By Jim Dower: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) will be taking on Allan Green (29-1, 20 KO’s) an awkward, some say clumsy, replacement for Jermain Taylor in the Super Six tournament on June 19th, at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Green, 30, has a cannon for a right hand and also good power in his left as well. But what Green doesn’t have is good balance and looks awkward as heck when he’s moving, punching and trying to defend himself.
Green’s defense isn’t good and he gets hit way too much for his own good. Although Green talks a good game, he hasn’t shown the kind of skills that would lead you to believe that he can beat Ward on June 19th or that he even belongs in the Super Six tournament for that matter.
This is a do or die fight for Green, though, as he needs to win this fight if he wants to make it to the semi finals of the Super Six tournament. He comes into the fight having inherited zero points from Taylor, who was knocked out by Arthur Abraham in the 12th round last October.
Green is probably one of the most confident boxers I’ve ever come across in the sport. When he talks, it’s as he knows he’s better than the other fighters. Unfortunately, Green hasn’t shown the skills to match his rhetoric where it counts the most – in the ring. Green is going to have to do something about his balance and coordination of he wants to beat a talented fighter like Ward.
Green was all over the place in his fight with 38-year-old Tarvis Simms last year in October, stumbling and looking terribly awkward – and not in a good way. Green was hit frequently in the fight and his power had no effect on Simms. Had this been a bigger puncher than the weak punching Simms, I have little doubt that Green wouldn’t have lasted for long against Simms.
Ward isn’t a huge puncher himself, but he punches with enough power to cause Green a lot of problems if he can connect often enough and stick around until the 2nd half of the fight. It’s imperative that Green goes for broke and tries to knock Ward out as fast as he can before Ward starts connecting with too many of his own shots. Green needs to try and be more accurate with his shots.
In his last fight, he was falling all over himself after missing with shots and looked like he had two left feet for the most part. If this means that Green shouldn’t load up as much, so be it. He needs to do anything he can to avoid stumbling around against an athletic fighter like Ward, because he’ll get eaten up if he’s falling off balance all the time in the fight. Green needs to widen his stance and keep his feet on the ground. By standing too straight up, he’s often stumbling when hit and getting tangled with the feet of his opponent.
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