By Jim Dower: Next month one of the most exciting fights of the Super Six tournament will take place between WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) and the hard hitting knockout artist Allan Green (29-1, 20 KO’s) at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Ward, 26, has established himself as the front runner in the Super six tournament after beating Mikkel Kessler by an 11 round technical decision last year in November. The fight was especially impressive in that many people thought that Kessler was the favored fighter to win the entire Super Six tournament.

Now minds have changed after seeing how easily Ward dominated Kessler. Forgetting for a second that some people think the fight was controversial because of the cuts that opened up over both of Kessler’s eyes from accidental head butts from Ward, the American fought remarkably well and showed a lot of skills and poise in the fight. Green, 30, has still yet to fight in the Super Six tournament because he’s a substitute for Jermain Taylor, who pulled out of the tourney recently.

Green has many of the same attributes that Ward has – speed, power and excellent defense. Green might actually be a little faster than Ward, and a lot stronger. Green has knockout power in either hand and he carries his power late into his fights. Most of his opponents don’t make it far into the fights with him because he lands something big eventually to take them out. Green is somewhat like a bigger version of junior middleweight and middleweight knockout artist Julian Jackson.

When Green is loading up on his shots, he reminds me a lot of Jackson. However, Green isn’t quite as ruthless as Jackson was in his career and has a problem sometimes with not fighting with passion. However, when Green’s mind is right, he’s one of the most lethal punchers in all of boxing. For him to beat Ward, Green is going to have to come out gunning and showing his awesome power. He probably won’t be able to out-box the quick footed Ward, because the younger fighter moves too well on his feet.

This is why I think Green needs to go right after Ward like he means business, corner him and level him with some huge shots. If Green can capture Ward against the ropes, this fight could be over very quickly. In the open ring, Green is probably going to have problems with Ward’s movement. Green will have to time Ward in the center of the ring and try to hit him as hard as he can to get him backing up. Green needs to stay on Ward, not give him room to fight like Kessler did in his last fight with Ward and make him run out of real estate. Ward likes to clinch a lot, so my suggestion is to meet him with uppercuts in the clinch to keep him from wanting to grab so much.