Britain's Carl Froch goes into the biggest fight of his career so far when he faces American Andre Ward at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in the final of the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic - a two-year tournament to find the best super middleweight on the planet. 

Froch is in his second reign as WBC 168 pound champion, while WBA title holder Ward is an Olympic Gold medalist and the heir apparent to Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya as a US boxing icon. The winner is guaranteed to become one of the biggest names in the sport. Needless to say, tonight's fight, while not the most lucrative bout of 2011, is by far the most anticipated amongst the fight fraternity.

Froch v Ward in the Super Six Final will be screened live on Sky Sports 1, the action starts at midnight. 

34-year-old Froch (28-1, 20 KOs) booked his place in the Super Six final with a commanding performance against late tournament entrant Glen Johnson last June. Although the Nottingham fighter failed to become only the second man ever to KO the iron chinned Jamaican (Bernard Hopkins turned the trick back in 1997), Froch looked to have won the fight comfortably, finishing by far the stronger man, even though one judge called the fight a draw. 

While Ward has enjoyed the luxury of fighting in California throughout the tournament, Froch has been forced to box abroad in three of his four Super Six bouts, opening his account by outpointing American Andre Dirrell via a controversial split decision in Nottingham in October 2009.

In April 2010, Froch lost his WBC title in an extremely hard-fought encounter in Denmark against local idol Mikkel Kessler, suffering his first defeat as a professional in the process. Seven months later, Froch astonished the majority of boxing experts by thrashing the fearsome Arthur Abraham in a bout for the WBC title vacated by an injured Kessler. The contest was held in Helsinki, Finland, and Froch elected to box rather than brawl, pumping his jab into Abraham's face all night while whipping in vicious right hands to the head and body. Froch won by a landslide decision and revealed a side of his boxing that few fans were  aware of.

Froch continued where he left against Abraham when he faced the dangerous Glen Johnson in the Super Six semi finals. The Jamaican loves to get up close and score with powerful hooks, but Froch ensured that the bout was fought on his own terms and once again controlled the action with a combination of textbook boxing, and when needed, his own brand of trench warfare.

Froch has already established himself as one of the greatest ever British boxers. No matter what path his career takes from now on, few if any former British world champion has faced the level of top-flight opposition that Froch has met in the last three years.

Froch won the WBC super middleweight title with a hard fought points decision over future WBC light heavyweight kingpin Jean Pascal of Canada. He almost blew it in his first title defense, leaving it desperately late to KO former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in the 12th round with just 14 seconds left on the clock when a mile behind on points. Earlier in the bout, Froch had hit the deck for the first and only time in his career, courtesy of a sweet right hand from Taylor in round three.

Super Six followed, and with it successive fights against Dirrell, Kessler, Abraham and Johnson. Now he faces potentially the toughest opponent of all -  Andre Ward.

27-year-old Ward (24-0, 13 KOs) has a reason to feel confident about winning tonight's Super Six final, or indeed any fight he partakes in: he has not tasted defeat of any kind since 1998 when he was just 14 years old. Ward lifted the light heavyweight gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics to cap sensational amateur career that saw him win 114 out of 119 contests. 

Despite being one of the rare US gold medal successes in recent years, Ward's early professional performances did not have fight fans believing they were in the presence of another Leonard or De La Hoya. By the time Showtime came-a-calling with invitations for Ward and another undefeated US Olympian Andre Dirrell to compete in Super Six, he had been on the pro circuit for five years, and until he scored a points win over dangerous Colombian puncher Edison Miranda in May 2009, had rarely impressed.

In Ward's first Super Six bout, against tournament favorite and WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler however, he was a sensation. Ward dominated the 6'2" power punching Dane, whose only previous defeat in nearly 50 fights was against Joe Calzaghe, from the opening bell, showing no fear or respect for Kessler's reputation. Darting in and out and avoiding the Dane's powerful right, Ward landed vicious combinations of his own, and proved that he was also a dab hand at the rough stuff, busting open some severe cuts on Kessler's face via 'accidental' head clashes.

It was the cuts that ultimately forced the referee to stop the fight in the eleventh round and take it to the judges scorecards, where Ward was handed a unanimous decision. Suddenly the kid from Oakland, California had arrived.

Much has been made of the fact that Ward has not had to leave his home state for any of his Super Six bouts. The Kessler victory took place at the Oracle Arena in his hometown of Oakland, as did his subsequent 12 round thrashing (120-108 on all three judges scorecards) of fellow American Alan Green. His Super Six semifinal against Abraham was held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Nevertheless, home advantage or not, Ward has won all of his Super Six fights decisively, and even squeezed in a November 2010 WBA title defense against Sakio Bika, also held in Oakland.

At 6', Ward is an inch shorter than Froch, but fights ''small,'' i.e. keeps a low center of gravity with his legs wide apart, looking to move in and out quickly to land his combinations. Against the 5'10" Abraham, both men looked the same height. Unlike Froch who fights ''tall'' and kept Abraham on the end of his 76'' reach all night, Ward, whose reach is just 71'', was forced to hit a move against Abraham, scoring with quick combinations and then getting on his bicycle.

That 5'' difference in reach means the American is unlikely to win the battle of the jabs tonight, and will have to look to move in and score with fast combinations and apply pressure, just as he did against Kessler. Master trainer Adam Booth made a very interesting point when discussing the fight on Sky TV when he explained that Ward is a fighter who uses a lot of rhythm in the ring, whereas Froch fights with none. While this may initially seem like an insult to the Nottingham boxer, Booth went on to explain that the fact that Froch fights with no rhythm makes him a far tougher opponent for Ward, as he will find it difficult to guess what his opponent will do next.

Many experts cringe when they see Froch carry his left hand low, but the argument is that it is difficult to anticipate the angle of a blow when it is coming from out of one's field of vision. Great fighters from Muhammad Ali to Roy Jones Jr, and current stars Sergio Martinez and Vitali Klitschko have employed that tactic to great effect. Froch will be looking to catch Ward with hard jabs and left hooks and uppercuts from this stance as the American moves in to land his own punches. 

The problem for Froch is that in Ward he will face the most mobile opponent he has ever encountered. Andre Dirrell gave Froch nightmares in Nottingham two years ago with his moving and jabbing, and many believe the American was robbed of the decision that night. Now Froch faces an opponent who is even more slippery than Dirrell.

Both men can hit, yet neither possesses devastating punching power. Froch knocked out an exhausted Jermain Taylor in 2009, but the American's punch resistance was questionable following a seventh round hammering by Kelly Pavlik two years earlier. Ward hits hard enough to gain an opponent's respect, but is yet to stop a world-class fighter, and has scored just one KO in his last seven bouts dating back three years.

Although on paper it is not hard to find an excellent case for a Froch victory tonight, one cannot escape the fact that Ward dominated Mikkel Kessler, who then went on to defeat Froch. It is clear that when faced with an opponent who he believes could beat him, Ward has the capacity to raise his own game to a higher level. Froch was losing against Taylor, and was outboxed by Dirrell. Ward is a slicker, more complete boxer than either of these two.

Tonight's encounter may well turn out to be the fight of the year. Ward will have to press the action to score points, leaving himself open to counters from Froch. Just as in Ward's fight against Kessler, and the Dane's against Froch, there will be many tremendous exchanges, but while I don't feel either man possesses the power to score a KO, Ward has the significant edge in pure boxing ability, and I therefore see the American claiming the Super Six trophy via a close decision that may even be a majority verdict.

Ward on a majority decision.

Super Six Final Odds: Carl Froch 12/5, Andre Ward 1/3 skyBET