Danny Green: What’s Next for the “Green Machine?”
By Damien Norman
IBO Cruiserweight World Title Champion Danny Green paid back his fans last month with a successful title defense and excellent display against BJ Flores in Perth, Australia.
Green, who has been unbeaten since 2006, boxed his way to a decision against his opponent in what was an action packed affair.
The “Green Machine” showed great boxing skills throughout and caught Flores with some excellent combinations and left the judges with little doubt. It has to be said that Flores was there until the end and really tried to take the fight to Green but the decision was fair and Green was the better man on the night.
Prior to this fight, Danny Green faced Paul Briggs in a World Title defense but to the dismay of everybody, Briggs went down after receiving a single left jab to the head from Green; a punch that did not even land cleanly.
Briggs failed to return to his feet and left the arena to a bombardment of boo’s and some angry fans were even launching missiles at the boxer.
Green spoke inside the ring shortly after and showed pure frustration and anger towards Briggs claiming nobody was more upset than he was and that he would make it up to his fans in his next outing. It was a promise he lived up to.
So the Briggs fight did not go as he would have dreamt it but the victory over BJ Flores significantly brought things forward for the Australian banger and we are all now left anticipating his next move. That is now 4 successful Title defenses back to back and I believe it has got to be a huge step up in class now and to face a big name. The appeal to do this would come with the financial incentive that it carries.
Bernard Hopkins is a name that has cropped up a few times and in terms of a big name he probably could not do better but there would have to be many adjustments in order for that fight to take place.
The number one cruiserweight in the World right now is Germany’s Marco Huck who is the current WBO Champ. Huck is scheduled to take on undefeated Denis Lebedev on the 18th of this month.
It would be a huge fight for Danny Green and possibly too big-a step up, in truth, but there would definitely not be anyone better for him to prove himself against.
Another potential opponent for Green could be the winner of the IBF Cruiserweight Title clash in January next year against Enad Licina and American Steve Cunningham.
Cunningham is the only man to defeat Marco Huck and goes in to this bout favorite and should he come through victorious would be a good opponent for Green.
One that I am yet to mention and really caught my eye of late is Alexander Frenkel. Ranked 7th in the World he is unbeaten in 23 fights and looks the complete fighter.
In his last outing on 18th September here in the UK, he ended former WBO Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Maccarinelli’s revival with a crushing 7th round KO, picking up the EBU Cruiserweight Title and impressed a wide audience at the same time.
He moves well, punches hard and as I said looks like a complete boxer however does have a fight (with an opponent yet to be scheduled) planned for 26th February with hit title on the line in his native Germany.
There are fighters closer to home that have been mentioned as viable opponents but in truth Green would be taking two steps backwards and with that in mind really needs to focus on striding forward and looking for a World class operator in his next opponent.
There are plenty of fighters that would love the challenge of Green and you can be sure that none will take a dive like Paul Briggs.
Green has the persona of a man on a mission and the determination and drive to make something big happen.
With the victories and title defenses back to back it appears he is ready to take on one of the real top names, we just hope its sooner rather than later as he has already come out of retirement once and at 37 really needs to strike while the iron is hot.