VIDEO: Andre Ward was almost thrown out of the Super 6 for being unwilling to travel

Interesting read from an old boxing magazine.

''It's the hidden subplot of Showtime's ''Super Six'' tournament , and the Baggalaureate is here to reveal it: Andre Ward, that S.O.G., is one lucky S.O.B. His tournament couldn't be more charmed if he was a leprechaun chowing down on marshmallowy breakfast cereal. As the semifinals loom, Ward is the number-one seed and everybody's pick to win. But nobody seems to realize that Ward has been loading his gloves - with a horseshoe. First, he got lucky when he drew Mikkel Kessler in the opening round. It was the perfect situation for Ward, as Kessler was a fighter on the slide but nobody knew about it yet. What we saw at the time was Ward beating the pre-tournament favourite and, thus, becoming the tournament favourite. But it's now clear to see that Kessler hasn't been the same since Joe Calzaghe deflated him like Freddy Krueger's blow-up doll. Physically, he's aged and mentally he hasn't quite bounced back from losing the zero on his record. Hey, it was a good win for Ward, no doubt about that. But it was fortuitous timing in getting to Kessler before anybody else could that allowed Ward, the self-proclaimed product of the Lord's loins , to get more credit for the win than he really deserved....

After that Ward got lucky when he had the privilege of fighting Super Six sub (as in ''substandard'') Allan Green, who deserved to be in the tournament like Kevin Federline deserves to be famous. Talk about a freebie. And despite the easy pickins, Ward couldn't knock Green out the way Glen Johnson did a few months later...

For his third-round tournament match, the freebie got freebie-er, as Ward was gifted with two points without even needing to fight. That's because his old Olympic buddy Andre Dirrell got a mysterious headache, diagnosed by a nameless doctor, and Dirrell would be happy to tell you more but he can't talk about it without a lawyer, a notary public , a bodyguard, seven wise men, and one of the Pep Boys present.. So Ward fought Sakio Bika instead in a non-tournament fight, and there's nothing particularly lucky about sharing a ring with Bika, but the location of the fight was worth noting for luck-assessing purposes: the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, Ward's hometown. Hmm. That's exactly where the Kessler and Green fights took place, come to think of it. Nobody else in the Super Six got more than one hometown fight, but somehow Ward has been granted three (well, two and an outside-the-tournament fight, but let's not nitpick). And if you don't think it gives you an advantage to fight in your hometown, ask judge Marty Sammon how in the hell he came up with a score of 120-108 in Ward's favour for the Bika fight. The other two judges had it 118-110, and even those scores smelled a tad unfair to Bika... So that brings us to the present, but it isn't the end of Ward getting luckier than Ricky Martin stumbling into the Blue Oyster bar on Leather Chaps Night.

In the semifinals, Ward gets Arthur Abraham and his all time low point, demoralized after back-to-back loses to Dirrell and Carl Froch. Sure, Abraham was always a one-dimensional fighter, but, when that one dimension was supported by confidence, he was dangerous. Now he's bringing a butter knife to an Uzi fight. It's one more freebie for Ward, who will coast into the tournament finals. (OH, and did we mention that even though Ward has to leave the cozy confines of Oakland, he's still fighting in his home state of California against a foreigner?)..

And if that wasn't enough, nobody's going to be coasting in the other semifinal, which pits Froch against Glen Johnson. That has the makings of a war, and whoever prevails will probably have something taken out of him along the way. Wouldn't you know it, more good luck for Ward! He'll enter the finals fresh after a glorified sparring session with Abraham while his opponent will be worn out like the Baggerific's favorite (and only) pair of underwear...

Yep, Andre Ward has gotten every imaginable break in this tournament. He's the luckiest fighter in the Super Six, and it ain't close... Oh and it's probably worth mentioning in passing that he's also the best fighter in the Super Six. But who wants to read about something as obvious as that?'