By Dave Lahr: I want to give Allan Green (29-1, 20 KO’s) at least a small chance of beating World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) when they meet this Saturday night at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. If I hadn’t seen Green’s fights against Edison Miranda and Tarvis Simms, I would think that Green has a very real chance of beating the 26-year-old Ward on Saturday night.

However, I’ve seen those fights and Green looked absolutely horrible in both of the fights. In Green’s fight against Miranda in 2007, Green, for some reason, was staring at his lead left foot for the entire fight. It was the strangest thing. Green would take his eyes of Miranda and look down at his own feet and then stare back up at Miranda. Even when Green was badly hurt in the 10th round from a huge right hand from Miranda, Green still was looking down at his feet.

Green was dropped twice in that round and was on the verge of being stopped at the time the bout ended. It wasn’t the kind of performance that would lead you to believe that Green would have any chance of beating a fighter like Ward. In Green’s fight with Tarvis Simms last year in October 2009, Green looked really sloppy and showed poor technique at times as he threw desperate looking hooks. He was also very hittable and had problems getting out of the way of anything that he was throwing at him.

This fight will be the stage 2 part of the Super Six tournament, but it’s a must win bout for Green. He can’t afford to lose this fight if he wants to make it to the semi finals of the tournament. Ward, on the other hand, has room to lose a fight and still make it o the semi finals. However, he doesn’t plan on losing to Green and putting pressure on himself by having to beat Andre Dirrell, his next opponent in the Super Six tournament.

Green has to show better defensive ability if he wants to beat Ward. If Green can’t block Ward’s shots, then this fight probably won’t go that far because Ward will land a lot more punches than Miranda did in his fight with Green and I kind of doubt that Green’s chin is strong enough for him to take solid right hands and left hooks all night long without him going down.

Green is good at clinching when he’s hurt, I give him that. He didn’t sloppy in clinching after Miranda had him hurt, but I doubt that Green would be able to survive if Ward has him hurt. But Green must find a way to get out of the way of shots because he was getting hit regularly in his last fight against the 38-year-old Simms and looking nothing like any of the Super Six tournament fighters.

Green also looked slower than he was three years ago. It could be that Green, now 30, is starting to show his age. He turns 31 in September and he doesn’t look as fast and as busy as he was back in 2007. That could be a problem for him too. He’s got to be fast and throw a lot of punches to beat Ward.