Did anyone catch his performance tonight against Darryl Salmon?
They had him on before the fight talking about how he didn't think he performed up to par against his last opponent Spearman that was on an ESPN card before, I think it was the Glenn Johnson - Montell Griffin card.
Anyways, in the Spearman fight his right hook was totally negated and his straight left is what won him the fight. Spearman also moved Greene back a lot and when Greene moved forward, he had a lot of shots picked off. But the left hand worked for him there and he ended up winning by decision.
Tonight was almost the complete opposite. Salmon wasn't interested in moving Greene backwards, he tried to pick him off coming forward, working from different angles on the outside. Greene is real compact and walked pretty much right through all of Salmon's straight punches and made it an inside fight. What impressed me though is the angles and spacing Greene made on the inside. He was shoulder to shoulder and was still able to extend fully on his straight punches without over extending.
Greene also had a lot better balance this time out and he wasn't ending up falling in on his front foot everytime he chased Salmon down. He was set for all of his punches and he put together some crisp combinations because of it.
He did smother a bit to much though, which is always a concern of mine when looking at a pressure fighter. And the smothering cost him when he got to close and to low and took a left from Salmon that knocked Greene off balance and forced his glove to the mat.
Still, he recovered and put on a very good show. People talk about Berto and the Peterson brothers as the first guys who are going to step up from the 2004 class first, but Greene could do a lot at 160 and with the division clearing out, I wouldn't be surprised to see him with a title sometime soon. He is a scary guy. Compact combination puncher with speed and power that probably isn't going to be matched at 160, definitely someone to look out for.
