Dissecting the Super Six: Part Two

Earlier this week, I put out the second installment of my comprehensive look at the Super Six tournament. This segment focuses on how the tournament has played out and how Showtime execs handled the troughs that occurred throughout the tournament. I interviewed Showtime Sports VP Ken Hershman, who is credited with the creation of the Super Six, as well as Dan Goossen, promoter of tournament finalist Andre Ward. http://leave-it-in-the-ring.com/plugins/content/mavikthumbnails/thumbnails/360x464-http---i1234.photobucket.com-albums-ff414-OrtegaLIITR-SuperSix.png Dissecting the Super Six: Part Two Mark Ortega, lead writer Leave-it-in-the-ring.com With the Super Six World Boxing Classic headed down the final straightaway, Leave it in the Ring lead writer Mark Ortega makes a comprehensive appraisal of the groundbreaking tournament’s unfolding and considers what the future holds following its culmination. Included are insightful takes courtesy of Ken Hershman, vice president of Showtime Sports (the network responsible for producing the round robin), and Goossen-Tutor’s own Dan Goossen, who promotes Super Six finalist Andre Ward. In part two, Ortega examines how Showtime and promoter Goossen-Tutor prepared themselves for the hiccups inevitable to this novel undertaking and also how the Super Six has affected the career trajectories of the participating fighters. “The career paths of the Super Six have skyrocketed and the prospects for those guys have skyrocketed and their name recognition has skyrocketed. Those are all the things we wanted to achieve and accomplish and we feel that we delivered on it. I think their careers have been enhanced dramatically, their pocketbooks have been enhanced dramatically, and if you ask them about their experience they'll all tell you how positive was.” - Ken Hershman, VP of Showtime Sports For Ken Hershman, or any diehard fight fan, satisfaction is guaranteed. In addition to two alphabet trinkets and the tournament trophy, spoils include the illustrious vacant Ring title plus much-deserved accolades. And had the purpose of the Super Six not written itself, culminating with the a meeting of the division’s true leaders, Showtime had covered their bases by securing a lucrative multi-fight deal with Lucian Bute. So fans of the Romanian kingpin and those dubious about the legitimacy of Andre Ward and/or Carl Froch—poised to meet in Atlantic City on October 29—can breathe a sigh of relief come the inevitable match between Super Six victor and the undefeated IBF champion. There were a few hairy moments. Consider eleventh-hour addition and quadragenarian Glen Johnson. More than a decade had lapsed since he had fought at 168 pounds. Even with his win over Allan Green, to shortlist Johnson as one of the division’s best would be a stretch. Had he bested Carl Froch in their semi-final bout (which he nearly did before running out of gas in the home stretch), the tournament’s integrity would have been compromised, without a doubt. Click here to read the rest...