By Jim Slattengren: Say what you want about Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO’s) getting pretty much dominated and mugged in his first fight in the Super Six tournament last June by World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward, I think Green, 30 has the better overall boxing ability compared to his next opponent in the Super Six tourney WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (43-2, 32 KO’s), whom he fights on September 25th at the MCH Multiarena, in Herning, Denmark. Whether Green can use his superior skills is another thing altogether. But I see Green as having the better skills in almost department on offense. Green’s got the better overhand right, left hook, jab and uppercut compared to Kessler. Green also has the better hand speed by far.

Kessler, 31, comes closest to matching Green in only area on offense and that’s with his jab. Kessler does have a very good jab, but not quite as good as Green’s jab. The thing is with Green he doesn’t use his jab enough for him to dominate with it alone. I think the reason for this is because for most of his career, Green has been matched against fighters that easily folded when he started throwing his bombs.

With the kind of power and hand speed that Green has going for him, he never really needed to use his jab much and has become lazy in using that weapon. It kind of reminds me a lot of Wladimir Klitschko before he started being trained by Emanuel Steward. In his bouts before Steward began to train him, Wladimir often ignored his jab, even though he could dominate his opponents with it when he remembered to use it.

But since Steward started training him, Wladimir has learned to control his opponents with that weapon alone. Green can be the same kind of fighter if he would just focus on using his powerful jab more. Green’s jab is so good he doesn’t even need to unveil his other arsenal. But it would make his other weapons so much better if he did start using his jab a lot more.

Kessler defeated Carl Froch in his last fight by a 12 round unanimous decision in Denmark. Kessler took the fight to Froch and ended up beating him at his own game by slugging it out with him and tiring him out to get the decision win. Kessler will probably try the same thing with Green, and if Allan doesn’t have the stamina, work rate or the chin needed to win, he’ll end up taking a pounding from Kessler. This is why it’s very important that Green establishes his jab early on to keep Kessler from crowding him and trying to pull off the same kind of fight that he used against Froch.

Green hits as hard as Froch, only with much better hand speed and much wider assortment of lethal power shots available to him. Green should use things items sparingly because he doesn’t punch himself out. Instead, he needs to try and control Kessler with his jabs and catch him while he’s coming in. You can’t let Kessler get too close because he’s an excellent fighter and he’ll smother you if you let him.