By Dan Ambrose: World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) has been outstanding in his recent fights, blanking Edison Miranda by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win last year in 2009, and most recently pulling off a major upset in defeating Mikkel Kessler by a lopsided 11 round technical decision last year in November.

Next month, on June 19th, the 26-year-old Ward will be facing 30-year-old, hard hitting Allan Green (29-1, 20 KO’s) in the continuing Super Six tournament at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Green is a good fighter, known for his big punching power and his ability to end fights quickly with flurries. Ward doesn’t have an easy fight it seems. However, Green may be even easier than the Miranda and Kessler fights.

Green hits hard, to be sure, but he doesn’t have the same steel chin that Kessler showed in his fight with Ward, and Green doesn’t have the same crushing power that Miranda had going for him in his fight with Ward. Green hits hard but he’s no Miranda and he doesn’t seem to take shots all that well. Miranda had Green on the canvas several times in his 10 round decision win over Green three years ago.

That fight was pretty much all Miranda. Green just fought like a deer with his eyes frozen in the headlights all night long against Miranda. He looked worse than timid. Green looked terrified of being knocked out by Miranda, and ended throwing very few punches at all. It was very un-Green-like performance by Green in that fight. He later mentioned something about having a good portion of his colon removed during recent surgery.

I don’t know that Green would have done any better had he come out swinging, but I would have liked to have thought he would. Miranda has kind of been exposed in the past three years as having chin problems in fights against Kelly Pavlik, Arthur Abraham and Lucian Bute. Who knows? Maybe Green could have taken Miranda out if he had gone all out from the start and swung for the fences. He didn’t though, and all we know of him is that Green lost that fight.

Unfortunately, that was Green’s best opponent of his career. Next month, are we to expect a different Green in the ring against Ward, a much better version of Green than we’ve ever seen before? I don’t know. Green is 30-years-old and fighters usually don’t get better as they age. Some do seem to get better, at least for awhile. Lennox Lewis seemed to improve in his 30s under the training from Emanuel Steward. Of course, Lewis had a lot of physical gifts to work with, which made it a lot easier for him to get better.

Green can improve as well, but I’m not sure about whether he’s made any recent changes with his training or if he’s doing what he’s done in the past to prepare for his fights. One thing is sure he’s not going to be able to talk his way into a knockout. Green is actually going to have to go out there and beat Ward somehow. Green is confident to the extreme of his talents, but he’s going to have to show that confidence in the ring by being a little bolder in his fight plan. He can’t stare at his feet all night long and hope to win a decision.