The Super Six Series is back to full strength having briefly been reduced to “The Famous Five” following Jermaine Taylor’s retirement. American Allan Green has stepped in to fill the void and he has a big task ahead of him. It takes a brave man to challenge the likes of Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler.
Taylor retired from the competition and put himself into semi-retirement from the ring after he lost to Abraham, a KO with 10 seconds to go in the final round. That was the second time he had lost in that fashion in a matter of months after Froch beat him in the same style. It’s a shame for Taylor because he is a top pro but he has obviously decided the time is right for him to take a break and this is not a tournament you can go intohalf-heartedly.
So Green has an imposing task ahead of him, this is a mouth-watering best-of-the-best tournament and to stand a chance of beating these guys you have to go in full of confidence and on top of your game.
Green has had a decent career, his record stands at 28-27-1 with an impressive 20 knockouts, but is he up to the standard of Messer’s Froch, Ward and co? Not really. Every tournament needs a dark-horse though - like Reading in this year’s FA Cup, you just can’t rule out a plucky underdog, or “Ghostdog” as Green likes to be known.
However Ghostdog hasn’t got a great deal of pedigree. The super-middleweight division is arguably the most competitive in terms of quality and Green faces a real baptism of fire taking on Ward in his first match-up. “S.O.G” which stands for “Son of God” is still undefeated and is potentially boxing’s next superstar. It won’t get much tougher for Green.
Actually it will. He’s going to quickly discover there are no easy fights in this tournament. Kessler is living proof of that, the Great Dane was the early favourite but he has already suffered a loss to Ward, while Froch is also ready to pounce and Abraham can never be ruled out either.
As a fighter Green likes to edge forward and open up opponents with his left jab, he follows that up with a decent right and can be explosive with his combinations. He’s proved he can drop people and does have a certain quality in his punches but it's yet to be seen if he can transcend that to the top level.
His only defeat came at the hands of Edison Miranda. The Columbian has fought a couple of the Super Six guys, losing to Abraham twice and Ward as well as the likes of Kelly Pavlik. This does not bode well for Green because Miranda was one of those fighters you always felt was very good but didn’t have that extra 10% you need to be top level. Miranda exposed Green’s defensive flaws; he doesn’t get his hands up tight enough to block the heavy blows and his foot work leaves a lot to be desired.
To be fair to Green after the Miranda fight he had extensive surgery to remove 80% of his colon, which is as serious injury as you could get. To even step back in the ring is remarkable after that and Green has said the injury contributed to his defeat. Since then he has been on pretty devastating form and maybe it was something that had been holding him back for sometime.
Green is going into this competition as a rank outsider, yet he shouldn’t be ruled out. Ghostdog could well haunt a few of these big names for years to come.
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