By William Mackay: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) probably doesn’t stand much of a chance of beating former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) when the two fighters meet up in their stage 2 Super Six tournament bout on April 24th, in Herning, Denmark. Froch, a good puncher but exactly what you would call a highly skilled craftsman, doesn’t appear to have the prerequisite boxing skills needed to beat a talented fighter like Kessler.

Froch, 32, will have to hope that he can wear Kessler down and maybe catch him with a big shot late in the fight to get him out of there. This fight could end up being a disaster for Froch unless he can get Kessler out of his game plan. Froch did a good job of roughing Dirrell up and keeping him from boxing circles around him. As it was, Froch looked outclassed by Dirrell and wasn’t able to land his shots.

However, when Froch began to turn the fight into a wrestling type of bout in the 5th round when he suddenly body slammed Dirrell to the canvas, Froch seemed to do much better. I personally thought that referee dropped the ball completely by letting Froch get away with the body slam without deducting points, and I also thought the referee blew it by not taking points away from Froch for throwing rabbit punches and hitting and holding.

But if the referee is playing it loose, and then by all means do what you have to do to win. I think Froch should have been disqualified for his fouls in the Dirrell bout, but it all depends on the referee. If Froch can turn the fight physical against Kessler on April 24th, and get away with it by not being penalized, then that might be something that Froch might have to do to get the win.

Beyond that, I can’t see Froch competing with Kessler. I think Kessler is too talented of a fighter than Froch for him to have many problems against him in a straight up boxing match. Froch can punch a little, but I don’t think he hits hard enough to worry Kessler any. If they go toe-to-toe, I see Kessler coming out ahead in that kind of a fight. If the fight turns out to be a chess match, I see Kessler easily winning. He’s a superb boxer, with an excellent jab and smooth moves.

In comparison, Froch is very rough around the edges, not fast, and not as highly skilled as Kessler. However, I think Froch is the much better fighter when he gets physical, and if the referee allows him to rough Kessler up with abandon, I think Froch can possibly throw Kessler off his game enough to the point where Froch can win this fight. Froch will have to play it by ear. If the referee starts taking points off for this or that, obviously Froch will have to give up on the roughhousing tactics to a point, but he’ll have to test him by being incremental in his approach to the fight.