Andre Ward Looks To Avoid A Hammer Horror Show Against Allan Green: Super Six Preview & Prediction
Andre Ward could be excused if he found himself developing a bit of a complex toward all things Scandinavian right now. Last time out, the “Bay Area Kid” found himself having to vanquish a real life Viking warrior in the Dane Mikkel Kessler, and this weekend in the last of the second round matches in the flagship Super Six tournament, he bids to do away with a man who models his left hand on Thor’s hammer from Norse mythology, Mjollnir.
I think it’s safe to say that his local IKEA store shouldn’t expect a visit anytime soon.
Ward began the competition as rank outsider to win it in tandem with the other ‘Dre, Andre Dirrell. When compared to the more accomplished quartet of Kessler, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor, Ward’s patchy looking career ledger didn’t stack up too favourably. Form can alter quickly and dramatically in boxing of course. After disassembling Kessler with a sublime mix of speed and craft in November, the Oakland native finds himself heading up the field, and the perception which had began to form around him, that of a drifting talent, has been transformed into one of potential boxing superstar.
Green, meanwhile, wasn’t even in the mix when proceedings began back in October and instead, was left back in Oklahoma kicking his heels and cursing his rotten luck. The guy he felt he should have had the jump on in the pecking order, however, former middleweight king Taylor, lasted just one night and a single fight, bludgeoned to defeat by Abraham in Berlin and effectively eliminated from the competition. Green quickly signed on to face Sakio Bika in a box-off to find a replacement, yet found himself automatically installed as Taylor’s substitute when the Cameroonian Bika withdrew his bid.
Ward is a 2004 Olympic gold medallist (at light heavyweight) boasting numbers of 21-0 (13) as a pro. At the age of 26, he is entering his prime and has scored his biggest wins over Kessler, Edison Miranda and Jerson Ravelo. He currently rates second at super middleweight behind Lucian Bute.
Green has been around a little longer in knocking up his 29-1 (20) ledger and number eight ranking. At 30, this will be the biggest fight of his career, with his most distinguished victories having been scored over the likes of Tarvis Simms, Ravelo and Jaidon Codrington. The single bruise on his record was thumped there by the aforementioned Miranda in ’07, in a bout which played out at a catch weight of 162 lbs. Despite talking up a storm pre-fight, Green looked inhibited by Miranda’s power for long periods throughout their ten round contest and was outworked, knocked down and very nearly knocked out seconds before the final bell.
At 6’2”, Green can look uncoordinated at times. Standing upright and flat footed and with a rather deliberate left jab, one would be hard pressed to identify John David Jackson, a former slickster, as the guy pulling the strings in the corner. His main game is to attempt to lure his opponent onto his deadly counter left hook. He’ll jab, jab, take a step back and then look to answer his opponent’s attack with his finisher.
Ward, meanwhile, looked a million dollars against Kessler. Despite his jab coming under fire in the past for being a pawing tool rather than a traditional stick, he used it as more of a feint against the Dane before launching into speedy hooks delivered from either stance. It was a tactic which Kessler had no answer for, so unable was he to deal with Ward’s swiftness of hand and foot. Ward’s quickness is exceptional, as is his skill level and although his power is only a tad more than decent, he has enough kick in his shots to lower the boom on good men.
Green believes that he can hurt Ward and can overwhelm him with his strength and roughness inside. He has spoken about dragging the younger man into deep water, into a dogfight where he’s convinced Ward will flounder. The fight’s postponement (it was originally slated for April before Ward withdrew due to a knee injury) has irked Green, something that he’s used to motivate himself in the gymnasium, believing as he does that he has the WBA titlist on the run.
Ward, however, is made of the right stuff. A devout Christian, he lives and trains correctly under the astute stewardship of Virgil Hunter; both disciplinarian and father figure. He is unlikely to be intimidated by the older man in Green and the canny Hunter will have devised a blueprint to eliminate the threat coming down his charge’s right hand side.
In all honesty, I can see a bit of a stylistic nightmare here for Green. One recalls Roy Jones dispensing with his jab completely when he faced off against James Toney in their 1994 superfight. Roy’s reasoning was that if he didn’t throw a jab, Toney couldn’t counter him, an idea which may work beautifully for Ward here. If Ward can press the action, avoiding Green’s telegraph pole of a jab before launching his quick hooks upstairs, he may be able to dominate the action for long periods. Green will have trouble avoiding Ward’s speedy salvos and if he should leave his head up in the air, he could find himself a sitting duck for a butt in the chops, as Ward launches into punches with his head down before looking to smother and hold inside.
I give Green a very decent puncher’s chance in this one and to support his claim, can hark back to instances where superior boxers completely dismantled their opponents before they caught a big one flush and wound up taking an unscheduled nap. The legendary Tommy Hearns ended up such a cropper in his 1988 middleweight bout with Iran Barkley, as did Britain’s Herol Graham against Julian Jackson in 1990. Whilst anything is possible, it is not very probable; it isn’t every day lightning is snagged in a bottle. The form line here suggests that Ward takes his man to school and either lands so much leather he forces a late stoppage or cruises to a straightforward decision win and safe passage to the semis.
I’ll take the former, a result which will leave Green’s chances hanging by a thread, and will demand that he lands his fight ending left hook against Kessler in the final round to remain afloat.
Picture credit: Howard Schatz
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