By Mark Hepplestall: I have been the biggest critic of the Super Six Tournament; I don’t think it’s been set out fairly and most of it is Showtime’s fault, I think they should have set out the fight venues before the boxers signed contracts and most importantly gave the boxers no wiggle room to change venues. So how has Arthur Abraham thrown away his chances of winning, I think he has walked straight into a trap.

First of all Showtime had a general agreement with Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham that their fight shall occur in Nottingham, this is because they expected Dirrel to lose to Abraham in Dirrel’s home town. I actually expected Dirrel to do a number on Abraham as I thought Andre Dirrel would be and was quicker, faster hands and had better movement; he made Abraham look slow, old and ineffective and showed the blueprint for how to beat Abraham, box and move for all 12 rounds. Unfortunately Abraham’s promoter didn’t think he would get a fair fight in Nottingham, so they moaned at Showtime and got it moved to Berlin, Germany. However Froch wasn’t pleased and moaned at Showtime saying no to Germany, this is where thrown away his chances.

Now the fight is in Monaco at a neutral venue, Abraham’s best chance is to stand an slug it out with Froch, looking at both boxers last two fights Froch has won the first 4 rounds and Abraham has hardly thrown a punch for the first 4 rounds. Abraham turns on the heat from rounds 5 to 12 however against Taylor the rounds were close and hard to score until Abraham landed at will form 9 to 12. Froch makes all the middle rounds competitive yet hard to score and turns the heat on in 11 and 12. So if the fight goes like the last two previous fights have Froch could win a points decision. Now everyone see’s Abraham winning via KO, I simply don’t but that’s another article, but if Abraham can win via KO in Germany, and can win via KO in Monaco, why doesn’t he fight Froch in Nottingham, the home crowd is more likely to get a slugger like Froch to get in the trenches with Abraham therefore enhancing Abrahams chances for the KO, referee’s and judges won’t make a difference because with so many controversial decisions they will have to be spot on or be slammed by the opposition corner and lose all credibility.

Now Froch is injured, and Abraham doesn’t want to wait until December to fight, which is unfortunate for Froch because Abraham has a training advantage over froch who once again cannot train properly as he had an ear infection before and during the Kessler fight. Now the simple thing would be for Abraham to fight Green in America as the second semi final matchup and cut all ties with Froch and give him the No.1 contender spot for the WBC title for after the super six has finished as most champions have rematch clauses.

Abraham Vs Green would be a great match up and would be a fight that Abraham should be able to win by KO in America, it also gives Green another chance to fight in the super six as it seems he was just brought in as someone who wouldn’t mind fighting in Oakland and then in Denmark and then retire. Now he has a chance to actually get some points on the scoreboard and most importantly Abraham could say that he has fought two Americans outside of Europe in the USA which would be his biggest bargaining tool for the final.

Final would be Arthur Abraham Vs Andre Ward, Abraham will lose the match up via 12 rounds points decision in the USA because I see Ward doing exactly the same thing he has done in the previous two fights and the referee being more lenient with him clinching and leading with his head and elbows. However if Abraham fought two Americans in the USA he can say he wants the final in Germany and just deny any other venue until Showtime make a decision and then we shall see their hidden agenda, if they are fair they surely make Andre Ward travel for his final fight. Abraham can just hold out for Germany, if he gets kicked out the tournament at the final and ward is champion after never leaving Oakland he surely would just be the paper champion and Abraham would be the more important “Peoples Champion”. If Showtime makes a decision and they say Oakland, the tournament is just a scam to get American interest in the super middleweight division, which USA hasn’t been number one in since Roy Jones Jr left it. If they say Las Vegas, it’s exactly the same because Oakland and Las Vegas are not that far away from each other.

However by fighting Froch in Monaco instead of Nottingham, or not pursing Green as a replacement and fighting him in the USA he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on in negotiations against Ward should they both get to the final. At present Froch has a bigger bargaining power then Abraham should he beat Abraham and point out he has only had one fight at home and one fight moved from Nottingham to another European Venue.