My Dark Horse to Win the Super Six Tournament

I’ve got to say, the Super Six Tournament on Showtime has provided much better fights than I was expecting. To date, I can’t really point to a boring fight. In fact, the last Carl Froch—Mikel Kessler bout could be considered for fight of the year.

If you haven't tuned into these fights, do yourself a favor and start watching them. It's an extremely competitive tournament featuring, in my opinion, six of the best seven super middleweights in the world.

Current Standings

Arthur Abraham: Three Pts in two fights.

Andre Dirrell: Two Pts in two fights.

Carl Froch: Two Pts in two fights.

Andre Ward: Two Pts in one fight

Mikel Kessler: Two Pts in two fights

Allan Green: Zero Pts in zero fights

Next Fight: June 19th, Allan Green vs. Andre Ward in Oakland, California

Favorite

Andre Ward has to be the favorite, at this point, to win the entire tournament. Many people were predicting Arthur Abraham to win the entire thing, until Andre Dirrell dominated him in their last fight. Abraham lost that fight after knocking out Dirrell when he was down on the mat after a slip.

Ward looked outstanding against Mikel Kessler. He’s fast, slippery, and a very smart fighter. He’s also undefeated at this point in his career.

Next In Line

That’s the great thing about this tournament, all six fighters could conceivably win it. All have looked good and, honestly, the home town advantage is proving to be the deciding factor in many, if not all, of these fights.

Every single fighter, save one, has won when they’ve fought at home. Jermaine Taylor is the lone exception to that rule in his loss to Carl Froch.

I think Carl Froch loses his fight against Andre Dirrell if they’re on neutral ground. The same could be said of Carl Froch’s loss to Mikkel Kessler.

Allan Green is the wild card. He’s taken over for Jermain Taylor who either dropped out, or was forced out, depending upon whom you’re talking too.

Stage Three

Stage Three could determine the entire next round. If Ward loses to Allan Green, then it’s anyone’s race.

Andre Dirrell vs Andre Ward: This will be a great fight. Dirrell will need a win, and Ward may need one depending up on fight against Allan Green. This could very well be a close fight. Both fast fighters, decent power, Dirrell is more active while Ward is more conservative. It will be interesting to see how Dirrell does after Abraham knocked him out while he was on the mat in their last fight.

Carl Froch vs Arthur Abraham: Again, both fighters need to win this to go onto the next round. Froch actually impressed me in his fight against Kessler, even though he lost it. He’s got a lot more speed and heighth than I give him credit for. Also, Dirrell may have shown a blue print for how to beat Abraham.

Mikkel Kessler vs Allan Green: If Green can’t get passed Andre Ward, he’s out of the tournament by the time this fight happens. Admittedly, I’ve never seen Green fight. Kessler showed a tremendous amount of heart in his win over Carl Froch in their last fight. One of the guttier performances I’ve seen in quite awhile.

My Prediction

I like Andre Dirrell. He could have easily gotten the decision over Carl Froch and just fought an outstanding fight against Arthur Abraham. He gave Abraham his first loss and really fought a smart, disciplined fight. I think he can beat Andre Ward if he uses his reach and speed. Ward is very conservative and a great counter puncher so Andre will really need to be on his toes. He’s already shown signs of becoming a much more mature fighter, this tournament has already proved great at seasoning his abilities.

The Loser

Arthur Abraham needs a massive win against Carl Froch. Not only did Dirrell dominate him, but he looked like a sore loser and a jerk when he cold-cocked Dirrell while Andre had both knees on the mat. His comments that Andre was a “good actor” afterwards were tasteless. Andre was clearly hurt by a sucker punch.

The Photo

Can anyone name the fighters in the photo? The caption said 'Mikkel Kessler vs Andre Ward', but that's not right. I think one of the guy's first name is Jose.