By Scott Gilfoid: WBA Super World middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) responded on Tuesday to WBA 168 pound champion Carl Froch’s recent dare for him to come to the UK to fight him in his own home city of Nottingham at the Forest Grounds.
Froch says because he fought Ward in 2009 in the United States, then it’s now Ward’s turn to come over and fight Froch in his own country. Ward, however, says that Froch is not calling the shots. If they face each other it’s not going to be a case of Froch telling him what to do.
Since the World Boxing Association ordered Froch and Ward to fight, it’s going to come down to whether the two of them can negotiate a fight or not. If not, then it’ll go to a purse bid. Whoever has the deepest pockets will win the bid and be the one that puts on the fight.
Ward has Roc Nation Sports backing him, and they have deep pockets. Froch’s promoter is Eddie Hearn, and it’s unclear how much he’ll be willing to put up to win the bid.
“Looks like Frochy Froch remembered my name all of a sudden. That’s good to know. Looks like the old man is still kicking,” Ward said on his twitter. “Froch could have gotten this fight years ago, but it took the WBA mandating the fight for him to step up. SMH. This guy. If this fight does happen, Froch is not dictating anything. He must have fell a bumped his head.”
Ward beat Froch by a 12 round decision in the Super Six tournament in 2011. Since then, Ward has been open to a rematch with Froch, but the British fighter hasn’t acted eager to take the fight. His thing was that Ward didn’t bring much to the table in terms of fan appeal. Of course, neither did Yusaf Mack, and Froch still fought him in a record-padding fight in 2012. There was a lot of interest in a second fight between Froch and Ward back in 2012 and 2013.
With the time that has done by, I’m not sure how much appeal there is in the fight right now. Hardcore boxing fans would love the fight, of course, but I’m not sure if it’s a fight that will capture a lot of interest with the casual fans. However, if Froch wants to keep his WBA title, he’s going to have to come to an agreement to face Ward, because if he refuses to take the fight, then the WBA will simply strip Froch of his last remaining title.
Froch already gave up his IBF title recently rather than face James DeGale. Now Froch is down to his last remaining title with his WBA strap, and a lot of boxing fans see him vacating the belt rather than getting in the ring with Ward.
“I fought him [Andre Ward] in the US,’ Froch said via the Dailymail.co.uk. ‘Now it’s only right that he comes over here. To be a truly great champion you have to box overseas. Ward needs to be forced to travel out of his comfort zone. I dare him. He will discover that I’m a very different animal here than I was that night on the Boardwalk.”
Ward obviously isn’t going to give up his WBA title, so it’s going to be up to Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn whether they value their WBA title enough to want to get inside the ring with Ward. If not, then I suspect we’ll see them vacate he strap after making a lot of bold talk.
Froch and Hearn really want a fight against former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr later this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight can still happen, of course, but Froch’s WBA title may be gone by then if he chooses not to face Ward.
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