By Liam Fitzgerald: After the first round of bouts in the Super Six super middleweight tournament it has been interesting to see how opinions on the eventual outcome of the tournament have changed. I for one have been surprised by the results and have had to readdress my own predictions. In particular the two young Americans Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell have impressed me greatly.

I was like many who questioned their involvement in the tournament and felt they were only there because they were American. However, I believe they both justified their inclusion with their performances in the first fights of the competition, even though Direll lost against Carl Froch. Ward was excellent in his victory over pre-tournament favourite Mikkel Kessler and certainly looked like a world class operator, even if head butts played a part in his win. His accuracy and high work rate completely threw Kessler who had no answer to it. He may not be the most powerful of punchers but the volume of punches he throws and lands means that he will be a tough customer for any of the other fighters.

Dirrell meanwhile has received some criticism for his supposed negative tactics against Carl Froch. Personally, I felt the fought a brilliant tactical fight and should have got the decision. And being British, I was heavily backing Froch beforehand so this is not a biased view. Defensively, Dirrell was impressive with good foot speed and head movement, which left Froch missing a lot and looking very scruffy. He also landed the cleaner, harder blows, especially towards the end and I was astonished that he lost in the end. However, he should take the defeat on board as if he were to fight a little more aggressively, he could be a big contender to win the tournament.

Clearly, Arthur Abraham was the most impressive European on show in the first round of matches. He bullied Jermain Taylor and looked good in his KO victory. Evidently, his power punches have came up with him into the super middleweight division and though he isn’t the most exciting boxer out there, he has an efficient style which combined with his power should lead to him reaching the latter stages of the competition.

For me, Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch were the most disappointing fighters. Taylor looked as though he was afraid of Abraham and didn’t use his superior speed and boxing ability at all to create problems for the German. His stamina problems are well documented but it was the lack of authority in his work and willingness to trade which concerned me most. To be honest, he shouldn’t have even been asked to compete, Lucian Bute being a far more worthy recipient.

Carl Froch looked dreadful in his win over Dirrell in my opinion and I struggle to see him reaching the semi finals. He is very slow and gets hit a lot. True, he has a great chin and good power but he can be badly exposed by fast fighters and has been fairly lucky, if not resilient, to win his last two fights.

Finally, Mikkel Kessler is in a strange situation for me. He was many people’s pick to win the tournament before losing to Ward but I didn’t see any signs to suggest he is a shot fighter. He was simply outworked by a classy opponent. He landed some good shots of his own and I feel it would be foolish to write him off just yet. He is still a world class fighter and could quite easily put himself back in the frame with a couple of big KO wins.

Therefore, I feel that Ward and Abraham are certainties to reach the semis and quite possibly could contest the final if they fight as well as in their first fight. I would expect Abraham to win his next two fights, although I feel he could struggle against the talented Dirrell. Ward should beat Taylor, solely down to the poor punch resistance of the ex-middleweight champ but I believe he could be edged out by Dirrell whose quality defence could outdo his strong work rate. I believe Kessler will join them in the semis with KO’s in his next two. The Taylor result is a formality for me whilst expect Kessler vs. Froch to be a war. There will be huge bombs landed all night, but Kessler is more than just a brawler and I think he will wear Froch down for a late TKO. As I think Taylor will lose every fight, that leaves the other semi spot down to Dirrell and Froch. Froch has the advantage having already beaten the American but a Dirrell KO over Ward, not vs. Abraham who I feel is too strong, would be enough to edge out the Nottingham man should Froch lose twice.

So I see the semis consisting of Ward, Kessler, Abraham and Dirrell and what match ups they would be. Of course, this could be completely wrong and I could be shocked after the next round of bouts, as I was after the first round. However, I feel these are the better fighters out of the six and at the moment would expect to see a Ward vs. Abraham final.