By Scott Gilfoid: Next months’ non-Super Six tournament fight between Sakio Bika and Andre Ward is a fight that will have two guys both with outstanding inside fighting skills and a tendency to rough up their opponents for 12 rounds.

Ward is a talented fighter who can fight using a number of different styles. However, he’s had the most success recently by fighting in close with guys like Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green in the Super Six tournament and roughing them up and bulling them around.

Bika, 31, likes to fight the same way, although he sometimes gets a little carried away with himself with the rough stuff. Ward clearly much more skills than Bika. However, Ward could end up making his bout with Bika a lot more closer than it should be by electing to fight Bika inside the way that Ward has been fighting recently.

I’m hoping Ward doesn’t try to fight Bika in close, because Bika will then have an opportunity to try and mug his way to an ugly decision. Ward doesn’t need to fight this guys fight. This is what Bika does, and although I think Ward is a great inside fighter, Bika thrives on battling in close.

I can see Ward taking a lot of unnecessary punishment against Bika and turning what should be a lopsided 12 round decision into one that is much closer. In this case, Ward needs to go back to fighting on the outside using movement, his jab and occasionally fast shots.

You don’t want to throw combinations against Bika because this allows him an opportunity to land his heavy counter punches. Joe Calzaghe tried to throw cominations against Bika four years ago, and Calzaghe ended up getting punished.

It wasn’t until Calzaghe made some adjustments by jabbing, throwing one punch at a time and moving that he finally got control of the fight. It wasn’t pretty but Calzaghe got the win. This is what Ward needs to do. He can’t fight on the inside with a guy like Bika, because it will mean he will end up getting hit a lot.

I think Ward can beat Bika either way. He can beat on the inside, but he’ll take punishment in getting the win. I don’t know that Ward want that kind of victory. If he had bigger power, he would have a good chance of taking Bika out and saving himself from getting hit so much. However, Ward isn’t a really big puncher and needs to get by with his speed and work rate.