World class. Forget that, call it out of this world.
There are no other words for it. Tommy Ward did not just beat Jesse Hernandez, in their World Boxing Organisation super-bantamweight eliminator, he took him apart with an incredible performance in Kansas.
The Co Durham boxer displayed every ounce of his full range of skills to clinch as one-sided a points win as you will witness to get ever close to that world title shot.
Ward won by the proverbial country mile on all three scorecards in the bout shown live on BoxNation in Britain and Showtime in North America, Mike Contreras scoring it 98-90, Karen Holderfield 99-90 and David Sutherland a 100-89 shut-out. He even got a handsome prize at the end of it, the vacant NABA-USA super-bantamweight belt.
Hernandez, who went into this UK-USA confrontation in great nick and rated in the top 15 with three of the four leading sanctioning bodies, tried as hard as he could, but he could not get near this 24-year-old craftsman.
It had looked something of a gamble for Ward, trainer Neil Fannan and manager Dave Garside, given Tommy was boxing the Texan on American soil and had never fought south of Sheffield before, let alone 4,000 miles away.
But after 45 amazing minutes, we were left in no doubt. This was no gamble and this brilliant Hartlepool-trained talent is going all the way.
Ward began smartly, landing countless scoring shots without out taking anything from Hernandez.
Round three was the most competitive of the night, but round four showed that the NE Security and O’Tooles boxer truly meant business, really going to town to head and body, flooring the Fort Worth fighter with a left near the end of the round. Those who view Ward as a non-puncher have duly taken note.
Thereafter, it was one-way traffic, with referee Bill Clancy paying very close attention to the outclassed Jesse.
It was a masterclass, Ward using both hands, landing at will, upstairs and downstairs.
Hernandez did well to go all the way through to the end but last confirmed just what many of us in the North-East of England already knew – West Rainton’s Thomas Patrick Ward is the real deal and now the world knows it.
Words: Roy Kelly
