By Scott Gilfoid: Freddie Roach believes that IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) will beat WBA super middleweight Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) when the two fighters meet up for their pay per view rematch on May 25th in London, UK. Roach thinks Froch, 35, is too young for the 34-year-old.
Roach said to RingTV “I think Froch is too young and too much for him at this point. I think Froch wins by a decision.”
I hate to be the one to break this to Roach, but Kessler is actually the younger fighter and he looks a lot younger than Froch as well. I mean, I don’t knock Roach for being ignorant about the ages of the fighters. After all, he’s not a writer and it’s not his job to keep up with those kinds of things. That’s my job. I keep track of ages and junk like that.
Froch IS the older guy and he’s had way more wars than Kessler in his 11-year pro career. Kessler has a lot of clean highway miles on him due to his tendency to fight smart, use his jab and stay on the outside. Sure, he can mix it up and put his foot to the floor when he has to, but he tends to want to fight in a disciplined manner rather than going primitive and looking to score a whole bunch of knockouts.
I think Roach is going to be disappointed in this fight when he sees Froch eating jabs like they’re hors d’oeuvres on May 25th at the O2 Arena in London. Froch literally has to turn this fight into a war for him to have a chance to win the fight because if he tries to box with Kessler, then he’s going to get a boxing lesson that he won’t soon forget.
The one thing that Kessler has to be careful of is when the two fighters come together for an occasional clinch. That’s where Kessler is going to have to keep his guard up somehow because Froch will try to reach around and brain him with one of his clubbing shots while they’re holding onto each other. Man, I lost track of all the times Froch pulled that one on Andre Dirrell when the two went at in Nottingham in 2009. There’s no rescue in the clinches because the referee isn’t going to lift a ringer to help Kessler if he’s getting smashed about the head from Froch while in a clinch.
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