Allan Green: “The moment Mikkel Kessler feels my power, the first time he gets hit by a big strong guy like me, we’ll see how he reacts!”
by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) - The most recent edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with light heavyweight contender Allan Green (31-3, 21 KOs) who is taking on former super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (44-2, 33 KOs) tonight in Copenhagen, Denmark. Green shared his views on the Kessler bout and also spoke about his career. Additionally he provided opinions on various aspects of the current boxing landscape including Chad Dawson’s recent victory over Bernard Hopkins, and Dawson’s upcoming fight against Andre Ward. Here is what Green had to say:
His views on his upcoming fight against Mikkel Kessler:
“I’m feeling pretty good. You know I have been training and stuff over here. I’ve been feeling pretty good. I feel strong. My weight is where I need to be so I’m ready.”
Regarding the fact that he was originally supposed to meet Kessler in Group Stage 3 of the Super Six before Kessler pulled out with vision concerns:
“You know I have no malice towards him or anything like that. I wasn’t hard up to fight him because of that. I’m just happy I’m fighting, I’m happy I’m back in the ring, I’m happy it’s against an opponent like Mikkel Kessler, and I’m looking forward to winning.”
On what he believes a victory against Kessler will do for him at this stage of his career:
“It will do a lot. It will put me either back where I was or above that. It should wash away most of my ignominious performance in the Super Six Tournament. You know I don’t have to lose all the weight to make weight. I don’t have to go in the ring weak. So I can go in and pretty much be myself.”
Regarding the fact he has prior experience fighting at 175 while Kessler does not:
“Let’s clarify that! The fight is taking place at 172 because Kessler didn’t want to do 175! He’s parading around like this fight is at a full-fledged 175, but no it’s not! It’s at 172.”
On his most recent fight which was a close victory against Sebastian Demers:
“It wasn’t a close fight. I won a unanimous decision, but I took that fight on fairly short notice. I wasn’t really prepared for that fight. I didn’t really expect the fight to happen. I didn’t feel good, I didn’t feel strong, but I still came away with a win.”
His views on Kessler’s style as a boxer:
“His style’s not that tough. I mean he’s pretty straight up and down European, no special effects. He has a good 1-2, not a lot of head movement. I’m not saying he’s an easy fighter, but he really doesn’t have a tough style to deal with. I mean I know he’s in shape. He’s an in shape guy and he stays busy. That will probably be the hardest thing to deal with. But basically I just have to work on being myself, working on doing what I can do when I’m physically near my peak, when I’m physically feeling good, when I’m not weight drained or walking into the ring weak at 40%. You know I’m just working on being myself.”
On what he feels will be his biggest advantage against Kessler:
“Speed and power. I mean people can say size, but speed and power definitely. Like I said I was raised more so in the American scene of boxing. So we have a lot of options and we a lot of tricks up our sleeves. He really doesn’t have many, but we have a lot of different avenues we can take as far going on to win this fight.”
On what things he may have learned from Kessler’s two losses to Andre Ward and Joe Calzaghe:
“Of course I’ll take a little bit. I mean even though Joe Calzaghe is from the UK he fights with more of an American style of fighting, just as Andre Ward is from America and fights with more of an American style of fighting. Like I said I’ll just have to be basic but not very basic. I’ll have to give Mikkel Kessler different looks. I mean I’m the better athlete so I’ll have to take advantage of my athleticism and using speed and a lot of feinting. I’ll just do different things to him to offset him, and then on top of that he still has to deal with my power.”
His views on why Kessler decided to move up now to face him when Kessler previously stated he had no intentions of fighting north of 168:
“I think he still can make 168. I think this was just available to him right now. I don’t think there was very many meaningful fights that he wanted right now. Maybe all of the fights are booked up that he wanted at 68 right now. I don’t know. I’m not Mikkel Kessler, but that’s just my own assumption. I’m pretty sure he can still make 168. He’s not a very big guy.”
His views on Chad Dawson’s recent victory against Bernard Hopkins:
“It was pretty much what I expected. You know Bernard was a great champion. He’s a great fighter. His best days are behind him. Hopefully that’s it for him. I expected Chad to win. I expected Bernard to be past it, and it seemed like he was trying to mount an attack but I think he was doing more posturing than actually fighting. So I think Chad is the man at 175 right now.”
His views on Chad Dawson versus Andre Ward and whether he believes fighting at 168 will make a big difference:
“Yes there’s a big difference. I think Dawson is pretty much my size. He shouldn’t be trying to fight at 168. I don’t think that’s a good idea for him to do. If it happened at 175, a weight they’re both comfortable at, it’s a very interesting fight. Ward’s a very smart fighter. It’s hard to say. It’s very hard to say who would win that fight.”
On who he is potentially targeting if he can secure a victory against Kessler:
“If I had my own path to choose, if a guy like Dawson, or Cloud, or Shumenov were available I would take one of them, but if not I’d fight Gabriel Campillo. I’d fight him. I want a meaningful fight. I don’t want to go back to just fighting whoever. I would love a Dawson, or a Cloud, or a Shumenov. If those guys aren’t available then I’ll take Gabriel Campillo.”
On what he believes will most surprise fans when he steps in against Kessler:
“Just everything! My slickness, my athleticism, my defense! They’ll see an Allan Green they haven’t seen probably since, I mean if they watched a lot of my earlier fights at 175 they’ll see a lot of flashes of that and some of my earlier fights at 168. They’ll be surprised by how easily I handle a lot of things that Kessler brings.”
Regarding his reflections on the Super Six now that the tournament is complete:
“For me, for myself from my personal view, it was quite an experience being a part of history. But obviously if you look back with hindsight you say hey when you fought Ward man you couldn’t make the weight. Why did you continue on? I wanted to be a man and honor my contract, and yadda, yadda, yadda. But I think it was good for boxing. I think Andre Ward did an excellent job, I think Carl Froch did an excellent job, and I wish them both the best.”
On whether he believes Ward is better off staying at 168 at present time:
“I think he should stay at 168. I think he still has Bute. He still has a little bit of business that can be taken care of there. I don’t think his decision to go up should be pressured by a challenge. When he says he wants to go up to 175 then he should go up, but I don’t think he should necessarily be pressured by a challenge if that wasn’t his decision in the beginning.”
His official prediction for his fight against Kessler:
“My prediction is that I’ll win. I can’t really expand and get into details. I know what I feel like is going to happen. I mean it will be victory, but my prediction is that I’ll win the fight. I’ll win it handily.”
On what fans can expect from this fight:
“They can expect a very good fight. They can expect me to win the fight in dominating fashion. They can expect me to dominate Mikkel Kessler. They can expect me at my best and they can expect him at his best. Like I said I have a lot of options. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. A lot of people want to put me in a box and say well can Allan deal with what Kessler has. Kessler’s never fought anyone like me. The question is can he deal with what I have. I’m fast, and I hit hard, and I’m going to give him a lot of different looks. So the moment he deals with my speed, the moment Mikkel Kessler feels my power, the first time he gets hit by a big strong guy like me, we’ll see how he reacts! I have never known it to be in his character to do a lot of trash talking, but for whatever reason he’s been doing it. I don’t know if he’s fearful or something, or trying to convince himself. I don’t understand what’s going on, but listening to him and talk and the things he’s saying. I’ve been watching Mikkel Kessler for years. He’s not really been one to talk trash but he’s doing it now. I don’t know who he thinks I am. I’m not Mehdi Bouadla the last guy who gave him hell for about six or seven rounds. I’m not him. You’re fighting a live guy. You’re fighting a real fighter. So he’ll have to put up or shut up on May 19.”
