Ward wins super middleweight title

Ward, left, won the light heavyweight gold medal for the United States at the 2004 Olympics [GALLO/GETTY]

Unbeaten Andre Ward captured the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament on Saturday with a unanimous decision over Britain’s Carl Froch at the Boardwalk Hall arena in Atlantic City.

The 27-year-old American dominated the 12-round super middleweight fight from the outset and his victory caps a marathon two-year, round-robin tournament designed to find the top 168-pound boxer.

With the victory, Ward retained his WBA title and won the WBC super middleweight belt as he won on all three judges’ scorecards, 118-110, 115-113 and 115-113.

Under control

“One of the strongest assets I have is my mind. I kept my composure, I kept things under control. And we pulled it off,” said Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) said.

“I hope I did a good job. But we can still get better, believe it or not.”

Froch, 34, has never backed away from a challenge and he came to fight on Saturday but Ward proved to be too smart and too fast for the Nottingham boxer.

UK boxing fans have been searching for a boxing hero ever since the retirement of champions Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. Just last week, rising star Amir Khan lost his super-welterweight title to Lamont Peterson.

Froch landed his best punches late in the fight, showing some spark beginning in the ninth round. He never came close to getting knocked out but was never a threat to take the fight by decision either.

“I wanted to put my shots together, but he moves around, and slips and slides. He’s very good at that,” Froch said.

“And that’s why it was a bad night for me.”

It was Ward’s biggest fight since winning an Olympic gold medal for the USA in 2004. Ward hasn’t lost an amateur or pro fight since the age of 14.

Their championship fight originally was scheduled for October 29 but it had to be postponed when Ward suffered a cut in a sparring session.