By William Mackay: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KO’s) thinks that his October 17th opponent American Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13 KO’s) is nervous about the series and is trying to spout a lot of bold talk to cover up for it. Dirrell, 26, recently said that he sees his upcoming October fight with Froch will be his “easiest fight” of the tournament.

However, Froch sees it as a cover up on Dirrell’s part and isn’t worried about it. Froch thinks that Dirrell will be making a big step up in competition when he sets foot in the ring with him in October. Although Froch acknowledges that Dirrell has good amateur credentials with his 2004 Olympic Bronze Medal for the U.S., but he feels that Dirrell is still untested at this point in his career.

Dirrell has been in with fighters like Curtis Stevens, Anthony Hanshaw, Victor Oganov and Mike Paschall. Those are all good B level fighters, and nothing to be ashamed of. However, Froch hardly has room to talk, because he’s only been in with two quality fighters in his career – Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor – and both of those fighters are good very flawed.

Taylor has had problems with his stamina in the past four years, yet was beating Froch handily until being stopped in the 12th round. Pascal is a decent fighter but unproven against world class opposition. Dirrell is like a better version of Taylor, with a better chin and much better stamina.

That isn’t good news for Froch, because he was losing to Taylor and had been knocked down by him. Dirrell has great lateral movement, excellent hand speed, good stamina and the ability to change fighting stances. Thus far, Dirrell hasn’t shown the same problems that Taylor has had.

Froch will have to bring something else to the table if he’s going to get by Dirrell. The pressure along might not be enough for Froch to get the job done. You can expect Froch to throw a lot of jabs like he always does and his big uppercuts, but his power shots will be harder to land because of Dirrell’s ring movement and excellent defensive skills. Dirrell is good at making his opponents miss and look bad.

He can really frustrate his opponents when he’s focusing his game on his defense. Froch will be getting hit a lot more in this fight than he did in the Taylor fight simply because Dirrell probably won’t wear out like Taylor did and will be letting hands go for 12 full rounds instead of only six like Taylor, who tired out by the 6th round and slowed way down with his punch output.

Froch understands that Dirrell will be coming into the fight having the confidence of a fighter that hasn’t been beaten and who doesn’t know how to lose yet. However, Froch says that he will have the same confidence going for him, since he’s never been beaten yet. Froch says that he’s not worried about Dirrell’s power, because he doesn’t think he’s a big puncher. Froch does admit that Dirrell has fast hands, but he feels that doesn’t translate into power.