By Mark Hepplestall: The majority of articles wrote about Carl Froch are very negative on this site and must be a propaganda target for writers turning the boxing world’s audience against the former world champion for having three close matches that could have gone either way in his last three fights. This article is breaking away from the continuing “Anti-Froch” trend and actually looking at both fighters physical and mental attributes from a neutral view.

Firstly, Carl Froch has a 27 fight record with 26 fights won KO and 20 by the way of KO and Froch also has a 74% KO ratio, against a single defeat to Mikkel Kessler in Herning, Denmark, which was a very close fight and possibly the best fight in the Super Six Tournament until Carl Froch Vs Arthur Abraham actually takes place. Arthur Abraham has a 32 fight record consisting of 31 wins, 25 by the way of KO adding up to a 78% KO ratio, all to just a single defeat which was a disqualification against Andre Dirrel under controversial circumstances, with the bout taking place in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Opposition: as both boxers have fought similar opponents at domestic and European level the best judging fights are their fights against Jermaine Taylor and Andre Dirrel. Firstly both fighters had very similar bouts against Jermaine Taylor, Carl Froch was losing the fight going into the later rounds where he came back to get a 12 round KO with 14 seconds remaining. Whereas Arthur Abraham possibly lost the first 4 to 6 rounds and came on in the later rounds to make the scorecards closer yet I think he was still losing as he didn’t do enough until the devastating KO with 6 seconds left I think. The only difference between the two fights was the venue, Abraham was in Berlin, Germany, and the referee maybe over protected Abraham from low punches, whereas Froch fought in Connecticut, United States. The most important fight to separate the two boxers are their bouts with Andre Dirrel. Andre Dirrel posses speed and movement which will trouble any boxer in the world today, against Froch he didn’t throw many punches in the opening rounds, if any while Froch was the aggressor and even though many of his punches were hitting air alone he did land more punches in each round winning him the hard to score rounds. As the fight moved on the rounds got closer as Dirrel started throwing punches back and Dirrel was dominating rounds towards the end as Froch got desperate and sloppy. Dirrel was also deducted a point in the 10th, which would have been a 9-9 round. The deduction was for persistent holding, or unsportingly falling when under pressure. The Dirrel Vs Abraham fight was totally different; Dirrel came out firing punches from the 1st round onwards landing crisp jabs and showing great movement, even the commentators said he would have beat Froch if he fought like he did against Abraham. Abraham started slow and didn’t speed up much moving into the later rounds, it was also very hard to score any rounds to Abraham. The referee was very lenient towards Dirrel not counting a perfectly good knockdown by Abraham which could have changed the momentum of the fight. Also the referee didn’t protect Abraham against low shots like he is used to in Germany. At the end just like Froch, Abraham upped the tempo became more wild. He also showed his anger by snapping after another of Dirrel’s persistent slips under pressure.

Power: Both Froch and Abraham have great power; this is evident by their 75% KO ratio’s. The quality of opposition is also similar as they have fought the best domestically and at European level and then held their own at world level becoming world champions in their weight limits, which were different until the Super Six Tournament as Arthur Abraham was at middleweight holding the IBF title and Carl Froch was holding the WBC Super Middleweight title.

Speed: both Abraham and Froch are not known for their blistering hand-speed, yet there is no doubt in my mind that Froch is much quicker then Abraham. Against Dirrel Abraham looked slow, old and very one dimensional losing almost every round and there is no legitimate argument that Dirrel was not well ahead on points before the disqualification. Froch actually had some speed to make the Dirrel fight competitive and close to call, Froch was also able to land more punches then Abraham did against Dirrel. It is worth pointing out that since moving up to super middleweight Abraham has lost a large quantity of speed due to the bulk he has added to make super middleweight.

Technical Ability: Arthur Abraham was a good amateur but never world class he won an amateur national middleweight in Germany 1997, but he excelled more in the professional game in Germany. As an amateur Carl Froch won two ABA middleweight titles in 1999 and 2001, and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships before turning pro.

Natural height and weight: As an amateur both boxers competed at middleweight which was Abraham’s natural weight. As professionals Abraham fought at his natural weight whereas Froch fought at super middleweight yet walks around at light heavyweight between fights. Froch is naturally taller, and carries the bulk better then Arthur Abraham. Abraham is a smaller, stockier build when compared to Froch.

Overall I see the most exciting fight in the tournament by far, it will be a real battle but instead of a KO win by Abraham I see a point’s decision for Froch. Froch starts fast resulting in a build up of points, keeps the middle rounds hard to score and finishes with a high tempo adding at least 2 or 3 points. Abraham starts slow losing the first 4 to 6 rounds feeling out his opponent then tries to shock his opponent with a sudden rise in tempo and tries to keep a high work rate throughout the remainder of the rounds. If you put these together Abraham loses the first 5 rounds then starts winning some hard to score rounds, where Froch ups his tempo and wins 2 out of 3 remaining rounds. My prediction is Carl Froch win by unanimous decision 115 – 113 in a very exciting match that will be remembered throughout the ages.