Von Katherine Dunn, der wohl objektivste Bericht zum Ward-Kampf:
Andre Ward, 160 lbs, (Now 7-0, 4 KO’s) of Oakland, CA
was the sole U.S. Olympic Gold Medallist in 2004 and
he’s a smooth stylist. Ward had it pretty easy over 6
rounds VS Darnell Boone, 158 1/2 lbs, (6-2-1, 3 KO’s) of
Youngstown, OH. The crude but sturdy Boone was
outclassed but never down-hearted in this little
affair. Ward lost the crowd when he started show
boating. He spent rounds 2 through 4 dancing at the
end of a lazy jab as Boone surged after him without
results. Boone’s nose was bleeding in the third but
his moment arrived in the fourth when he briefly
trapped the lackadaisical Ward on the ropes and landed
a 1-2 combo to the face that dropped the Olympian on
his butt. Ward got up fast and unhurt but this kink in
the plot delighted the crowd, inspired Boone and got
Ward’s attention. In the fifth Boone was warned for
holding. The sixth had Ward reverting to his long
distance style with Boone pursuing. The unanimous
decision win for Ward was deserved and no surprise,
but the crowd booed lustily any how-- An aesthetic
reaction to Ward’s cool disengagement and an
endorsement of Boone’s more visible commitment. The
judges called it 59-55, 58-56, and 57-56, all for
Ward.
The press rows reacted to two of the judges scoring
the knockdown round only 10-9 for Boone. Judge Andy
Dinger called it a 10-8 round for Boone. Judges Denis
Ryan and Robert Flamme called it a 10-9 round. Ryan
defended his scoring afterwards with good humor and a
logical argument. Though many of us are accustomed to
the idea that a knockdown is an automatic 10-8 score,
says Ryan, in fact it should be viewed as a point
deduction. "Andre Ward was winning the rest of the
round extremely decisively," explained Ryan. And Boone
"failed to score much after the knockdown. The
knockdown was worth two points but not three points,"
says Ryan. Since Boone was losing the round, two
points gave him the round. A 10-8 score would have
given Boone 3 points for the knockdown.
Ward’s purse for this performance was $20,000. Boone’s
was $4,000.