{"id":5817,"date":"2010-12-02T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2010-12-02T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=5817"},"modified":"2010-12-01T21:13:59","modified_gmt":"2010-12-02T02:13:59","slug":"andre-ward-glen-johnson-arthur-abraham-carl-froch-the-super-six-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=5817","title":{"rendered":"Andre Ward, Glen Johnson, Arthur Abraham & Carl Froch: The Super Six Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Geno McGahee<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Super Six is down to four fighters, the semi finals to take place in 2011.\u00a0 One of the favorites have turned into a heavy underdog, the dark horse of the tourney has become a major player, an underdog has turned into the favorite, and an old timer has come in to spoil the party for the hopeful youngsters.\u00a0 It has had its ups and downs but it has proven a successful tournament, overcoming the obstacles and still delivering great entertainment and drama.<\/p>\n

The initial tournament featured Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, and Mikkel Kessler, but injuries and second thoughts would remove three of them, and would allow Allan Green and Glen Johnson to step in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Green\u2019s entry into the tournament was as quick as his exit, losing badly to both Andre Ward and then by Glen Johnson.\u00a0 Johnson\u2019s one TKO victory over Green put him right into the semi-finals.\u00a0 He was the right guy, at the right place, and at the right time.\u00a0 The face of the tournament has changed and the Kessler\/Abraham favorites are no more.\u00a0 One is out of it and the other is 1-2 in his three outings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The semi finals are set with the now favorite pitted against the now underdog and the old timer facing the dark horse.\u00a0 Anything can happen as proven by this tournament and you cannot count anyone out, but Ward is certainly looking like the pick to win.<\/p>\n

Andre Ward, 23-0, 13 KO\u2019s vs. Arthur Abraham, 31-2, 25 KO\u2019s
\nWBA Super Middleweight Title & Placement in the Finals<\/strong><\/p>\n

At one time, Abraham, the long time reigning middleweight champion with an undefeated record and granite chin was considered the most likely to win.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not to favor him after watching him tough it out against Edison Miranda with a severely broken jaw, and when he moved up, he knocked out former middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor, picking up 3 points and the lead in the tournament.\u00a0 At that point, it was going according to script.<\/p>\n

Abraham would not fare as well against Andre Dirrell, the feather-fisted boxer that had previously lost to Carl Froch in the tournament.\u00a0 Dirrell used movement and reach to dominate Abraham and frustrate him to the point where he hit Dirrell when he was down.\u00a0 The blow was so brutal that it completely knocked Dirrell senseless and out of the tournament.\u00a0 Abraham did not consider it a loss and moved on to face Carl Froch, another 1-1 fighter in the tournament, and the cat was let out of the bag, even by Abraham\u2019s own admission.\u00a0 He cannot compete at the top level of 168 pounders.\u00a0 He was dominated by Froch all 12 rounds, and has stated that he will move back down, but not before he finishes the tournament.<\/p>\n

Andre Ward is a puzzle that nobody has yet to figure out.\u00a0 He reminds me a great deal of John Ruiz with his mauling style, using his strength to push around his opponents and confuse them to the point where they leave openings for his punches.\u00a0 Ward confused and defeated Mikkel Kessler and dominated Allan Green in his second appearance.\u00a0 He is coming off another ugly win over Sakio Bika.\u00a0 Ward is and should be heavily favored over Abraham and when you consider some of the comments by \u201cKing\u201d Arthur after the Froch fight, you have to imagine that he is not the picture of confidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A wide UD for Ward looks like the most likely scenario here, but Abraham does have power and a confusing style of his own, with the tight defense, but Froch didn\u2019t have much of a problem keeping him in that defensive shell.\u00a0 Ward isn\u2019t the puncher Froch is and perhaps that creates a chance for the now long shot to win.<\/p>\n

Carl Froch, 27-1, 20 KO\u2019s vs. Glen Johnson, 51-14-2, 38 KO\u2019s
\nWBC Super Middleweight Title & Placement in the Finals<\/strong><\/p>\n

I called Froch the \u201cDark Horse\u201d to win the tournament and he has proven just that with wins over Andre Dirrell and Arthur Abraham.\u00a0 His one loss, a decision to Mikkel Kessler, was a debatable one, and he still considers himself an undefeated fighter.\u00a0 Froch came onto the scene prior to the tournament\u2019s creation with a final round knockout of Jermain Taylor, saving his undefeated record and title with only seconds to spare.\u00a0 He has improved since then and looked fantastic beating Abraham up for 12 rounds.<\/p>\n

Froch has issues with boxers like Taylor and Dirrell, but like Abraham, Johnson will be standing in front of him, creating openings, but can he keep off the old man and take the decision or the unlikely stoppage?<\/p>\n

Glen Johnson is the man that will never go away.\u00a0 He has been on the big stage a lot over the last seven years.\u00a0 After being the victim of many bad decisions and after being avoided by many fighters, Roy Jones, JR., hand picked him as an opponent and paid for it.\u00a0 A crushing right hand sent Roy to the floor, out cold and placed Johnson into the big leagues.\u00a0 He followed up with an upset win over Antonio Tarver, he held his own with Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud, and has proven to be one of the most durable men in boxing.<\/p>\n

At 41 years of age, he has defied father time and still performs well.\u00a0 He knocked out Allan Green to get into the semi finals and seems stronger at 168, seven pounds less than his normal division.\u00a0 He will be pressing ahead and trying to stop Froch, but he may be running into a mine field.\u00a0 Froch is a devastating puncher and if he lands at Johnson when he comes in, the veteran may be knocked out.<\/p>\n

The most likely scenario is a safety first decision win for Froch, leading to a Ward \u2013 Froch finals.<\/p>\n

Ward vs. Froch is a pick\u2019em fight.\u00a0 Ward would be the favorite going in, but anything can happen and Froch has more than a puncher\u2019s chance going in.\u00a0 The rest of the Super Six should be as great as the beginning of it\u2026.high drama and potential surprises along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the winner possibly facing off against Lucian Bute, the 168 pound division still remains one of the most exciting in boxing.<\/p>\n

\n

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By Geno McGahee The Super Six is down to four fighters, the semi finals to take place in 2011.\u00a0 One of the favorites have turned into a heavy underdog, the dark horse of the tourney has become a major player, an underdog has turned into the favorite, and an old timer has come in to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[143,298,682],"class_list":["post-5817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-carl-froch","tag-glen-johnson","tag-super-six"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5817"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}