Arthur Abraham wants tune-up before Andre Ward

Before Arthur Abraham moves forward in the Super Six tournament, he will likely have a tune-up fight. Abraham tells Trud that he's possibly going to return on February 26. Abraham is trying to reboost his career after suffering a lopsided decision loss to Carl Froch on November 27. Abraham is scheduled to face WBA champion Andre Ward, the tournament leader, in the Super Six semi-finals.

“Both the opponent and the status of the bout are indefinite right now. It most probably will be a tune-up. I have no option but to win it convincingly to get myself back into title picture," said Abraham.

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=34164

What if he ends up losing?

GrantZilla wrote:What if he ends up losing?

Another spanner in the works for the Super Six, Showtime will only allow it if Abe's given one almighty can.

See, I don't see point in a "tun-up" fights when it's against a total can. What do you possibly learn and "tune up" fighting a totaly over matched opponent?

Boy!!! Talk about a guy that had the confidence beat out of him!

guess he needs a Michael Jennings lol

GrantZilla wrote:See, I don't see point in a "tun-up" fights when it's against a total can. What do you possibly learn and "tune up" fighting a totaly over matched opponent?

confidence booster. prizefighting is majority psychological. when you can't even land a single punch in your last fight, it leaves major doubts in your head about your own ability. they are not the sort of questions you need popping up in your head during the middle of a prizefight. get's a can to beat up on and gives him the confidence again

dbudge wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:See, I don't see point in a "tun-up" fights when it's against a total can. What do you possibly learn and "tune up" fighting a totaly over matched opponent?

confidence booster. prizefighting is majority psychological. when you can't even land a single punch in your last fight, it leaves major doubts in your head about your own ability. they are not the sort of questions you need popping up in your head during the middle of a prizefight. get's a can to beat up on and gives him the confidence again

psychology has nothing to do with the fact that he was outboxed by Dirrell and then absolutely outclassed by Froch. Its funny. Both those guys are better than the competition he faced while champ at 160.

I doubt Showtime allow it, they've already had too many headaches with this tournament and will be dying to finish it smoothly.

It won't help and I hope they don't allow it. The tourney needs to get over by beginning of fall and that won't happen if he has a tune up.

He wasn't asking for a tune up fight when he was knocking out Jermaine Taylor. What a putz.

GrantZilla wrote:What if he ends up losing?

doubt it, he'll fight some bum for confidence.

Diego408 wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:What if he ends up losing?

doubt it, he'll fight some bum for confidence.

budge is right in that confidence and psychology is a huge part of boxing.

But all the confidence in the world isn't going to help Abraham. Dirrell and Froch made him look bad and absolutely horrible. he didn't face any top 10 guys at MW who could really box. When he faced 2 top guys at 168 that could really box he had no clue.

captainanddew wrote:

Diego408 wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:What if he ends up losing?

doubt it, he'll fight some bum for confidence.

budge is right in that confidence and psychology is a huge part of boxing.

But all the confidence in the world isn't going to help Abraham. Dirrell and Froch made him look bad and absolutely horrible. he didn't face any top 10 guys at MW who could really box. When he faced 2 top guys at 168 that could really box he had no clue.

Very true, Abraham was more myth than anything. Pavlik was scared of fighting him and he knocked Taylor out cold. Those things were really overrated. The guys at SM are monsters and they exposed Abraham.

Fight like this can just as easily back fire. Look at what happened to Caballero against Litzau.

The way Abe been fighting and falling apart, I can just as easily see some guy they think is a bum being the one doing the tunning up on Abe.

captainanddew wrote:

Diego408 wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:What if he ends up losing?

doubt it, he'll fight some bum for confidence.

budge is right in that confidence and psychology is a huge part of boxing.

But all the confidence in the world isn't going to help Abraham. Dirrell and Froch made him look bad and absolutely horrible. he didn't face any top 10 guys at MW who could really box. When he faced 2 top guys at 168 that could really box he had no clue.

i agree that it isn't going to help his skill set, but what i'm saying has nothing to do with that. Leopards don't change their spots, and thats why it will be hard for Abraham to improve on any boxing skills he has at this stage of his career. but he has been totally outclassed in his last 2 fights to the point that he hardly landed a punch in eityher of them. he doesn't want to be going into a fight against the best in the division with that fresh in his mind. give him a brutal KO victory to come off the back of to go into a fight with and it is a different story. he'll be a hungrier fighter again and he will have the belief that he can actually win it. at this moment in time, he clearly doubts his own ability to hold his own with the number 1 guy in the division (number 2 however you want to look at it, i think Ward is number 1 though). he was also whining about how inactive he had been before the Froch fight so if having a tune up is what "Abraham thinks" is going to help him. then that is what Abraham needs, and that is what i mean by the psychological aspect of fighting. some fighters have crazy superstitions and routines they go through before fights, things like holding a prayer service in their changing room pre-fight. is that really going to help their skillset?? of course it isn't. but if the person that is fighting believes that it is going to help then that is the reason. Psychology guys, not everyone is black and white

GrantZilla wrote:Fight like this can just as easily back fire. Look at what happened to Caballero against Litzau.

The way Abe been fighting and falling apart, I can just as easily see some guy they think is a bum being the one doing the tunning up on Abe.

not with Kalle Sauerland running the show. they will get some Bulgarian bootmaker for Abraham to brutally rip apart, and even if it comes to a decision where Abraham is close in the fight or possibly losing, he will still get the win by SD........ SD = Sauerland Decision

Abraham vs Allan Green

I kinda agree with Arthur on this one, I mean being in this Super Six, they've been fighting quality opponents straight and he needs to get his confidence back since getting the shit kicked out of him against Froch.

As long as he stays on schedule for his bout with Andre Ward I'm fine with it.

Unlike Caballero, Abe has lots of options at 168 for lots of fights. Caballero went up against a decent guy to stay sharp, Abe just wants to get active in the ring and rebuild his confidence.