated Gutierrez via technical knockout at 1:12 in the first round.

• Light Middleweight bout: Arman Ovsepyan vs. Arthur Brambila

Ovsepyan defeated Brambila via technical knockout at 2:44 in the first round.

International broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Australia	Main Event
Denmark	TV2
Germany	Das Erste
Hungary	Sport 2
Poland	Polsat Sport
Portugal	Sport TV
Romania	Digi Sport
United States	Showtime