Allan Green wasn’t in the original cast of Showtime’s Super Six Classic super middleweight tournament.
But Jermain Taylor pulled out after suffering a brutal 12th-round knockout loss to Arthur Abraham in October, and Green got the call.
Green apparently plans on making the most of this opportunity, as he has entered this tournament with an attitude.
He will challenge Andre Ward for his world title tonight at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, and he has done everything he can to get under Ward’s skin.
During Showtime’s 360 Fight Camp series, Green criticized Ward for postponing the original April 24 date when Ward’s surgically repaired (in 2008) right knee became inflamed. Green said all fighters have to deal with bumps and bruises.
Green also has noted that Ward refers to himself as “a warrior,” but, “the truth is, you’re not. I know for a fact I will blow him out of the water.”
Well, Ward is not easily chopped down. Not with words, not with fists – as his 21-0 record with 13 knockouts attests.
“If Green has a chip on his shoulder, then that makes two of us,” said Ward, who won his tournament opener – and the world title – with an 11th-round technical decision over Mikkel Kessler last November in Oakland.
“I’ve been away from my family for a long time. I’m a bit irritable.
“I don’t know if it’s now or if it’s later, but I know eventually I’m going to get respect for the dog Advertisement
that’s in me and for the bite that I have.”
Part of that bite is Ward’s inner strength. When Ward speaks, he doesn’t boast and talk trash. He simply speaks in confident tones about the way he goes about his business, and he doesn’t let too much of what is said about him get in the way – whether good or bad.
“To quote John Wooden, you know I don’t let the praises of the people or the criticism get to me,” Ward said, “because it’s a weakness to get caught up in either one. I appreciate the praises of the people, I honor that, I thank them for that.
“And those people who have a lot of negative things to say about me, even my opponent, his coach, his team, that’s fine. But I’m locked in on what I have to do, fight in and fight out.”
Ward, 26, said a lot of people in the industry don’t realize the kind of focus he has, even though he always seems completely tuned in to the task at hand.
“They think when you get this belt that it’s time to relax,” Ward said. “They think that I’m the one who’s being hunted, and to a degree I am. But I have a lot of desire in me, man. I got a lot of passion in me.
“I don’t know if he wants this belt as bad as I want to keep it. But if he does, then it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.”
According to Green’s trainer, John David Jackson, all of that fun is going to belong to his fighter.
“Everybody’s pretty much picked Andre Ward to win,” Jackson said. “I don’t know why we even showed up. (Ward’s manager) James Prince said he’s ready to go to war. But one thing you got to remember when you go to war, you leave your head open for punches.
“And this brother (Allan Green) right here, he’s got dynamite in both hands. So, if Andre Ward comes to go to war, that’s exactly what we want. And if he does that, he won’t be champ anymore.”
First, the hard-punching Green (29-1, 20 KOs) will have to connect.
Kessler came in as the harder puncher against Ward, too, with 32 knockouts in 44 fights.
But Kessler found it difficult to land his crunching blows cleanly and he was behind by four, six and six points when the fight went to the scorecards when Kessler was unable to continue because of a cut caused by an accidental head-butt.
Ward is not Floyd Mayweather Jr. when it comes to defensive wizardry, but he is very good at avoiding the best his opponent has to offer. Kessler, who many thought would beat Ward, found that out.
However, as Green points out, that was Kessler.
“Andre looked great against Kessler, but I’m not Kessler,” said Green, 30, of Tulsa, Okla. “Mikkel Kessler really couldn’t deal with a lot of things that Andre was doing. I’m a slick guy and I’m a sharp guy. I’ll fight however my opponent wants to fight.
“If I have to be slick, I’ll be slick. If I have to box, I will box. If I have to brawl, I’ll brawl. I expect a thinking match.”
Green is no slouch, not by any stretch. But out-thinking a fighter like Ward is not going to be easy. Ward not only has plenty of physical tools, his ring intelligence is superior to most. He’s also very fast, and we’ve seen what speed has done for the likes of Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
“Everything we do, we do with speed,” said Virgil Hunter, Ward’s trainer. “If he (Green) stays in the speed zone, he’s going to get chewed up.”
Ward probably won’t even brag about it, either.
“I’m not going to tell you guys how great I am, how great I’m going to be,” said Ward, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2004. “I’ve got to continue to show you.”
Five years later, Corrales-Castillo remains a stunner
Trainer Joe Goossen was involved in one of the all-time great fights five years ago last month, one that included one of the all-time great comebacks.
Diego Corrales – trained by Goossen – entered the 10th round of a lightweight title fight against Jose Luis Castillo ahead on two of three scorecards.
But Corrales was decked twice in the first minute of the round.
It didn’t appear Corrales – whose face was badly beaten – would survive. But he came from the brink of a knockout loss to score a technical-knockout victory a minute later, the fight ending with Corrales beating Castillo senseless on the ropes.
Before that round, Corrales – who was killed in a motorcycle accident on the two-year anniversary of that epic bout – and Castillo had engaged in a vicious back-and-forth slugfest at close quarters.
It was beautiful, and scary.
“The tug of war there was so … the determination of both guys, it was hard to ever tell what the outcome was going to be,” Goossen said.
“It would look like one guy was doing good for a few rounds, then the other guy was doing good.
“The dramatic shift back and forth, since the first fight I ever went to in the ’60s at the Olympic Auditorium, I have never seen anything like it.”
When Corrales went down for the second time in the 10th – Corrales spit out his mouthpiece after the first knockdown and took it out after the second for extra recovery time – Goossen said “concerned associates and family” were urging him to stop the fight.
“I remember looking up at this group of people maybe a row or two to my left and I just looked at them and said, `No,”‘ Goossen said.
“I knew what we had done in the gym.”
Goossen said Corrales’ preparation allowed him to get up from those two knockdowns.
Bob Arum was Castillo’s promoter. He’s still amazed at what transpired that May 7, 2005, night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
“That fight, more than anything, justified how great boxing is and how dramatic it is,” Arum said.
“It was a wonderful night for boxing that will live through the ages.”
Goossen will never forget it. Fellow trainers won’t let him.
“They say, `What was it like to be involved in a fight like that?”‘ Goossen said.
“I’m kind of stunned sometimes. Like, `What was it like going to the moon?”‘
Etc.
There is little to report on negotiations regarding a mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. that probably would take place Nov. 13 in Las Vegas. The respective negotiators for Pacquiao and Mayweather are Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer. Schaefer said “No” when asked if he could discuss the talks. Arum was asked how long he will wait before going elsewhere for Pacquiao. “I’m not going to answer that because I don’t want to put anyone under that kind of pressure,” he said. “But Manny Pacquiao is going to fight in November, whether it’s against Mayweather or somebody else.” That somebody else could be Antonio Margarito, Arum said. … Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0-1, 30 KOs) takes on John Duddy (29-1, 18 KOs) in the middleweight main event next Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. … Frankie Gomez, 18, of East Los Angeles will headline next Thursday’s card at Club Nokia at L.A. Live. Gomez (3-0, 3 KOs) will take on Geoffrey Gaya (5-2, 1 KO) in the junior welterweight division.
