Enough with blood testing and on to real boxing! Showtime presents an interesting fight Saturday night at 9:00 P.M. Central Time.
Andre Ward, 26, the new favorite at even money to win the Super Six Super Middleweight Tournament on Showtime faces relative unknown Allan Green, 30, in Stage Two of the tournament that has already had plenty of excitement and drama in Stage One.
Ward, 21-0 (13 KO’s), will be fighting in his hometown of Oakland, CA, home of his shocking first round win over tournament co-favorite Mikkel Kessler of Denmark. A Ward win would probably guarantee him some serious jack and a ticket to the semi-finals. On the line will be Ward’s WBA Super Middleweight belt which he won from Kessler.
A Ward victory would make him the only two-time winner in the tournament as the other winners of Stage One have lost in Stage Two being that Arthur Abraham lost to Andre Dirrell by DQ and Carl Froch lost a decision to Kessler.
Ward is the last American to win Olympic Gold, which he did in 2004.
Green, 29-0 (20 KO’s) from Tulsa, OK, replaces Jermain Taylor, the former middleweight champion who was convinced by his handlers to give up his spot in the tournament after a succession of knockout losses to Froch in a non tournament bout and Arthur Abraham back in Stage One.
Green is one of those guys who gets respect from boxing insiders but is otherwise unknown despite his sparkling record and knockout ratio.
So far the Super Six Tournament has had enough drama and twists and turns (in a positive way) as the early going of the World Cup Tournament.
In fact, talk of a similar tournament at 140 pounds has been discussed by principals.
We won’t know until late Saturday night if having the first two fights against Kessler and Green at home at the Oracle Arena gave Ward a huge advantage but he does have a fan base. It’s doubtful a third successive fight would be held in Oakland though.
I’m taking Ward by a comfortable decision victory Saturday night.
