In a rough and tumble battle, full of clinches and inside brawling, Andre Ward defeated Sakio Bika by unanimous decision on Saturday night. “S.O.G.” Ward stayed undefeated with the wide points victory and kept his WBA super-middleweight title belt. The numbers were 120-108, 118-110, and 118-110, but the fight was closer than the scorecards reveal.

From round one Sakio Bika came after Andre Ward, rushing in and trying to outwork the champion on the inside. Both men exchanged savage jabs with Bika’s landing more than expected. Ward wanted to control the pace of this fight, countering when necessary and staying on the outside. But Sakio made that impossible as he continually mauled the champion, taking the fight in close. It was a rough affair and it was marked by constant unintentional headbutts that opened up both mens’ brow and left Bika once on the canvas when their feet got tangled.The final numbers showed that Andre threw more punches and landed more punches but he probably took more punishment from Bika than anyone he’s faced. He barely scraped by in some rounds, but that’s all it takes, and “Son of God” came out victorious in the end.

The fight took place at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California which is pretty much Ward’s backyard. There are several critics believe that half of Andre’s success comes just from having home field advantage so often. It seems likely that his next fight in the super-six tournament will be out of his pocket, and it may be his undoing. Ward moves to a record of 23-0 with 13 knockouts to his name. His last six fights have all taken place in California, with five of them being wide points decisions in his favor including wins over Mikkel Kessler to secure his WBA belt last year, and Allan Green in June.

As for Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika, he again falls on the wrong end of a decision he didn’t agree with. In his last bout, against unbeaten Jean Paul Mendy, he was dominating Mendy in the first round but was disqualified for hitting Mendy while he was down. It was a questionable call at the time, but this loss to Ward was probably the right call by the judges. Still, Bika showed himself to be a better competitor arguably than other super-six fighter Allan Green, Jermain Taylor, and Andre Dirrell. He falls to 28-5-2, with 19 KO wins.

Related posts:

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2. Ward must keep his cool if he is to defeat Bika
3. Andre Ward-Allan Green the super six preview
4. Andre Ward-Allan Green rescheduled for June