second-round technical knockout over Waqa Kolivuso in Sydney on 29 June 2001. In a 2008 interview Green stated that his purse for the fight was . Green proceeded to win his first sixteen fights by knockout, eventually earning himself a title fight with Germany's super-middleweight world champion Markus Beyer at the Nürburgring in Germany on 16 August 2003. Green floored Beyer in each of the two opening rounds and was ahead on points when the fight was stopped in the fifth by the American referee Bill Clancy – who judged Green to have intentionally head-butted his opponent. A deep cut above Beyer's right eye meant that he could not continue with the fight, however Green's corner claimed that the cut had been made by an earlier punch. If the cut had been made by an earlier punch, Green would have won on points at the time of stoppage, however "Senior WBC officials Enza Jacoba and Rubin Martinez produced a rule-book for Clancy that stated if an injured boxer was unable to continue because of a cut caused by an intentional head-butt, the offending boxer should be disqualified." Green stated "I should be the champion now but I'm not ... It's a disgrace", however Beyer "derided Green's tactics as unfair". Green's purse for the fight was . Green won an interim WBC super-middleweight title when he defeated Eric Lucas by a sixth-round knockout on 20 December 2003 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and then defeated New Zealand fighter Sean Sullivan by a unanimous decision on 21 March 2004 in Perth. On 29 September 2004 Green survived a second-round knock-down (the first of his professional career) to beat Argentine Omar Eduardo Gonzales in Sydney. In the fifth round, a cut over Gonzales' right eye was ruled too severe to continue, and as Green was ahead on two cards (whilst drawn on the third) he was awarded the win. Green's performances earned him a re-match with Beyer – who was still the reigning super-middleweight world champion. The second meeting with Beyer occurred at Zwickau in Germany on 12 March 2005. Green knew he was in trouble by the tenth round when Fenech told him "You won't win this fight if you don't knock him out", and came back strongly – knocking Beyer to the canvas for a mandatory eight count in the final round. Despite the late effort, Beyer was awarded a majority points