By Paul Strauss – The scorecards signified a strong showing for Allan “Sweetness” Green over unbeaten Tarvis Simms. But, the reality is his performance was not a Super Six performance. In fairness to the native Oklahoman, there were some unexpected circumstances that undoubtedly played a hand in his performance, such as a last minute (6 days) change in opponents. Originally he had been scheduled to fight the orthodox slugger named Victor Oganov, but the Russian injured his shoulder. The thirty-eight year old Simms eagerly stepped in to re-establish himself and his unbeaten record as a worthy contender.
In a pre=fight-interview Green claimed the much shorter Simms would not be able to withstand his onslaught, and he implied the fight would end in a knockout. Announcers Curt Menefee, Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver all talked about the difficulties Green might have had adjusting late in his training camp to a completely different style fighter. Oganov fights squat, is strong and dangerous, but very hittable. The implication was that anyone Green could hit, he could take out, just as he has done with twenty of his previous opponents. On the other hand, the threesome advised viewers that Simms was clever, and would be fighting southpaw, which could prove to be a big last minute adjustment for Green..
But, Simms foxed them all by coming out orthodox. He also managed to get a jab established, and proved clever enough to elude Green’s big shots, especially the left hook.
Green controlled the action and used his height advantage, but often times also smothered him self by allowing Simms to get in close. The three announcers were impressed with Simms performance early on, but wondered whether he could keep it up, because of the fact that he did take the fight on such short-notice. He had fought only once before in 2009, and in that fight he struggled to come away with a SD over Marcus Upshaw. Farhood also mentioned that Simms was obviously the smaller man, and had fought middleweight for most of his career, but on this night he had difficulty making the super-middleweight limit, and was seen running the night before weigh in and came in at 168 3/4 pounds. He didn’t look flabby, but he did look thick around the middle.
Throughout the fight Green controlled the action, and landed more punches and harder punches, but there were times when he looked less than stellar. His combinations lacked the crispness we’ve become accustomed to expect with Sweetness. His timing seemed a bit off, and in the six-round Simms finally switched to southpaw. That seemed to confuse Green, who continued to move to his right into the power of Simms. In between rounds, Green could be heard to say, “He’s fighting southpaw, what should I do?” That seemed to be a strange comment coming from a veteran fighter, who considered himself worthy of being chosen as a participant in the Super Six Tournament.
The most telling moments of the fight came when Simms was able to back Green up into the ropes. That was something that Green should never have let happen, and when it did, it revealed that Green was unsettled and somewhat surprised to find himself in that position. Simms changed his height disadvantage into an advantage and caught Green in an upright stance with his chin exposed. On at least one occasion he tagged Green sufficiently with a combination to warranted Curt Menefee into observing that Green was in trouble.
Simms wasn’t able to press his momentary advantage enough to change the course of the fight, but it did make one wonder what would have happened if Green had been in there against one of the Super Six. It seems very possible Kessler, Froch and Abraham would have caused some serious damage if they were able to position Green similarly. It is also questionable whether Green exhibited enough speed and quickness last night to deal with the likes of the two Andres and Jermain.
In Greens defense, he mentioned during a post-fight interview that he re-injured his right shoulder. He explained that he just wasn’t able to throw the power right hand the way he claims he normally can. That would also help to explain why he didn’t throw more right hands against Simms when Simms changed to the southpaw stance. However, the fact remains that if Green expects to hold a position at the top of the division and continue to be someone ready to fight the eventual winner emerging from the Super Six Tournament, he had better be sharper and more powerful, and exhibit a better defense than he did last night at the First Council Casino, Newkirk, Oklahoma.