Froch might need a miracle in Denmark!
Nottingham´s WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch finds himself the 6/5 underdog (bet365) when he defends his title against former two-time WBA champion Mikkel Kessler at the 10,000 seater MCH Messercenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark.
The fight is both men´s second in the round-robin stage of Showtime TV´s Super Six World Boxing Classic, where six of the worlds outstanding super middleweights are pitted against each other in a tournament designed to find the best 168 pounder on the planet. In their opening bouts, Froch won a controversial split decision over Andre Dirrell in Nottingham, whilst Kessler, the pre-tournament favorite, lost on an eleventh round technical decision to American Andre Ward in California.
Although the bout is being held in Denmark, 32 year old Froch (26-0, 20 ko´s) has no fear of taking on an opponent in his backyard. In what remains Froch´s most exciting fight back in April 2009, he fought former word middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in Connecticut, in Froch´s first WBC title defense. In a sensational fight, Froch survived a third round knockdown and a boxing lesson from the masterful Taylor to score a sensational twelfth round knockout with just 14 seconds left on the clock.
After six and a half years of domestic success, winning British and Commonwealth honors, Froch grabbed the WBC super middleweight title in a war against fellow undefeated prospect, Canadian based Haitian Jean Pascal in December 2008. Pascal has subsequently gone on to win the WBC light heavyweight title. After winning the world title, Froch tried hard to land a big money fight with Joe Calzaghe, but the Welshman chose to seal his ring legacy with wins against fading legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, rather than risk his unbeaten record against Froch.
The subsequent failure to lure Calzaghe out of retirement, plus Froch´s lack of a lucrative TV deal have eaten away at the Nottingham fighter, who feels he is not given the respect he deserves; his last three world title fights have not been shown live by a major broadcaster in the UK.
Froch will no doubt hope to vent all the venom and frustration he feels against Kessler, and he may need any edge he can get. Even though Kessler was dominated by Andre Ward last time out, the bookies have made the Dane the favorite to beat Froch since the bout was announced.
They may have a point.
Tough as he is, Froch may be tailor-made for the 31 year old Kessler (42-2, 32 ko´s) who enters the ring tonight as the 4/6 favorite (bet365). In the ring, the Dane has always been a class act – a smooth, technical boxer with a vicious jab and massive power in his right hand, it was Kessler who gave Joe Calzaghe his hardest fight when the two met in November 2007 before 70,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Calzaghe admitted that the Dane´s right hand had had him in serious trouble several times in the fight. Indeed had it not been for Calzaghe, Kessler would be regarded as the outstanding super middleweight of the last decade.
Kessler´s list of victim´s reads like a who´s who of the 168 lb class, and features names like world champions Manny Siaca, Anthony Mundine, Eric Lucas, Markus Beyer as well as granite chinned Librado Andrade.
There are few fighters in the world who posses the personal metal that Carl Froch possesses, and I feel that that, more than anything else, has gotten him as far as he has in the sport of boxing. As a boxer, Froch could never be mistaken for a Kell Brook or a Kevin Mitchell. At his worst, Froch can make Vitali Klitschko look like Larry Holmes.
Worse, and worryingly, he fights more and more with next to no defense, a dangerous tactic when used against the likes of Taylor and Dirrel, the same tactic will surely be suicidal against a sharpshooter like Kessler.
Froch needs to connect hard and early to get the respect of Kessler. The Dane´s jab – a knockdown weapon in its own right – will be in Froch´s face right from the get-go, and if it is followed up by his right, Froch´s only tactic will be survival.
Much as I like Froch as a warrior and as a person, I hate to say that I can´t see any other winner than Kessler tonight.
Kessler by TKO in five.
Big Fight Odds; Mikkel Kessler 4/6, Carl Froch 6/5 bet365
