By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler is a huge betting favorite to beat Allan Green on September 25th in their Super Six tournament bout. The odds are, according to Bwin, 1,11 for Kessler to beat Green. This is kind of surprising because before Green entered the Super Six tournament he was one of the best fighters in the super middleweight division.

But one loss to Andre Ward in his first fight in the tournament seems to have taken away a lot of the confidence that boxing fans have in Green being able to find any success. Green cannot afford to lose again if wants to have a remote chance of making it to the semifinals of the Super Six tournament.

Green needs to not only worry about his immediate fight against Kessler, but he also needs to worry about his future in the division. Back to back losses to Ward and Kessler would be a crushing blow to Green’s once promising career. Before starting the Super Six tournament, Green’s career had been moving along rather slowly.

He seems to have taken a backwards step after being beaten by Edison Miranda in 2007 by going back to fighting B level opponents. That may be something that’s hurting Green now, because he looked unprepared for the talent level of Ward. However, it’s possible that the loss to Ward will help Ward by giving him a fight against one of the very best fighters in the league and it could help him in the Kessler fight.

Kessler isn’t as fast or as hard to hit compared to Ward. Green should be able to land his shots against Kessler. That is, if Green lets his hands go in this fight instead of playing it conservatively. He’s got to open up more with his power shots, especially early in the fight when he’s still punching with a lot of power. Kessler looks uncomfortable when his opponents go directly after him the way that Ward and Carl Froch did.

Where Froch went wrong was by hanging back and just letting Kessler be the one that initiated most of the action. Green may not have the engines needed to go right at Kessler and try to overtake him the way he needs to. Green certainly has the power to beat him, but he can’t win unless he lets his hands go a lot more than he has in his last two bouts against Simms and Ward.

Kessler isn’t the type of fighter that will fold from getting hit with a few power shots in every round. Green has got to think of trying to duplicate the efforts of Ward and Joe Calzaghe, both of which overwhelmed Kessler by taking the fight to him and smothering his offense.