Green left out of mix…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I picked a pretty good week to go on vacation as not much happened in the fight game this last week. But there is one thing definitely worth mentioning from last week.
If it actually plays out, Showtime’s six-man super middleweight round robin tournament might be the best thing in ages for boxing.
High-profile names (Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell).
Fights fans have talked about in the last couple of years, so the interest is definitely there.
It’s a dream tournament on the surface. But my one question is where is The Ghost Dog? How is Tulsa native Allan Green left off this list?
Since sorting out his promoter issues and his lone loss to Edison Miranda two-and-a-half years ago, Green has righted his ship.
And in his most recent outing on Showtime against Carlos De Leon Jr., he did everything that a fan and promoter looks for. He floored De Leon four times in the second round in earning an impressive, decisive victory in a bout that was supposed to go either way.
So where is Green? How is he not one of the elite super middleweights in the game right now?
Green isn’t the only snub, but he may be the one with the most amount of beef. Lucien Bute and Librado Andrade also didn’t make the cut, but those two are squaring off against each other in a rematch of their fun and controversial fight from last fall where Bute held on for the win.
Green was extremely candid with maxboxing’s Steve Kim last week. Don’t blame him, to be quite honest.
Here’s what he had to say:
“It’s almost like I’ve been blackballed to a degree. And I know my gift is my curse. Being a big, tall, fast super middleweight. A lot of guys aren’t going to be interested to fight you. But it’s not fair. Boxing is not the same as it used to be. That’s why a lot of the fans are starting to stray away because we get these promoters and various networks, when you try and invent guys who really aren’t the fighters that you try to make the public out to believe they are, sooner or later, they’ll get cat-called, they’ll get exposed. A lot of people are shying away from boxing because of that.”
So for now Green is on the outside looking in.
***
It was made official Monday that Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto will square off Nov. 14 at 145 pounds. I’ll have much more to say about this later in the week as I feel some are sleeping on the Puerto Rican star.
***
And finally some sad news from the MMA world as early pioneer Kimo Leopoldo has passed away from a heart attack at the age of 41.
I’ll best remember Kimo for stretching Royce Gracie to the limit back in the early UFC days.
He fought a list of who’s who in the early days. He lost nearly as many as he won, but they were always entertaining and left you wanting to see more.
Thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.
EDIT Tuesday night: Kimo is not dead. He is alive and well. Too weird to be made up. More thoughts on this later in the week.
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