By John Dimeck:

Myths:

Less than two weeks until the much anticipated scrap between Carl Froch and Andre Dirrell in their opener of their super six campaigns. Both fighters are talking with a lot of confidence, and with fans on both sides of the Atlantic joining in the trash fest let’s take a look see what is myth, what has some substance behind it, and try to decipher how this match up might unfold.

I mentioned on here in a previous article that I felt the Froch Taylor fight was worth a re-watch. The body of opinion seems to be that Taylor absolutely dominated Froch for almost the entire fight until the champion came to life in the last round, (or some even say “the last 14 seconds”) and luckily defeated Taylor by a fluke ko. Nonsense!

This, gentlemen (and ladies too), is quite simply a fallacy. I believe any fair minded boxing fan will allow that Taylor was ahead entering those two final rounds, but at that point in the fight Froch had whittled away a huge lead from earlier in the fight and was most certainly the alpha dog of the two men, bossing Taylor and imposing his great determination upon the skilled American. He had a strong 11th to narrow the gap even further. This is borne out by the fact that one judge even had Froch ahead entering the 12th – that was a bit generous in my opinion- but if you watch the fight again two other opinions are noteworthy as we bust the myth of a Taylor dominated fight.

Firstly, besides the one judge having Froch ahead you will note on the fight video that one press row scorer also had Froch ahead, albeit by a solitary point. And secondly, the opinion of the excellent commentator Al Bernstein is voiced saying that it is extremely close as the bell goes to start 12, and it could well be a tie at that point or one point either way. The point is that it was close, with Taylor likely ahead marginally.
Regardless, Froch made sure of the outcome by crushing Jermain Taylor mercilessly in that famous 12th, but the point I am making is that Froch was most certainly not out boxed for the majority of the fight as the myth now states. Even if he was not ahead as some believe, he likely would’ve been after the pounding he dished out in the 12th.

Dirrell will underestimate Froch’s boxing ability at his own peril, as the word he is getting is that Froch is fairly one dimensional – power – and can easily be out boxed to a decision, ask Jean Pascal if that’s an easy feat.

Momentum:

Which of these fighters has momentum going into this contest?

It is my opinion that Froch was very nervy in Conneticut, and the effect of a hostile crowd should not be underestimated. But he will have learned from that, that he does not want to start slowly here, and that his job to be on his game from the opening bell will be made that much easier by being at home. He has momentum as he is just now, at a fairly mature age for a champion, coming off two very impressive performances. The confidence he will have gained from those wars will give him excellent momentum against Dirrell, who has no such springboard to propel himself into this fight. Dirrell’s opponents just can’t be compared to those on the champion’s resume, and while it remains to be seen just what Dirrell is made of, (I like his style, but I am eager to see how he fares moving up the ladder this quickly- he was gifted this opportunity and I fear it may have come a bit too soon for him,) he is a very good prospect in my opinion, but until he makes some noise in this tournament he remains just that, a prospect. Momentum = advantage Froch.

Moving mountains:

The hand speed of Dirrell is nice to watch, and speed is an asset to any boxer, but there are many, many qualities the presence or absence of which will define a prizefighter.

In addition to speed, power is an attribute much vaunted by the top fighters. It takes an extremely special fighter like Calzaghe to be so dominant without possessing great power, but Calzaghe is a bit of a one off, simply put, power is important at the top level of the sport. Durability, or ‘chin’, is another vital part of a fighters makeup, I’m sure anyone can agree with that. Froch is like robo-boxer in this regard, he just keeps coming, no matter what ! That must be very daunting for an opponent, to hit a guy with everything and to have him keep coming forward, hunting you into the corners and dishing it out.

Psyche:

Does a man have that extra bit of mental strength, the very will to simply refuse to yield to his foe? This is a characteristic which I would say is every bit as important, and perhaps more, than say, mere speed. Roberto Duran had this in spades until he famously quit in his Leonard rematch, but suffice to say it will carry a fighter that extra mile when the chips are down. In this regard Froch is simply worlds ahead of his young challenger. Carl Froch is as gritty as it gets; he will move mountains to obtain his goal. Perhaps this trait as well as his great power and fitness has enabled him to get away with what appears to be a low, sloppy defence. There is no denying that he does leave himself open, but tell that to his 25 losing opponents, 20 of whom had a light shone in their eyes by a ringside doctor when Froch was finished with them.

I am a boxing fan, and this is a fight to look forward to, regardless of what side of the pond you reside, but no matter how objective I try to be in looking at this matchup, I see no other outcome than a Froch victory, likely by ko in the middle rounds.