Allan Green Says Andre Ward is not a good fighter
Allan Green might be a late addition to the Super Six World Boxing Classic for super middleweights, but he doesn’t think of himself as an afterthought. That’s certainly the mindset that he has as he continues preparations for his fight against Andre Ward on June 19 for Ward’s WBA title. It’s the last fight of the second round of the tournament - Green was a replacement for Jermain Taylor, who could not continue due to injuries suffered in his opening round defeat to Arthur Abraham, including a severe concussion that might have forced him into retirement.
Because of his late entry into the tournament, Green is at the bottom of the standings despite having not fought a round. With only three rounds in the tournament before the top four fighters are selected for the semifinals, Green knows that he has to earn points - and fast - if he wants to move near the top of the tournament standings. The good news is that no one fighter has pulled away from the pack yet, and that Green is capable of ending a fight with one punch - a skill that is worth extra points within the scope of the tournament format.
Certainly, Green is relying on his punching power to be his trump card when he takes on Ward. For a fighter who is only in the tournament as an injury replacement, Green has been confident to the point of being cocky coming into the fight against Ward. Specifically, he has called out Ward’s toughness, claiming that the champion isn’t a “real warrior” and lacks the desire and grit needed to win a bruising fight.
While Green said that he respects Ward as a fighter and “commended” him on his first round victory over Mikkel Kessler, he also said that he wasn’t particularly impressed with the former Olympian’s tactics. According to Green, Ward was unwilling to go toe-to-toe with Kessler, preferring to boxing for short stretches before grabbing and pushing away. It’s a pattern that Green says he has detected in Ward while studying tapes of his previous bouts and is something that he can take advantage of during their fight.
Ward also took an early shot at Ward’s ability to take a punch, telling FightNews.com that Ward has a “weak chin” and is unwilling to fight on the inside
What good does this talk do? At first glance, it would appear to be an attempt by Green to anger Ward and make him want to “get revenge” for the comments that Ward made questioning his toughness and go hunting for a knockout. Certainly, that would benefit Green from a tactical standpoint - he is not nearly as technically skilled of a fighter as Ward and needs the fight to turn into a brawl with exactly the same sort of inside fight that he claims Ward refuses to do in order to win. It appears that the strong words are primarily being said be Green in an attempt to get inside Ward’s head and make him deviate from his previously successful fight plan.
Green’s talk might also be taken as an attempt to influence the judges and make them question Ward’s style of fighting. By pointing out the “fight then clinch” tactics that he accuses Ward of engaging in ahead of the fight, Green is likely also attempting to call attention to them for the benefit of the judges. His hope would be that they would start looking for these tactics as well and perhaps penalize Ward in their scorecard if they feel as though Green is attempting to be the more aggressive fighter while Ward is slowing down the action.
However, there’s another reason that Green could be talking so much about Ward ahead of the fight: as a way to pump himself up. Green is a 4-to-1 underdog for a reason - despite having power he is also a wild and sometimes erratic fighter prone to lapses of focus. His borderline arrogant stance ahead of the fight might be a way to motivate himself and convince himself that he has a shot against the fight now considered to be the tournament favorite.
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