Boxing Bullets

No Mean Green

Given a golden opportunity to launch his career into stratosphere, super middleweight Allan “Mean” Green absolutely shrunk in the glaring spotlight of his very first crack at big-time, high-stakes boxing. The young man was bold, brash, and brazen in the weigh-in a day before the fight, trash-talking his opponent, WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward. But on fight night,Green looked tentative, sluggish, and gun-shy throughout his title fight with Ward, and by the sixth round, Green looked like a lost, beaten man, broken down round after round after round by the vastly superior Californian, who boxed a shutout for his second win in Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic.

What a Wonderful Ward

Speaking of Andre Ward, he’s pretty darn good, no? He didn’t just win his second bout in Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic; Ward won by dominating countryman Allan Green fighting a style he’s never used before—in-fighting. The former Olympic gold medalist clinched and fought inside all throughout the match, peppering Green with short, crisp, and scarily accurate hooks and uppercuts. The young Californian was so dominant that Green, himself a good fighter, looked woefully outclassed all night long. What’s more, Ward looked scarily calm and unflappable in disposing the powerful Green.

It Gets More Interesting

The Super Six World Boxing Classic has, by all accounts, been very successful, especially when you consider the quality of matches it has so far given to the fans. All six fights thus far have been pretty good, and at least three—Abraham–Taylor, Froch–Dirrell, and Froch–Kessler—have been wildly entertaining, worth-the-price-of-admission battles. And the action gets even better in Stage 3,with Dirrell–Ward, Froch–Abraham, and Kessler–Green slated within the year

Jr. Welterweight Tourney Nixed

Last week, promoter Gary Shaw broached to HBO the idea of holding a tournament at the talent-rich junior welterweight division, and it was promptly nixed by Golden Boy Promotions. Too bad because a tournament featuring the best 140-pounders—Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, and Juan Manuel Marquez to name five—would have been an absolute treat to fight fans all around the world.

Protecting Khan

That Golden Boy Promotions shot down this proposed tournament isn’t really surprising. In fact, Oscar dela Hoya and Richard Schaefer would nix any proposal that would put their boy, Amir Khan, in any serious danger. They know that Khan, talented and skilled as he is, just isn’t ready to face the big dogs at 140, not with that suspect chin and that still-penetrable defense. Now Khan may very well become the best junior welterweight at some point in the near future, but right now, he’s still a work in progress, and pitting him against skilled power punchers like Bradley, Alexander, and Maidana would be like feeding the Englishman to a pack of hungry wolves.

Mayol Loses

The Philippines' list of boxing champions got shorter today as Rodel Mayol lost his WBC flyweight title to Omar Niño via unanimous decision. Now not taking anything away from Niño, who is obviously a good fighter, but how in God's name did he get a rematch after his blatant foul on Mayol in their first meeting? And, really, why on God's green Earth did this rematch happen in Mexico again? Somebody should've at least stepped in on Mayol's behalf and pointed out these two things, because one, Niño didn't deserve a rematch so soon, and two, this fight should have at least happened in a neutral setting, not in the country of the challenger.