Froch: “I will be bringing the Froch army of fans” to the Kessler fight

By Sean McDaniel: At the International media tour Wednesday morning to kick off the stage 2 Super Six bout between World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) and Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) in Herning, Denmark, both fighters boasted about the support that they would be getting from their fans.

Kessler, from Denmark, will be fighting in front of what will likely be a large pro-Kessler arena filled with 10,000 loud fans. Kessler, 30, says “Never in my life have I lost a fight in Denmark.”

What Kessler says is true. He’s unbeaten at home during his pro career, losing his only fights against Joe Calzaghe in Wales, and receiving his second lost recently in an 11 round technical decision defeat at the hands of American Andre Ward in Oakland, California on November 21st. Having a huge arena cheering him on will likely be a huge plus for Kessler, who looked uncomfortable fighting Ward in front of a large crowd of nearly 20,000.

Having fans on his side will certainly be a welcome relief for Kessler right about now. After being dominated by Ward through much of their fight, Kessler needs all the support he can get so he can bring back his sagging confidence. Another plus that Kessler has going for him is that he’s fighting Froch, an opponent who is as slow and predictable as Librado Andrade, a top super middleweight that Kessler completely dominated in a 12 round decision win three years ago in 2007.

Andrade and Froch are of identical size, and have the same slow hand speed. If anything, Andrade is the much better pressure fighter than Froch. As such, the Kessler-Froch fight could turn out to be really one-sided with Kessler totally dominating the lead-footed Froch.

Not to be outdone, Froch says “I will be bringing the Froch army of fans. I have been received well here.” Froch may need an army of fans if he wants to try and get an edge against the talented Kessler. Based on pure boxing ability, Kessler seems to be the much superior fighter of the two.

Froch looked horrid in his last fight against Andre Dirrell in their Super Six bout last October, turning the fight into a rough and tumble bout and winning by a questionable 12 round split decision over Dirrell. Froch got the win, but didn’t win a lot of new fans with the way that he got the win. Froch has to fight better than that this time around, because it’s doubtful that he’ll be able to get the benefit of the doubt twice in a row, especially if he starts fouling like he did last time out.

Froch and Kessler will be meeting on April 24th, at the MCH Messecenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark. This is a do or die fight for Kessler, as he needs to win this fight as he’s already been defeated once already. Although Kessler has one more fight remaining in the stage 3 part of the Super Six tourney, if he loses to Froch he can pretty much forget about getting to the next level in the tournament. As for Froch, losing to Kessler will be a big blow for his career and could set him up for another loss in his next fight against big punching Arthur Abraham.

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