Super Six World Boxing Classic ~The Super Middleweights~

[Super Hans]

Ken Hershman, the general manager of Showtime Sports, has announced that Andre Dirrell has withdrawn from the Super Six Boxing Classic with an injury. The nature of the injury was not disclosed. Hershman said WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward will still fight on November 27 against a replacement opponent.
Dirrell comes on the heels of WBC champion Mikkel Kessler pulling out with an eye injury and being replaced in the tournament by Glen Johnson, who faces Allan Green in the third stage of the Super Six on November 6 in Las Vegas. Green had replaced Jermain Taylor who withdrew after the first stage of the tournament.
There are many who believed all along that Dirrell and Ward, because they are close friends, would never fight each other. When asked for his opinion on the matter, Hershman said "that's not my job" in terms of pursuing whether or not the injury is legit.
"We have a few options on the table" said Hershman, when asked if there is a replacement in mind.
Hershman said there is a chance that the upcoming fight involving Ward could be held "outside of the tournament" because Ward has 4 points in the tournament and advances to the semi-finals, win or lose, based on his score tally. Ward's next fight will likely take place at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, where his last two bouts have taken place. Ironic since there was a big dispute between the Ward and Dirrell camps over the venue location.
Hershman said "the Super Six will continue and the semi-finals will happen next year."








I don't mind the format. It's a good idea in principle but boxing being as it is, it was always probable that fighters would pull out and it would all end up pear-shaped.

We don't need tournaments in boxing, we just need one genuine champion and for him to fight the best contenders. No I'm not naive, I'm aware that this has never really happened in the history of boxing but with all the modern day advances and information we have available, this really should be happening by now. Unfortunately for as long as the alphabelt soup sells this sport and promoters can make money by fraudulently advertising fighters as 'world champions' when really they're nowhere near the thing. I'm a boxing fan I always will be. And I'm not knocking boxers for this because it's a tough game and you can't blame anyone for wanting to make as much money as possible from it, it's how the world works unfortunately. It's just a shame because it devalues boxing as a sport and stops us fans seeing so many fantastic fights.

 

[Gregor_Samsa]

Yeah Hans, I just found out about the Dirrell withdraw. That's why I came here to post.

I was so pumped about the Super Six Tournament when it was announced last year. And the first two fights of the tourney showed a lot of promise with Abraham delivering that brutal knockout to Taylor and Froch, in my opinion, getting the gift decision over Dirrell. However it has been in decline. I might be in favor of scrapping the whole tournament format and just having the already scheduled fights.

Abraham and Froch are still on and that should be a war, definitely worth watching. And while I've been far from impressed by Allen Green, Glen Johnson is a grizzled veteran who always brings it and delivers a good fight. Ward, I don't know, he beat both Kessler and Green with relative ease. Who could really present a problem for him? Lucian Bute, perhaps. I might even toss Chad Dawson's name into the mix but the fight would almost certainly be a snoozefest.

Hans, I think tournaments can be a positive thing for boxing, as it (in theory) would get those top tier fighters of a certain division to stop ducking each other and fight. Now this concept has certainly taken a hit with the demise of the Super Six but we have the Bantamweight tournament coming up and a cruiserweight tournament as well, I believe.

I and probably all boxing fans agree with you about the one champion in each division. Belts became pointless years ago. Some really mediocre fighters are walking around with a piece of gold over their shoulder.

It's not all bad news for boxing fans though as this November has some great fights scheduled. Martinez vs Williams II is a must see.