Beyer: Lucas will beat Green!

December 17, 2003

By Uwe Betker and Dave Spencer

When Danny Green faces off against Eric Lucas this Saturday, one interested observer who will be placing close attention is WBC super middleweight champion Markus Beyer. "I was to box against both of them," Beyer told Fightnews, "Which means I prepared for both of them. In this respect I don’t care who wins as long as it’s the better man. Although, to be honest, I’d rather grant it to Eric Lucas."

Beyer has faced both men this year and is set to face the winner on February 28th. Beyer captured his championship from Lucas in a split decision and rose twice from the canvas against Green to hang on to his title when Green was disqualified for a headbutt in the 5th round. The German world champion feels that Green will once again come out with guns blazing and try to overpower Lucas early.

"My guess is that Green will seek a quick decision right at the beginning. He will try to secure his success by an early knockout and for that, as usual, he’ll stake everything on one card." But Beyer feels that Green’s gambling philosophy will come up snake eyes. "I think that eventually Lucas’ experience and greater technical skill is going to prevail. I’m quite sure that Lucas is going to win the fight regardless of what Green will try." He wouldn’t go quite as far as to predict whether or not the win would come by means of a knockout or decision though. "That would be guessing too far. We know that in boxing everything is possible, but judged on experience and boxing abilities, Lucas should win."

Despite having been in the ring with both men, Beyer is not looking for a composite of what he saw witnessed to play itself out in Montreal. "Cross comparisons don’t tell you much," explained Beyer. "Every match is different. Depending on his opponent, a boxer will always fight differently. That means that the fight that Lucas and Green show, will be completely different and a new picture. You cannot compare it with when they fought against me, which is why you cannot transfer my experiences to the upcoming fight."

Beyer was originally scheduled to meet Lucas in a WBC ordered rematch in November but was unable to go because of an eye injury. The WBC had also ordered the winner of that bout to meet Green but because of the injury to Beyer, allowed Green and Lucas to go at for an interim belt. Unlike most interim belts though, the financial details of the championship bout have already been worked out between the various camps and only if Beyer is unable in February does the benefit of a 50-50 purse split come into play. So with nothing to lose financially, Beyer isn’t concerned that the man he faces will have a belt closely resembling his own. "No, not at all. I’ll have to box against the winner in either case, so why should I care whether it is for an interim title or not. It doesn’t make a difference to me."