By Eric Thomas: Arthur Abraham (32-2, 26 KO’s) comes into his May 14th Super Six tournament fight against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (23-0, 13 KO’s) having lost two out of his last three fights in the past year and looking nothing like the guy that used to dominate his opponents while holding down the IBF middleweight title from 2005 to 2009.

Abraham has looked completely out-classed in the super middleweight division, losing to Andre Dirrell and getting out-worked by Carl Froch in a lopsided 12 round decision a year ago. Abraham is taking his upcoming May 14th bout against Ward very seriously and is working out hard to fix the many mistakes from his losses to Dirrell and Froch.

The fight won’t be Abraham’s Germany, and instead it’s taking place at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. This means that the crowd will likely small. However, Abraham won’t have to deal with a large Oakland, California crowd had Ward been given yet another home fight. Thus far, Ward’s two Super Six tournament fights against Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green have been at home in Oakland.

Although this fight won’t be a home fight for Ward, it’s still taking place in the same state of California. This means that Ward will likely have more fans attending the fight. This shouldn’t really matter because both of these fighters are professionals and are able to fight well at home or away, but it could be slightly important in energizing one of these fighters.

Abraham has got to find a way to increase his work rate. He’s become a knockout puncher and is too accustomed to stopping his opponents without having to work hard. When his knockouts didn’t happen in his bouts with Dirrell and Froch, Abraham seemed to lose his way. He didn’t know what to do in those fights and ended up getting badly out-worked. He find himself in the same predicament in the Ward fight.

Ward is likely going to stay in close to try and smother Abraham’s power and turn the fight into a wrestling match. For a fighter that is skilled at fight in close, it would be a dream comes true for them to have Ward right in front of them. Sakio Bika, a good inside fighter, was able to give Ward all kinds of problems in their fight in November. However, Ward was still good enough to win by a lopsided 12 round decision. But Abraham punches a lot harder than Bika and with Ward right there in close, this presents a real opportunity for Abraham. He won’t have to go looking for Ward to land his shots.