Allan Green and Andre Ward share words at press conference

As the second round of the Super middleweight boxing classic is set to finish current WBA super Middleweight Champion and Gold Medalist Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) and Allan “Sweetness” Green  (29-1, 20 KOs) held a press conference at the Oracle arena in Oakland CA to promote his first world title defense on June 19 on Showtime. It was evident from the beginning that Green was not present and it was later confirmed that he was still in Florida, citing that a trip to Oakland would interfere with his camp, though that did not stop the fighter from doing his part of trash talking leading up to the fight. “Andre Ward is a good fighter; a good young fighter. Very skilled, very talented and I do respect his skills. But against a fighter like myself, he is going to have to bring a lot more to the table than he did against Mikkel Kessler. I did admire what he did to Kessler; No disrespect there, but at the same time, come June 19th I will be WBA super middleweight champion.”

Ward’s camp had immediately retorted with the champion leading the way, “As usual, I have another opponent talking loud and minimizing what I have done, and that’s ok. What is being said, how Allan Green feels, that is a good thing.  I take it; I use it as fuel, I have had opponent after opponent try to intimidate me; opponent after opponent try to minimize me; opponent after opponent try and break down my skills from the outside. But when they get inside, it’s something totally different.” Longtime trainer and mentor Virgil Hunter, had plenty to say in support of their champion and Bay Area icon, “We’re preparing as always. We understand what we have to do. It didn’t take much to go back to the drawing board because, basically, you are getting ready to fight a guy that specializes in knocking out people that have been knocked out before several times. So you have to ask yourself that when you are making your preparation.  How do you prepare for a guy that specializes in knocking out people who have been knocked out?  So it gets pretty simple after that.”

Is Green writing checks that his mouth cant cash? Or will Ward be in line to go to sleep on the canvas come  Saturday June 19th at the Oracle Arena as Andre Ward defends his title in front of a home town crowd against Allan Green, Saturday, June 19th at the Oracle Arena in a Group 2 Super Six World Boxing Classic bout.