By Joe Neale: On October 17th Carl Froch will get the chance to close a few more mouths about him being a credible world champion against overrated and untested Andre Dirrell at Nottingham. After the great comeback against Jermaine Taylor in the United States, a lot of people thought Froch was out-boxed. Taylor gassed out and Froch got lucky, but you can never judge a boxer by one fight. In my opinion Froch was poor against Taylor.

First of all, Froch started a lot slower than he usually does, which made him lose the rounds he usually takes. Also, Froch was under-prepared and had to come out to fight early because the Allan Green fight, which was on the undercard that night, finished quickly. Froch was out of his comfort zone in Taylor’s backyard in his first big fight with people screaming abuse at him.

In round 3 of the bout, Froch dominated the first 2 minutes and then gets caught with Taylor’s hardest shot, a big right hand which snapped back Froch’s neck but he stayed on his feet. Froch then got caught with an overhand right to the temple which made him go down but took it like it was nothing. The only way Froch gets stopped is by the referee making a premature stoppage.

Now Andre Dirrell is a prospect with no decent world level opponents on his resume. He hasn’t gone 12 rounds, he hasn’t had his chin tested, and obviously hasn’t fought under any kind of pressure like the type he will be under on October 17th. Dirrell is also coming to Nottingham in front of Froch’s home fans and comforts, with a Froch who will be a lot better than he was against Jermaine Taylor.

There isn’t any proof that Dirrell is the next big thing or even better than Taylor. From what I have seen, Dirrell is fast, flashy, throws a lot of punches but is very open and panics when he gets pressured. He will get pressured for 12 rounds against Froch at a furious pace and I think he will panic and get caught with some devastating shots and be taken off on a stretcher.

On October 17th, Carl Froch will retain his title in supreme style, knocking Andre Dirrell back to the land of hype jobs and virtually out of the Super Six. Andre Dirrell and Scott Gilfoid will be hiding around till his next fight and the talking will start again with less people convinced.