By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBA/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) came out and said it in plain language that he’s not looking to put Froch in with Andre Ward in his next fight. Instead, Hearn is eyeing a third fight between Froch and Mikkel Kessler or possibly a fight against 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins. Of those two, Hearn seems more excited about a Froch-Kessler third fight because of fan interest.
Hearn said to I Film London “I said it before, Andre Ward is a fantastic fighter, but he needs Carl Froch; Carl Froch doesn’t need Andre Ward. He’s [Froch] got two of these little babies [Froch’s WBA & WBC titles]. I don’t even know if Andre’s got one, but people call for Carl Froch – Mikkel Kessler 3; that’s a massive fight. George Groves is coming up strong on the blindside. Bernard Hopkins is very vocal about that fight. So what we’re going to do is go away and relax and soak it all up. Carl Froch, as I’ve said it before, is a legend.”
So there it is. Hearn has effectively dismissed Ward as a future opponent for Froch, and he’s given a huge hint that he’s going to look to make a Froch vs. Kessler 3 fight. By the way Hearn was talking about Hopkins, he seemed less than excited about that fight. You could just tell that Hearn didn’t fancy the idea of putting Froch in with Hopkins by Hearn’s tone and facial expressions when he was talking. There no excitement.
Hearn seemed more interested in the prospects of putting Froch in with another one of Hearn’s fighters George Groves, but he then said that Groves is one fight away from the Froch match-up. So what we’re left with is Kessler and only Kessler.
I’m not surprised that Hearn isn’t interested in putting Froch in with Hopkins because he recently said the fight couldn’t even if it was with a catchweight.
Hearn wasn’t having it. He didn’t say whether he’d be willing to do the fight if Hopkins boiled down to 168 to take the fight, but I suspect, Hearn would say no to that too. He just doesn’t seem to like the idea of Froch fighting Hopkins and I can definitely see why.
Hopkins has tons of skills, got hand speed, great counter punching ability and superb inside fighting skills. As we saw last night and with his fight with Ward in 2011, Froch can’t fight on the inside. So if Hopkins took the fight to the inside for 12 rounds, he’d have Froch looking like a fish out of water.
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