Picture: Howard Schatz – By William Mackay: The official announcement was made today that super middleweight contender Allan Green (29-1, 20 KO’s) will be stepping in for Jermain Taylor and fighting unbeaten Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) in the stage 2 of the Super Six tournament on April 17th, in Oakland, California. Green, 30, will be the new meat for Ward, and you almost have to feel sorry for him after seeing how easily Ward handled the number #1 fighter in the tourney, Mikkel Kessler in November.
Ward beat Kessler every which way possible in defeating him by an 11 round technical decision on November 21st. Ward didn’t get the stoppage win, but there’s a good chance that the fight would have been stopped had it been allowed to continue. Green is a good fighter with good size at 6’2”, excellent power and blazing hand speed.
However, something appears to be missing from Green’s overall game. He looked horrible in a 10 round decision loss to Edison Miranda in 2007, throwing few punches and spending a good portion of the time staring at his own shoes while fighting. Green looked scared of Miranda and didn’t do much beyond recording a flash knockdown of Miranda in the 8th. In the 10th round and final round, Miranda hurt Green and poured it on, dropping him twice before the round had ended. If there was an 11th round, it’s doubtful that Green would have made it to the end of it.
Green has mostly faced 2nd tier opposition since his loss to Miranda, the one exception being a lackluster 10 round decision over Tarvis Simms in October 2009. Green looked bad in that fight, missing over and over again all night long and just looking not with it. Based on that fight and the Miranda bout, which are pretty much the extent of Green’s experience against top tier opponents, he’s probably going to be badly outclassed by the younger Ward.
Green will have a chance, of course, to beat Ward if he can connect with one of his huge right hands. But its doubtful Green will be able to connect with anything big enough to worry the southpaw Ward. More than likely, Green will be worried about getting hit by Ward and will be fighting on the back foot all night long to avoid getting taken out.
In a press release sent today, Green says “I just don’t see anyone who can beat me. I’ve watched all the fighters over and over. I’ve studied all of them and know I can beat any of them.” That’s pretty bold talk for Green. However, I personally think there’s not a fighter Green can beat in the tournament.
Green will likely lose to Ward in their stage 2 Super Six bout, and in Green’s stage 3 bout, he’s matched up against Mikkel Kessler. Depending on how well Kessler performs against his next opponent Carl Froch, Green could end up taking another loss against Kessler and thus ending his chances of moving to the next semi final round of the Super Six tourney. Green has the bad luck of inheriting Taylor’s place in the tournament, meaning that he’s starting off with zero points in the tournament and is training Froch, Ward and Abraham.
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