Dominating, Not Impressive, But Strangely Familiar

by Chris Milton

As we all know on Saturday night Andre Ward completely dominated Allan Green to win all twelve rounds in the final fight of the second round of Super Six fights.

It’s very rare these days that a fighter gets completely shut-out in what is supposed to be a world class match-up. The writing was on the wall from the first round onwards. Green had no inside game and could not keep Ward on the outside. After 4 rounds, the fight was essentially over.

Ward had the perfect platform to make himself a true superstar in this fight. The Olympic Gold medallist had previously dominated Mikkel Kessler in spectacular fashion in his previous fight to become the WBA super interim silver US NABO Emeritus regular champ*, an entertaining performance in this fight could have catapulted him into true super-stardom.

Unfortunately, the performance was far from stellar. Far from being impressed. I was left the impression that Ward could have done far more. He could have let his hands go more, he could have worked form the outside a little more. Green landed one punch of note from the outside all night, yet Ward, refused to do anything but go back to working on the inside and turn the fight into a jab and hug session.

But the one thing that sticks in my mind is, when the hell did Andre Ward turn into Ricky Hatton?

Ricky Hatton fought with the exact same style for years yet he is widely criticised by Boxing fans for his wrestling and mauling. Yet, Andre Ward is now unanimously hailed as a top P4P fighter.

Ward has amazing speed and reflexes, he has a wonderful jab and vastly underrated footwork, yet he totally neglected to use them.

If he wants to become the superstar he could potentially be, Ward is going to have to use his outside game more, otherwise the fans will eventually turn on him the way they turned on Hatton after a few bad performances. Dan Rafael has reported that the Green bout was close to being called off due to poor ticket sales. With the bout taking place in Wards hometown of Oakland, it’s a worrying sign if true.

Either way, Ward needs a big performance against Dirrell, he needs to impress. Otherwise winning the Super 6 itself may not be enough for Ward to cross over.

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