By Sean McDaniel: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch has been on his guard about not wanting to fight in other countries or in situations where he has a possibility of losing a hometown decision. To this day Froch feels he was robbed in his 12 round decision loss to Mikkel Kessler last year in Denmark.

Tonight Froch faces American Andre Ward in the United States with an American referee Steve Smoger working the fight in addition to one of the judges, John Stewart, also being from America. There is one British judge, John Keane, from the UK, but you if you’ve been burned like Froch thinks he has, you might feel a little disturbed by the referee and one of the judges both being from the United States.

This could set up a situation where Froch might feel he was done wrong if the fight goes to a decision and he loses a decision. It would obviously require that Smoger either gets in the way to prevent Froch fighting in his fight or he takes points away from Froch or fails to take points away from Ward for something he does in the ring. There are a number of ways where having an American referee could displease Froch if things don’t turn out well.

The chances of Smoger taking points away from Froch are quite low, as Smoger is known for letting fighters battle without inserting himself into the fight and taking off points or getting in the way of the two fighters. But Smoger could still frustrated Froch if he fails to take points away from Ward if he clashes heads with Froch. This could be a real problem if Froch ends up as badly cut as Mikkel Kessler was in his loss to Ward two years ago. Ward sliced Kessler’s face up with a series of unintentional headbutts and this altered the course of the fight.