Weekend of Boxing From Arount the Globe

By Crafty Stan

Andre Ward v Allan Green




WBA Super Middleweight Title Fight- Oakland, California, USA

03:00 BST Sunday 20th June 2010

On another very quiet boxing weekend where there is no domestic Friday Fight Night, by a country mile the biggest fight on offer is in the Super Six competition where Round 2 draws to a close with hot competition favourite Andre Ward squaring up against Allan Green.

Andre Ward has never been beaten as a professional and is on a long undefeated stretch that dates back to amateur days, he is an Olympic Gold medallist and beat off the pre-tournament favourite in Mikkel Kessler in Round 1 of the tournament via a technical decision after a rough but convincing performance. It is fair to say he is a massive favourite coming into this fight. Ward possesses great speed and accuracy along with clever ring craft and a decent if not exactly brutal level of power. So what does his opponent offer and can he be a genuine threat?

Well the answer is not a huge amount. Allan Green is a pretty big puncher and therefore there is always that cliche of the 'Punchers chance' and this does hold true. Green destroyed Jaidon Codrington (a prospect of the time) in the first round of their contest and he will always be a threat from a power point of view but I find it hard to see where he is going to get close enough to be able to land a serious of power shots or even one clean shot on the chin because Ward will be so elusive in there. If the Great Dane Kessler couldn't hit him, how is Green going to?

I don't see Ward being desperate for a knockout as two more points will suffice in seeing him progress to the Semi-Finals and Green should be resilient enough to see the final bell. I expect Ward to clock up the rounds on the judges scorecards and come up with a wide Unanimous Decision victory. I am very surprised that there are odds against available on Ward by points as I have it at 1.95 shot myself.

RECOMMENDATION: 3 Points on Ward Decision/Technical Decision (Points) @ 2.25 William Hill

Crafty Stan