source: Lem Satterfield | The Ring
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. RING No. 9-rated pound-for-pound fighter Andre Ward, of Oakland, Calif., weighed in at 168 pounds on Friday, half a pound heavier than Saturday night's opponent, Carl Froch, of England, in advance of their Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic final at Boardwalk Hall.
The 27-year-old Ward (24-0, 13 knockouts) was greeted by chants of "S.O.B" -- a play on the deeply religious fighter's "S.O.G." nickname, which stands for "Son Of God" -- from a hoard of British fans who packed into the Circus Maximus room at Caesar's Casino in support of the 34-year-old Froch (28-1, 20 KOs).
Ward's supporters were also on hand, one with a banner that read "Shut the Froch up!"
As THE RING's No. 1 and No. 2-rated fighters in their division, they will battle for THE RING's vacant super middleweight crown, as well as Ward putting his WBA title on the line and Froch risking his WBC belt.
JUDGES DON'T BOTHER PROMOTER DAN GOOSSEN
The fight will be refereed by Steve Smoger, who will officiate the 169th title bout of his 29-year career. The judges are Craig Metcalfe of Canada, John Keane of the United Kingdom, and John Stewart of Philadelphia.
Ward's promoter, Dan Goossen, said he has "zero" concerns about the judges, despite the fact that Ward-Froch comes in the wake of last week's controversial, split-decision upset by Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs), over heavily favored Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KOs), of England, that took place in Peterson's hometown of Washington, D.C.
"I have zero problem with the judges. Everyone is always looking for some type of stories of partiality," said Goossen. "But these guys are good, competant judges and I've got no doubt that they will score the fight as they see it."
UNBEATEN KELL BROOK, EDISON MIRANDA HIGHLIGHT FROCH-WARD UNDERCARD
Unbeaten British welterweight Kell "Special K" Brook (25-0, 17 KOs) weighed in at 148 pounds, half a pound more than counterpart Luis Galarza (18-2, 14 KOs), of Tennessee, whom he will meet in a 10-round bout on what is a stacked undercard for Froch-Ward.
Also on the card is Los Angeles-based heavyweight Bowie Tupou (21-1, 16 KOs) against Donnell Holmes (33-1-2, 29 KOs) of Ivanhoe, N.C. They weighed, 242, and, 226, respectively.
Puerto Rico-based Colombian Edison Miranda (34-6, 29 KOs) weighed half a pound more than Houston's Cornelius White (17-1-1, 15 KOs), coming in at 175-pounds compared to 174.5 for their light heavyweight bout.
New York-based junior middleweight Boyd Melson (6-0, 3 KOs) weighed 155.5, and his rival, Harrisburg, Pa.'s Daniel Lugo (9-1, 4 KOs), was 152.5. They will meet in a scheduled six-rounder.
An army reserve captain, Melson donates his earnings to teamfighttowalk.com and justadollarplease.org, organizations which raise money for America's first clinical trial using stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries.
New Jersey's John Lennox (7-1, 3 KOs) weighed in a 224.5, and will face Pennsylvania's Jeremiah Witherspoon (2-1, 1 KO), who was not present at the event. They will meet in a four-round heavyweight bout.
CALIFORNIA TO EXAMINE NEW METHODS FOR CONTROVERY-PREVENTION
Refree Pat Russell told RingTV.com on Friday that the California State Athletic Commision will begin probing new ways to address controversial endings to bouts like Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson, which Russell initially ruled a second-round TKO for Dawson before it was declared a "no decision" on Tuesday by the CSAC.
"There was a motion to the commission, and it was approved, that we are going to go forth and we are going to try to find a better way to deal with this exact situation when it comes up. So they're going to reach out to our California Boxing Officials Association, and to the chairman and to the committee on that association and we're going to try to find something else that is better," said Russell.
"We're going to look at every possibility. Everything is on the table -- instant replay, consulting with the ringside judges, consulting with chief inspector at ringside. Whatever we are going to come up with will be after we sit down at a table and try and craft something that will address this very issue. To the credit of the athletic commission, they want to do the right thing."
Hopkins, THE RING light heavyweight champion as well as the WBC beltholder, still is recovering from a left shoulder separation following his controversial fight with Dawson on Oct. 15, which was initially ruled to be a TKO for Dawson after Hopkins was shoved to the canvas and deemed unfit to continue by Russell.
On Tuesday, however, Russell's testimony helped to influence the CSAC to change Hopkins-Dawson to a no-decision. This followed the actions of the WBC, which soon after the fight had restored Hopkins as titleholder following a majority vote of board members who disagreed with Russell's call and ruled the fight a "technical draw."
Goossen, whose company is based in California, shared his thoughts on the CSAC's recent activities.
"I don't agree with changing outcomes of bouts days later, weeks later or months later ... what boxing needs to do is to do what the other major sports implement, especially football," said Goossen.
"They have instant replay on anything that could result in controvery. So if it was a knockdown, for instance, and the replay shows that it wasn't, then it should be rectified immediately. If you've got a low blow and the recipient of it is squirming on the groud looking to get a DQ on the person that caused the low blow, and the replays show that it wasn't, then there's no low blow. But to come back long after an event, that makes no sense."
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