Froch: I’d batter Andre Ward when I’m firing on all cylinders

By Boxing News - 05/27/2012 - Comments

Image: Froch: I'd batter Andre Ward when I'm firing on all cylindersBy Scott Gilfoid: It seems that Carl Froch’s 5th round TKO win over IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute last night has planted some ideas in Froch’s head. He’s now saying he thinks he could beat WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward if he’s fighting at the top of his game, presumably like last night.

Froch said this in an interview with Ifilmlondon “The Ward fight for me is a fight that I would like to avenge, but on my own terms. I don’t want to go to California and fight Mr. Big Shot or, you know, listen to his rubbish. I just beat an unbeaten, top ranked fighter, and I showed what I can do when I’m on form. Andre Ward got a very, very poor Carl Froch that night. He was fortunate to fight me on a bad night, because if he fights me when I’m firing on all cylinders like that, he’s getting battered as well.”

This is what I was afraid of. The win over Bute has given Froch delusions of grandeur because he’s now seeing him as being able to beat the #1 fighter in the super middleweight division. Ward already proved that he was better than Froch when he spanked him last December in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the finals of the Super Six tournament. I don’t know about you, but I saw that as a one-sided spanking by Ward. Apart from the one judge that scored it 118-110 for Ward, I completely disagreed with the two that had Ward barely winning by the scores of 115-113. Those were a joke, giving the appearance that the fight was much closer than it really was.

I think Froch needs to sit down and watch his fight with Ward again and then understand why he wasn’t able to do what he did to Bute to Ward last December. The big difference here was that Ward was using a really hard jab to nail Froch on the outside. In contrast, Bute didn’t jab at all for some reason. Ward was able to duck or block Froch’s right hands. Bute was getting nailed by them repeatedly. Ward was able to completely dominate Froch on the inside with his superior inside fighting ability. Bute didn’t have a clue on the inside, and never even tried to fight Froch in close. The only thing Bute did on the inside was clinch. Ward threw combinations against Froch. Bute threw one shot at a time, trying to knock Froch out with a single shot. Ward was faster than Froch, a lot faster. Bute had a speed advantage over Froch, but not enough to where it counted for anything.

Froch is kidding himself if he thinks Ward will travel to the UK to fight him. That’s not going to happen because even though Froch captured the IBF title, he’s not considered to be the best fighter in the super middleweight division. He can’t throw his weight around and expect Ward to agree to whatever he says. If they were going to fight, it would have to be in a neutral venue like the last time they fought. Ward is from Oakland, California and doesn’t have a fans in the East coast of the United States. It wasn’t a hometown advantage for Ward to fight fighting Froch in Atlantic City, for from it. Maybe Froch doesn’t realize how huge the United States is. Just because a fighter is popular in one region doesn’t mean they’re popular in another area. Froch isn’t going to get Ward to agree to fight him in the UK, especially not after Froch’s controversial 12 round decision over the talented Andre Dirrell in 2009. You think Ward wants to go to the UK and risk getting jobbed?

I think Ward would dominate Froch no matter where the fight takes place. He’s just too good, and Froch would be hitting air all night long with his long, slow right hands.

In the same interview, Froch made it it clear that he has no interest in fighting Ward right now, saying “I’ve got no interest in Andre Ward at the minute.”

There it is, folks. Froch doesn’t want to fight Ward right now, and I can understand why. I think Froch would lose his IBF title and would be starting right back where he came from before this fight.



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