Froch: I know I can beat Andre Ward in England

By Scott Gilfoid: As I suspected, IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s win over Mikkel Kessler last night has put some ideas into the head of Froch making him think he can beat guys that has no hope ever beating in his lifetime like Andre Ward, the best fighter at 168.

Froch’s 12 round unanimous decision win over Kessler now has Froch spouting off about how he can beat Ward.

Froch said this as quoted by ESPN: “He’s [Ward] the only other guy to beat me, so that’s a fight I know I can win.…I would beat him if I got it right, and in England, I get it right, so let’s get him over to the United Kingdom and let’s get the fight on next if he wants it.”

I’m not sure I understand why it would be any different with the fight taking place in England rather than someplace else in the world. Why would Froch be able to suddenly beat Ward in England when he couldn’t beat him in Atlantic City, New Jersey two years ago? I mean, that wasn’t home fight for Ward because he’s from Oakland, California. Ward doesn’t have fan base in New Jersey. That’s the East Coast of the United States and there are not a lot of Ward fans there.

I do remember Andre Dirrell coming to England four years ago and fighting Froch in Nottingham, England and dominating him and then losing the fight by a controversial decision. I hope that’s not why Froch thinks he can beat Ward in England because if that’s why he thinks he can win then it’s pretty sad. Dirrell arguably should have beaten Froch by a lopsided decision and Froch should have had points taken off for fouling Dirrell throughout the fight.

It would be really sad if Ward came to the UK and found himself on the receiving end of a controversial decision like Dirrell did. Luckily for Ward, if he were to fight Froch in the UK, it would probably be televised by HBO, so the entire United States could see the fight, so if there’s a controversial decision like the Dirrell-Froch one, it wouldn’t escape notice.

I think Ward is wary of fighting Froch in the UK exactly for that reason. He might not want to put in all the effort in training and then go over there and dominate Froch for 12 rounds, and possibly coming out on the receiving end of a controversial decision. It’s bad enough to lose those types of fights, but then not to get a rematch to clear up the loss. Dirrell still hasn’t gotten a rematch.

Ward says he’s willing to fight Froch in the UK but it’s up to Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn, but he’s been oddly silent for the past day and not responded to the Froch-Ward talk.