With the departure of Andre Dirrell from the Super Six tournament (and just possibly the sport of boxing), there can be little doubt that the tournament is now dangerously close to becoming as dead as a doornail. Jermain Taylor‘s retirement came early enough that he could be realistically replaced, and replacement Allan Green was at least a realistic Top 10 super middleweight. However, Mikkel Kessler was replaced by Glen Johnson, a 41 year old fighter who hasn’t fought at 168 lbs since September 2000. While I have no doubt that Green vs. Johnson will be entertaining, what it will not be is a fight of substance in the super middleweight division. A replacement for Dirrell might be as ill-suited or worse, and so while the Super Six tournament might indeed lumber on, it would be as a resurrected Frankenstein’s monster. The original promise of having six of the best 168-pounders in the world is without question lost now, as only three of the original six remain standing: Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch.
There is only one way to salvage this fiasco: scrap the rest of the group stages altogether and advance directly to the elimination round. Set Green vs. Johnson as a separate fight, say a bout to challenge the ultimate winner. Then let Abraham vs. Froch go ahead, and find a step-in for Andre Ward. There are two problems with this scenario, however. First, who fights Ward? IBF beltholder Lucian Bute has already priced himself out of the Showtime-based tournament, and clearly prefers to make safer money on HBO. That leaves Saiko Bika (already mentioned as a replacement for Taylor) and Librado Andrade. Both are genuine 168-pound contenders, but both are also flawed and near the bottom of the rankings.
The other problem is that Showtime already tried to push the idea of scrapping the rest of the group stages and getting on with the program, only to have the fighters and promoters reject it. Apparently, Ward, Abraham and Froch and their crews are all keen on getting the extra payday that the third fight in Stage 3 offers them. With Dirrell now out of action and the tournament turning into a farce, is it in Showtime’s interest to give them that extra fight?
Probably not. The Super Six was squarely based on its promise of matching the best against the best in fight after fight. Abraham vs. Froch has that kind of drama, but Ward vs. Anyone Else doesn’t. Neither does Green vs. Johnson for that matter. What this tournament needs to do is get to a stage where Ward is matched against either Froch or Abraham, and as soon as possible, because that is what fans on both sides of the Atlantic want to see. Anything else is a dead issue.
