Super Six Tournament update

The announcement of Showtime’s Super Six Boxing Classic tournament in July 2009 was music to the ears of boxing fans. Put into the pot were a mix of world class super middleweight talent from Europe and America fighting each other to prove who rules the division.

Round One was completed in November with the first upset of the tournament,  Andre Ward getting a win over pre-tournament betting favourite Mikkel Kessler. Carl Froch won a close split decision over Andre Dirrell in Nottingham and a 12th round knockout win over Jermain Taylor shot Arthur Abraham to the summit of the points table.

This is how the fighters currently stand.

Arthur Abraham    - 3pts (KO win)

Carl Froch            - 2 pts (points win)

Andre Ward         - 2 pts (points win)

Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler are all on 0.

Now round two is almost upon us, we have three more cracking fights to look forward to.

As we concentrate on British news on this website, Froch has to get first mention. Looking at all three of the fights, Froch’s bout against Kessler has to be the pick of round two.  Both fighters first round bouts didn’t quite go how they would have liked, especially Kessler who finds himself minus a world title and sporting a battered ego. Kessler (42-2) made no excuses after his loss against Ward but you have to feel the damage caused to his face may have affected the way he fought. I’m sure he will look to bounce back against Froch, especially with the WBC strap on the line.

Froch (26-0) will want to be able to impose himself more in this bout against a slower opponent than he found Dirrell to be last time out. This fight should suit Carl better as Kessler will be in front of him ready to battle it out toe to toe. Froch didn’t get to land his best shots against Dirrell so he will be itching to get his best shots off in Copenhagen when the pair meet in April.

Both guys have proven solid chins and can both bang a bit, this has all the ingredients to be a classic.

Arthur Abraham (31-0),  squares off against Andre Dirrell in march, fighting in America for only the second time in his career and only his second bout at super-middle (previously campaigning at middleweight). Abraham’s hands up, tight guard style looks as though it may be easy to figure out, but so far, no one has managed to get a win over Abraham.

Dirrell (18-1) as we saw in his last fight, has speed in abundance, the snap he was getting on his punches in the last few rounds against Froch was impressive. Please note, that the Froch fight was only the second time Dirrell had been scheduled to fight a twelve rounder and has only fought more than eight rounds once, this could explain the slow start last time out as he needed to pace himself so he didn’t run out of steam late on. As Abraham is a notoriously slow starter he will need to get out of the traps quickly to gain any advantage. Dirrell's chin has yet to be properly tested, but his speed will be key to scoring his first points in the tournament.

In the final bout of round two, American 2004 gold medal winner Andre Ward faces ex-middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Taylor (28-4-1) has suffered two bad knockouts in his last two fights. Some may say that Taylor is a shot fighter, but he remains committed to the sport of boxing and thinks he still has something to offer this tournament. Taylor’s best chance in this fight would be to use his speed and boxing skills rather than get involved in a slugfest.

Ward (21-0), whose best win other than the Kessler victory is an UD points victory over Edison Miranda, will be looking to add more points to the two he picked up in round one and push towards a semi final spot.

As the tournament progresses, each fight has more at stake. After round three of the tournament we will lose the two fighters with the least points from the six. So all is still to play for in the fighters ultimate goal of being crowned Super Six World Boxing Classic champion.

Fight fans can tune in at home and watch on TV via satellite channel Primetime.