By Andrew Wake: A world title crack cannot be far away for highly touted super-middleweight Allan “Sweetness” Green. The Oklahoma native boasts a superb 25-1 slate with 18 knockouts and is rapidly building a reputation that is marking him out as a potential top dog in the 168Ibs weight division. He aims to further enhance his credentials by adding the name of a former world title challenger to his record this evening (Jan 4th) when he takes on Rubin Williams at the Million Dollar Elm Casino in his hometown of Tulsa..
Green, a former National Golden Gloves winner, had something of a mixed 2007. In March he failed in his first major test when he moved down to 160Ibs and was dropped twice on way to losing a 10 round decision to the formidable Columbian slugger Edison Miranda. By his own admission, Green was poor that night in Puerto Rico but now attributes his disappointing showing to a serious colon problem that was later discovered.
Green, 28, bounced back from Miranda defeat by walking through the aging Floridian Darrell Woods in one round last July before going under the knife and having part of his paralyzed colon removed. Not one to stay away and lick his wounds “Sweetness” returned in October and stopped the battle tested Sherwin Davis inside two sessions.
Allan has stated that dropping to middleweight to face Miranda was the biggest mistake of his career and that it is not something he will be doing again. With the health problems now behind him, he feels he can be a major player at his preferred weight of 168Ibs “Hopefully after Williams, I can get in the ring with Bute, Pavlik, Kessler or Lacy,” He recently told ESPN’s Joe Tessitore “Those are really the guys I am targeting.”
He could have had a bigger fight instead of this match up with Rubin Williams as he was offered an HBO showcase against undefeated Olympic gold medallist Andre Ward but, being a man who prides himself on his word, he decided to honour this already arranged date.
Rubin “Mr.Hollywood” Williams, 31, is a man who seems to be heading in the opposite direction to next foe. The Detroit based puncher has a respectable 29-2-1 record with 16 wins coming inside schedule but has been inactive since he drew in a storming battle with the faded Antwun Echols a year ago and is now a million miles away from where he was when he challenged the once ferocious Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy in early 2005. Further more, this summer he suffered the embarrassment of not making it past the initial testing stage of the popular television series The Contender when his reaction timing was deemed too slow.
Despite appearing to be on the downward slope, Williams knows that he only needs a decent win and his own name could be put back into the title mix and is predicting that he will be the first man to do what Miranda couldn’t and stop Green. “I’m looking forward to going to Oklahoma and knocking Allan Green out,” Rubin told the Tulsa World. “I’ll be there. I’m knocking his block off.”
Verdict: If the once beaten Green, who’s résumé reads like a who’s who of Contender stars, is as good as his previous fights have suggested, and he is to become a major threat in this Calzaghe dominated weight class, then he should be able to take care of business in eight round or less.