By Michael Lieberman: Former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-2, 25 KO’s) sees a rosy outlook for his next two fights coming up, starting with this Saturday’s tune-up bout against Stjepan Bozic (24-4, 15 KO’s) at the RWE Rhein-Ruhr Sporthalle, Muelheim, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Abraham, 30, should win that fight without any problems because Bozic is soft opponent picked especially for Abraham to end his two-fight losing streak and look good in front of his German fans.

However, Abraham has a much tougher fight coming up in the Super Six tournament semi-finals against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward. Abraham is going to have to show a lot more than what he’s shown in his last two fights against Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch, because Ward might be even better than those two. He’s not someone that Abraham is going to able to dominate or take out with a handful of punches. Abraham will have to increase his work rate and his ability to fight hard if he wants to get a win in this fight.

In an article at fightnews.com, Abraham said “The year 2010 is over for me. I’m not talking any more about the defeats. I’m only looking forward. I have two Super Six fights. First the semi-final, then the final. In the first fight against Bozic, I will satisfy my fans again.”

Abraham will likely knock out Bozic, but the Ward fight is going to be a real problem for him because Ward is a lot faster than Abraham, throws many more punches and has an excellent chin. Abraham’s only chance of winning that fight is to try and knock Ward out, but that’s about it. He can’t out-box him because Abraham doesn’t have great boxing skills.