Prediction: Abraham and Froch will lose for the first time

By Scott Gilfoid: The upcoming stage 2 Super Six matches between unbeaten Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KO’s vs. Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO’s) and Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) vs. Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) could see the end of the unbeaten records of Froch and Abraham. In fact, I’m dead certain that both Froch and Abraham will lose for the first time in one-sided losses. For Froch, he’s long overdue for his first loss of his career after winning a questionable 12 round decision while fighting at home in Nottingham, England, in the 1st fight of the Super Six tournament last October against the talented 26-year-old Dirrell.

Froch dodged a bullet in that fight when two of the European judges scored the fight in his favor despite the fact that Froch has rarely landed any punches to speak of during the fight. Froch won’t have the advantage of fighting at home in his April 24th fight against the 31-year-old Kessler in Herning, Denmark. Kessler, by the way, just turned 31 on March 1st, but he’s looked great in recent sparring sessions, much younger than his chronological age.

Being beaten for the first time is a tough thing for a fighter, because they often don’t know when to quit once they start taking a vicious beating. I think this will be the case for Froch against Kessler. Froch will be facing perhaps the most skilled of all the Super Six fighters in the tournament when he faces Kessler, and it’s going to be an insurmountable task for Froch to compete with the better skilled Dane. Froch is equipped with decent power and a good chin, and that’s about it.

Froch can wear an opponent down with his constant pressure, but he doesn’t have the kind of power that some of the other Super Six contestants have like Dirrell, Abraham, Kessler, Ward and Green. Froch will have to hope that he can tire Kessler out and edge him by a 12 round decision. That’s not likely to happen unless Froch can open up cuts over both of Kessler’s eyes. I think it will take two cuts for Froch to beat Kessler, because if Kessler can see good out of one of his eyes, he should be more than good enough to totally dominate Froch and give him his first loss by a lopsided decision.

As for Abraham, he’s got a much tougher task ahead of him when he fights Dirrell on March 27th at the Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, Michigan. Dirrell will be fighting in front of what amounts to a hometown audience, as he lives only a little over 60 miles away in Flint, Michigan. So the crowd will be heavily in Dirrell’s favor, but beyond that, Dirrell has advantages over Abraham in almost every area you can imagine – speed, youth, size, reach, defensive ability, foot movement and possibly in the power department.

Abraham is short, only 5’10” compared to the 6’2” Dirrell. Abraham will also be giving up three inches in reach to Dirrell, and that’s a factor that can’t be overlooked. Abraham is just too small to compete with a tall, young fighter like Dirrell.

All in all, I see Abraham and Froch getting massacred in their perspective fights. They’re facing quicker, better skilled opponents without the tools needed for success. My guess is Abraham loses every round of the fight, and possibly gets knocked out late. In Froch’s case, I also see him losing a lopsided decision to Kessler, but I think Froch will be beaten up and stopped by the 11th round.

I think Dirrell may have punished Froch enough in his last fight to the point where Froch’s punch resistance has decreased enough so that Kessler will be able to take advantage of that by stopping Froch late.

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