With the Super Six Super Middleweight Tournament two thirds through the first three stages, fans are being treated to a tight competition of elite world class pugilism. With the second stage victories of Andre ” The Matrix ” Dirrell (19-1, 13KO) and Mikkel ” The Viking Warrior ” Kessler (43-2, 32KO), the tournament is turning out to be very exciting and much closer than I anticipated.
The point system for the tournament is as follows, three points for knock out win, two points for a decision win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. Top points move on after three group stages with bottom two point scorers being eliminated with advancing stages following suit.
After the victory of Andre “ S.O.G. “ Ward (23-0, 13KO) over Allan “ Sweetness “ Green (29-3, 20KO) this past Saturday June 19, 2010, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland California to retain his WBA Super middleweight belt and take a tournament lead with four points, let’s take a look back at what has happened so far in the first six fights and my predictions for stage three and onward.
Kicking off the tournament in the first of a double-header from different sites was the bout between “King” Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25KO) and Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (28-4-1, 17KO) from the O2 World Arena in Berlin Germany on October 17, 2009. The crowd in Germany was electric for their hometown fighter by way of Armenia, with the Scorpions playing while Arthur was lowered from the rafters on a circular platform connected to four cords, wearing his gold and red robe lined with what looked like a lion’s mane. I couldn’t help but think of Rocky Four, it was exciting.
The bout started off with both fighters employing their usual early round M.O.’s, Taylor starting off fast with nice jabs, winning four of the first five rounds on my card. While as usual Abraham started off slow measuring and trying to figure his opponent out while waiting for him to tire a little.
By the sixth round “King” Arthur picked up the pace and started landing hard crisp left-hooks and rights while employing some body work. There did not seem to be to much pop in Taylor’s punches, coming off knock out losses to Kelly Pavlik and tournament participant Carl “The Cobra” Froch (26-1, 20KO). Jermain seemed content to land only with his jab and stay busy, he was never able to penetrate Arthur’s tight guard with power punches. So Arthur not fearing Jermain’s power, opened up letting punches fly in the middle rounds. Jermain’s stamina started to fade and he became less active in the later rounds as he has been known to do and Arthur began to take over.
In the ninth round Arthur landed a right-hand bomb on Taylor’s jaw that had the Arkansas native dazed and holding on to survive. Taylor recovered to make it to the championship rounds where with six seconds left, Abraham dropped a one-two jab-right combo that sent Taylor into la la land giving “King” Arthur the early lead with three points for the knockout.