By Sean McDaniel: A rematch between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s) and Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KO’s) will likely occur in September or October of this year.

According to RingTV, Froch is saying that the IBF has a rule preventing champions such as former IBF champ Lucian Bute from fighting an immediately rematch after they’ve been knocked out.

In other words, Bute must fight at least one fight in between the rematch before he can take the second fight with Froch in Montreal, if Bute decides to use the rematch clause in his contract.

In the meantime, Froch will go ahead and fight someone else and it looks like Kessler is in his sights.

Froch said to RingTV “I’ve just had a chat with Kessler. I saw him ringside on Saturday and I’ve just spoken to him again now. We talked about potentially fighting in September or October because I’d much rather fight Kessler than Andre Ward, because Kessler’s a fighting man, a man of stature. He comes to fight.”

Froch has pretty much been mainly speaking about Kessler as someone he would like to fight next even before Froch’s bout with Bute last Saturday night. It’s not surprising then that Froch is leaning in that direction to get back in the ring with Kessler to try and avenge his loss to the Danish fighter from April 2010 in the Super Six tournament.

Kessler out-boxed and out-worked Froch in that fight in their 2010 fight. Froch felt that he got a raw deal with the judges scoring of the fight, as did Froch’s many fans. However, outside of the UK, most boxing fans saw Kessler as the winner of that fight based on his better work. Froch was hurt once in the fight from a hard left hand.

Kessler has fought only twice since the Froch fight, beating Mehdla Boudla and Allan Green, both by knockout. This will be a tough fight for Kessler given the lower quality opposition he’s faced since the Froch bout and his long stretches of inactivity.

Kessler said he’d be willing to fight Froch in the UK, and that’s something that could give Froch a huge boost because he seems to fight better at home because of the applause. And as we saw in his win over Andre Dirrell in 2009, Froch seems to get the benefit of favorable judges scoring. A lot of boxing fans thought Froch should have lost the Dirrell fight.