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© Tom Casino / Showtime Boxing
Everyone in the boxing community had a favourite going into the Super Six Showdown. And I bet that those opinions have now changed somewhat.
That is the beauty of this tournament; there are new questions and answers being raised before and after every fight so far.
Some would have favoured Andre Dirrell’s silky movement and speed of hand and foot; now they may question his heart when the going gets rough!
Others may have said Mikkel Kessler is by far the more experienced man and the best all-rounder; fundamentally, he is solid. They may now wonder if he can deal with speed and whether or not there is a blueprint to beat him.
Carl Froch’s fans, myself included, said his grit, determination, chin and power will carry him through the tournament…well it just about carried him through one fight, but when he met someone with equal qualities i.e. Kessler, he couldn’t adapt.
I do not know if anyone favoured Taylor going into the tournament, the odds were stacked against him, and it is a shame but for right or wrong, he has now left the tournament. After two chilling knockouts from guys who are currently still in the super six, perhaps it is a good move.
Arthur Abraham lost his air of invincibility in this tournament. Going into it he was seen as the straightforward European boxer/puncher who could weather the storm and stop an opponent with either hand.
This is exactly what he did with Taylor. He could not do this with Dirrell, who was too fast and gave nothing away, even knocking Abraham down in the fourth round. Although the tide was turning when the controversial end came, alas we shall not go down this path…as it is slippery.
Andre Ward had proved he is stupendously fast, with equally fast reflexes and an intelligent, mature fighter who had a little pop in his punch. But he still had questions going into the tournament, just like the other fighters.
What will happen when that ever elusive chin of his does get tagged by a world-class fighter? Can he fight in the trenches if he is dragged there?
He answered some of these questions in his first fight of the tournament with Kessler. Ward thoroughly outboxed the Dane, he took on one of the giants of the super-middleweight world and outclassed him.
He pot-shotted on the outside and set himself up for counters when Kessler came inside, but when Ward stood his ground and dug in he was effective fighting on the inside as well. His chin was not really tested, as his reflexes allow him time to get out of the way, but if he did get tagged, he would be right in Kessler’s pocket giving him a couple back.
Eventually the fight was stopped in the eleventh round, with a technical decision as Kessler could not see from a cut over his right eye caused by a accidental headbutt, he also had a cut over his left eye, although that was caused by Ward’s hands.
Ward followed the game plan of Joe Calzaghe, the only other man to have beaten Kessler; pressure, workrate and speed – three things Kessler does not like.
With the blueprint laid out for all to see, one would expect Froch to have gone in there and do exactly that against Kessler. We all know what happened there, and Froch was beaten fair and square.
Incidentally, for all of Froch’s talk about Calzaghe, it seems fair to say that seeing as he couldn’t beat an older Kessler when Calzaghe took Mikkel in his prime, well…Carl should pipe down really.
With Taylor out of the tournament, a replacement was soon found. I can’t think of a fighter ever turning an opportunity like this down, and Taylor’s replacement is Allan Green, 29-1-0 20 KO’s.
Green has been on the outskirts of mainstream for quite some time. He does not have a bad record at all, and if there is one thing he can do it is bang, with either hand; for evidence see Jaidon Codrington or Carlos De Leon Jr who were both prospects, until they met Green.
So he can bang and he is a very confident fighter, but there is a hiccup on his record, a hiccup called Edison Miranda. Miranda is a well known gatekeeper of this division. A good gatekeeper at that, having fought Arthur Abraham twice, Andre Ward, Kelly Pavlik and Lucian Bute.
Yes, Miranda lost all of these fights, which tells you that he probably just falls short at an elite level, but he beat Green, in fact he put Green down twice in the last round of their encounter.
That is Green’s only blemish on paper, and hey, he could have been having an off night, but the bottom line is he cannot afford to have an off night against fighters of the Super Six quality, especially not Ward.
Green has talked up this fight in respect of Ward having to set a new date for the fight as he suffered a knee injury, a couple of months ago. According to Green, Ward never wanted to fight him. According to Ward, his knee is good to go for June 19th.
The rest of Green’s opponents have not exactly been of the highest calibre, just like Dirrell’s record when he came into the tournament and just like Ward’s, this is now the question that hangs over Green.
Can Green take on the best of his division? I think he makes an interesting addition to the tournament, as he will be hungry, this is his chance to shine, he needs to win, and I expect him to bring the fight to Ward, but will Ward be able to outclass him like he did Kessler? I think he will.
Expect Ward to move when he needs to and fight when he needs to. In Ward, Green has a very high mountain to climb.
It is not an impossible feat but Green will need to be on top of his game when the bell rings or there could very well be a stoppage and three points going to Ward at the end of the night.
