By Eric Thomas: Super middleweight contender Allan Green (28-1, 20 KO) will be facing a fighter with a big impressive record in Tarvis Simms (25-0, 11 KO) in a 10 round bout tonight at the First Council Casino, in Newkirk, Oklahoma. Green’s opponent for tonight, the 38-year-old Simms, has a record filled with names that are virtually unrecognizable to me.
I’ve never heard of most of them and it appears that they’re all 2nd and 3rd tier fighters. However, Simms still probably represents a stiffer test for Green than his last opponent, Carlos De Leon Jr, who Green was able to take out in the 2nd round in April 2009.
Green, 30, is ranked #6 in the World Boxing Council and #9 in the WBO, needs to start moving forward with his career because the division has improved immensely in the past year and Green needs to make his move now or consider moving up in weight.
Although talented, Green failed his biggest test, losing a 10 round decision to Edison Miranda in March 2007. Green did virtually nothing in the fight and ended up getting dropped twice by Miranda in the 10th round. Ideally, Green would be better off moving up to the light heavyweight division because he might have the talent to compete with the likes of Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, the Super Six tournament contestants. The light heavyweight division is sparse of talent, and Green would have a good chance of picking up a belt or two if he moves quickly and doesn’t waste anymore time fighting 2nd tier fighters.
Tonight, Green will likely be too fast for Simms and will probably take him out in four or five rounds. I’ve seen Simms fight on one occasion, beating Carl Daniels by a six round decision last year and I wasn’t all that impressed. Simms looked short, at 5’9″, and not all that powerful. He put his punches together but didn’t look like a world beater.
Green was supposed to be fighting Victor Oganov, but that fight fell through. Actually, that would have probably been a much tougher fight for Green than the Simms fight due to Oganov’s power. He can punch a little, but is slow and short. He’s same height as Simms, by the way. At 6’2″, Green will have a big advantage in height and reach over Simms.