Wayne McCullough watches Andre Ward beat Allan Green and install himself as the Super Six favourite.
Andre now the man to beat in the Super Six Series
The fight between Andre Ward and Allan Green was the last match up in group stage two of the Showtime Super Six Tournament. It took place last weekend at the Oracle Arena in Oakland in front of 8,797 pro-Ward fans.
Andre Dirrell was also in attendance. With one win and one loss in the tournament, he will face Ward in September.
Ward was 21-0 (13 KO's) going into this fight. Green was 29-1 (20 KO's) with his only loss to Edison Miranda in a thrilling fight where both guys went down but fought until the final bell.
Arthur Abraham was leading on the Super Six scoreboard with three points from his first fight having defeated Jermain Taylor by KO. He was awarded two points for the win and one more for the KO. Abraham lost his second fight to Andre Dirrell so it was possible for Ward, who had two points from his win over Mikkel Kessler, to take the lead with a win.
Every fighter except Green had points on the scoreboard and this was because it was his first fight having taken the place of Taylor when he withdrew from the competition. The top four fighters in this stage would move on to the semi0finals.
The 2004 Olympic champion Ward looked great in dethroning WBA champion and one time Super Six favourite, Kessler, and has now most likely taken over as the number one choice to win the entire competition. Ward has very good boxing skills which he showed in the Kessler fight. The better competition brings out the best in him and against Green he would have to bring out his greatest skills.
Forward
Green was an inch taller at 6'1" but had a significant reach advantage of 75" compared to Ward's 71". He came in 2lbs under the super middleweight limit and pushed the fight by coming forward, ultimately giving up his reach advantage. However, when Green got close, Ward was the one scoring with short left and right uppercuts to his opponent's head and body.
Ward looked sharp while Green looked flat but that may have been because Ward didn't let him get anything off by smothering him. He couldn't seem to get his big shots going and Ward was winning every round very easily with good movement, stiff jabs and different combinations. Green landed some short left hooks to the head but they were not that hard - nor was there enough of them.
Ward showed his maturity and his improved skill level, not only in his last fight against Kessler where he won his WBA belt, but also in this fight with Green. At this level where he should have tough fights, he makes them look easy.
At the end of the sixth round, helanded hard left and right hooks to Green's head that hurt him and then in the seventh stepped the pace up and was landing punches at will.
Green carried his left hand very low all through the fight and Ward smartly took advantage of that landing hard straight rights. His left jab always beat Green's to the target.
Classic
Green landed a right uppercut to Ward's body in the ninth that looked like it hurt but didn't throw anything else enabling Ward to cruise in the last few rounds, winning them easily.
Ward was awarded a unanimous decision of 120-108 on all three cards and becomes the first boxer in this classic to win two fights in a row. He smothered the bigger puncher, taking away his jabs and punch power and although he has one more fight in the group stage against his Olympic teammate Dirrell, he has already secured his place in the Super Six semi-finals.
Green has another chance in this stage and claimed he was weak and burned out during the fight because he came in under the weight limit, but realistically it was an easy win for Ward who successfully defended his WBA belt for the first time. Personally I think it was Ward's skills and not Green's excuses that brought the easy win.
