By Alexander Fugate: After re-watching all the round one fights of the Super Six Tournament, I come away being very impressed by Andre Dirrel and Andre Ward. First, Dirrell clearly should have got the decision, but fighting in Froch’s backyard he had no chance of winning a decision. Dirrell having a point deducted for excessive clinching wasn’t an egregious call, but the failure to deduct any points from Froch for his numerous and various infractions was disturbing.

Twice Froch clearly disobeyed the ref’s orders and nailed Dirrell as the ref was separating them, he repeatedly held Andre’s head with his left hand while hitting him with his right, and constantly threw shots at the back of Dirrell’s head. Not to mention the occasional body slam, headlock and other grappling maneuvers that are legal in MMA contests but not boxing matches. Froch clearly had loads of problems with the quick and slick Dirrell. What impressed me the most about the young Andre Dirrell was his amazing defense. A few times Froch had him backed up against the ropes; but every time he did Froch threw combos and flurries that landed on nothing but air, thanks to the head movement of his opponent. After making Froch miss badly, he would then throw a combo that landed, to back “The Cobra” off him and allow him to get off the ropes. The overall offensive and defensive skills Dirrell possesses greatly exceeded my expectations.

As for Ward, well, he soundly defeated the favorite to win the tournament in Mikkel Kessler. Kessler didn’t look like he belonged in the same ring with this opponent. Ward showed craftiness that is a rarity today, and almost unheard of in anyone as young as he is. Ward didn’t repeatedly clinch and wrap Kessler up ala Dirrell, but instead would slip one arm behind the back of his opponent, and hold him while throwing frustrating body shots at the same time. This is illegal, but its hard for a ref to catch, and even harder to justify a point deduction because the blows seem to be soft. Also, the ref rightly let the two fight when in close quarters and didn’t step in to break them apart every time they got near each other. Kessler didn’t know what to do in these situations but Ward would immediately pounce on his prey after the two’s arms got untangled; thus landing clean, effective, and legal blows.

As for the other round one match, between “King” Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor, Abraham put on a strong performance winning via a devastating knockout. This was my first chance to see King Arthur in action, and after hearing a lot of praise about him for literally years and years now, he didn’t meet my high expectations. Some place him as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Abraham’s punches are often wide though and this makes them slower. Yes, when they land theses punches are devastating and knock out many foes, but to rely on a wide shot landing flush to win a fight seems like a risky strategy.

As the second round kicks off this weekend, I see Dirrell winning a unanimous decision victory over Abraham, Kessler out-gunning Froch, and Ward with a victory over Taylor’s replacement, Allan Green. In the final round, Abraham should win, possibly by knockout over Froch, Kessler should easily defeat Green, and the fight between the two young Americans is a toss-up in my book. The edge has to go to Ward though, because of his extensive experience in the amateur ranks and his ability to fight well on the inside and frustrate his opponents. This would advance Ward, Abraham, Kessler, and Froch. Froch owns the tie-breaker over Dirrell because of his win in their head-to-head match-up. Depending on if Abraham or Ward win by knockout will determine if is then Ward-Froch and Abraham-Kessler in the semi’s or the rematches of Abraham-Froch and Ward-Kessler. If Ward continues to perform like he did in round one, he should make it to the final match. Abraham-Kessler would a really tough one to call though, but I would personally give Abraham a very slight edge, due to his pressure, defense, and power.

While Ward has better overall skills than Abraham, he sometimes gets too excited and leaves himself open, which could spell doom for him against “King” Arthur. My prediction is “King” Arthur Abraham wins the Super Six Tournament via decision, as Ward will be doing a lot of clinching just trying to hold on and not get knocked out in the late rounds.

This is just my prediction, and I (like everyone else) am not perfect and can’t predict the future, but these are just my thoughts based on what I’ve seen thus far. I could be wrong on every outcome or right on all of them, but it will probably be somewhere in the middle as many of these match-ups are difficult to predict. Finally, I just want to thank all of the participants in this amazing tournament and the people at Showtime, and the others that helped make this unbelievable event a reality. Its still hard to believe that boxing is putting on something this spectacular!