Froch has to avoid fighting Ward on the inside
August 17th, 2011
By Sean McDaniel: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch and WBA champion Andre Ward meet in the finals of the Super Six tournament on October 29th. Froch comes into the fight having beaten Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham and Glen Johnson.
This is an area where Froch is completely lacking. He’s a good fighter on the outside and at medium range where he can control many of his opponents with his jab and counter punching ability.
However, Froch hasn’t shown that he can fight on the inside. The only fight where he was pressed to fight in close was his narrow 12 round split decision win over Dirrell in 2009, and Froch looked underwhelming in that fight. His inside fighting ability was essentially reduced to holding & hitting and throwing rabbit punches.
Froch didn’t look at comfortable and wasn’t able to throw power shots. This is where he could have problems against Ward, because the American is going to be forcing Froch to fight inside knowing that he’s not skilled in that area.
Froch is going to have to learn to on the fly, because Ward is going to put him into a situation where he’s going to have to sink or swim on the inside. Froch won’t just be able to hold and bang Ward on the back of the head with a free hand.
That won’t be permitted in this fight and will likely get Froch penalized. Even on the outside, Ward is the superior fighter with much better hand speed. Ward has an excellent jab and a fast straight right hand.
This is going to be hard for Froch to get out of the way of because of Ward’s quickness. Kessler, who is a lot faster than Froch, wasn’t able to get out of the way of Ward’s straight rights.
If Kessler couldn’t do it, Froch will likely get hit a lot by them as well. And with Ward falling into Froch forcing him to fight on the inside after tagging him with long right hand, Froch is going be in deep trouble in this fight unless he shows something new.
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Wow. Do you think?
Froch will stop ward,froch will be one of the great fighter,s of all time.
@one who knows you put your point across well! I have to agree that wards speed and ugly but effective style will win rounds and make things really difficult for froch and I see ward winning by decision although being a froch fan I would really love to see him adapt and pull this one off he has surprised me before and I hope he does again! Ward coming forward has to be better for froch than Durrell running and holding all night long!
Ward hasn’t demonstrated that he’s a good inside fighter. He’s demonstrated that he’s a dirty fighter. A good inside fighter works on the inside with his fist, not his head. Marquez is an example of a great inside fighter. There aren’t many notable inside fighters at supermiddle at the moment, they are all range fighters. Ward has great skills but he is too cautious, too eagre to clinch and hold. Froch does have good power but he’s too long for inside fighting, that’s just an anatomy thing, Hearns was the same but Hagler, a stockier guy, worked well on the inside and was strongest there.
lets not forget Froch’s trainer Rob mccracken who is a top coach and im sure hel have something up his sleeve
wiseguy, i agree totally. froch is a seasoned pro and will probably knock ward out. froch aint daft enough to go inside with the head butter that is ward.
Love him or hate him (as per Scott Gilfoid), Carl is a well seasoned pro. His style can be somewhat boring to watch but one has to say that he is, nevertheless; effective.
Although Ward has the ‘slickness’ and speed to potentially overcome Carl, I feel that Carl’s experience will see him through.
Makes me laugh, you mention “What Ward lacks in power he more than makes up for with his inside fighting ability.” – It should read .. “What Ward lacks in power he more than makes up for with his head butts”
froch by K.O!! ward is good but froch has power and heart. will probs be ward if it goes to decision tho
Ward is getting KtfO in the final