Preview: Showtime’s Super Middleweights Enter Stage 3 of Super Six World Boxing Classic

Added on Nov 26, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Even after the leftovers start to dwindle, boxing fans have plenty to still be thankful for as Showtime Sports presents the latest installment of their highly acclaimed super middleweight tournament.

You can see the third stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic conclude as they will be televising a split site doubleheader with WBA super middleweight king Andre Ward defending his crown against late replacement challenger, Sakio Bika in Ward’s hometown of Oakland. Leading in to that bout will have two of Europe’s finest in Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch as they duke it out for the recently vacated WBC strap.
Here’s a preview of this weekend’s action:

Andre Ward vs. Sakio Bika (WBA Super Middleweight Championship) -

Orginally Andre “S.O.G” Ward was to have taken on fellow American Andre Dirrell, but after a lack of venue caused a postponement, Dirrell was forced to pull out of the tournament altogether leaving Showtime, once again, scrambling to find an able fighter to take his place. They went down under and chose The Contender season two winner,Sakio Bika, to take on Ward.

Upon most experts feeling his career got off to a sluggish start following his 2004 Olympic gold medal winning performance, Ward stepped up in the initial round of the Super Six tournament and dethroned then champion Mikkel Kessler. The win not only gave Ward the WBA Championship, but made him the new odds on favorite to win it all. He then turned in a virtuoso performance against Allan Green in the second round proving that Ward was in a league of his own.

Bika has twice come up short in world title bids first fighting to a four round technical draw against Markus Beyer in 2006 and then again five months later when former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe outpointed him via unanimous decision.

Don’t expect the third time to be a charm for Bika as the durable and exciting fighter won’t have enough speed to contend with the younger and more skilled Ward. Expect Bika to put up more of a fight than Allan Green, but count on Ward piling up enough points to earn an easier than expected unanimous decision.

Arthur Abraham vs. Carl Froch (Vacant WBC Super Middleweight Championship -

Both Abraham and Froch stand at one win and one loss as they enter their stage three tournament bout on Saturday night.

Abraham found himself ahead on points deep into his initial tournament bout against Jermain Taylor. Still, he pressed the action and landed a crippling shot that knocked Taylor on the canvas and ultimately out of the tournament. Stage two left Abraham with a less than savory taste in his mouth when Andre Dirrell thoroughly outboxed his for the ten rounds before Abraham was disqualified for hitting Dirrell while he was down in the eleventh, resulting in Abraham no longer holding claim to being an undefeated professional fighter.

Froch fared better against Dirrell in the opening stage when he took a close and somewhat controversial decision against the Flint, Michigan native.

Much like Abraham, Froch wouldn’t be nearly as pleased with his stage two bout when the highly regarded and former WBA champ Mikkel Kessler handed him his first loss with a close but unanimous decision. With the win Kessler walked away with Froch’s WBC championship belt.

Following the bout, Kessler was forced out of the tournament with a long standing eye injury. As a result, Kessler was forced to relinquish his title thus making the upcoming tilt between Froch and Abraham a title affair.

No doubt both combatants will be placing it all on the line as they not only look to once again become a world champion, but also desperately want to get back into the win column. This fight is as even as they come with both men possessing much more skill than the average fighter. The slight edge is going to have to fall with Abrahams’s devastating power. I think that’s going to be the deciding factor in this one as Abraham and Froch stand and trade for the better part of the fight with Abraham getting the better of the exchanges leaving Froch battered and bruised and just a bit weary at the end of twelve hard fought rounds.

At the end of the night, expect Abraham to be wearing that coveted green belt.