One of the best prospects in all of boxing, Unbeaten southpaw middleweight Joe Greene (17-0, 12 KOs) will be facing Francisco Antonio Mora (52-12, 35 KOs) on Saturday night on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov’s heavyweight unification bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Like prospect Peter Quillin, Greene, 22, a former 2004 National Golden Gloves Middleweight Champion from Queen’s New York, is another fighter that many boxing enthusiasts consider to be a better overall fighter than # 3 WBC ranked middleweight John Duddy, who is also fighting on the card and the one that will be getting much more press – and television time – than Greene or Quillin.
Ranked #7 in the WBA, Greene, 22, nicknamed “Mean,” is a fighter with huge punching power in both hands, especially his left hand. His hand speed is very fast, which makes him a tough opponent for any middleweight in the division. Greene is especially good at throwing punches from all angles, and has a knack for being able to punch even when off balance. Though he sometimes has a tendency to overextend himself, leaving him vulnerable to counter punchers, but it’s something that none of his opponents thus far have been able to take advantage of. His power and deadly accuracy, however, is what make him so formidable.
He has one-punch knockout power, and combined with his near perfect precision accuracy with his punches, it makes him very hard to beat. At 22, Greene, along with Quillin, has to be considered the future of the middleweight division. Even now, I’d pick him to beat German-based middleweight champions Arthur Abraham (IBF) and Felix Sturm (WBA), both of whom I could see Greene knocking out if given the chance.
With his #7 rankings in the WBA, Greene would figure to be on a crash course with champion Sturm in the not too distance future, that is, if Sturm can hold onto his title for awhile longer. At this point, I’d pick Greene over Duddy in a head to head match-up, and don’t see the fight as being close. Greene is clearly in a different league than Duddy, even though he’s not getting much attention still at this moment. Hopefully, things will begin to change with an impressive showing by Greene tomorrow night against Mora.