Froch: “I think this is his [Kessler] last hurrah”

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) thinks that he’ll be finishing Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO”s) off as a fighter and sending him possibly into retirement if he beats the Danish fighter on April 24th in their Super Six tournament fight at the MCH Messecenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark. In an article at the Mirror, Froch, 32, says “I think this is his [Kessler] last hurrah. When I beat Kessler, I’ll be finishing him off and be guaranteed a semi-final in the Super Six competition. It will be the end of him [Kessler] and he might decide to retire.”

Kessler was beaten by American Andre Ward by a 11 round technical decision in November 2009 in their stage 1 Super Six tournament fight. Due to the one-sided nature of the fight, some boxing people think that Kessler is finished as a fighter. Instead of seeing that Kessler was beaten by a superior fighter, some people are mistakenly thinking he’s a shot fighter.

Let’s be clear about this: Ward would have likely beaten Kessler at any point in Mikkel’s career. Ward just seems to have Kessler’s number, that’s all. Froch should consider himself lucky that it wasn’t him in the ring with Ward on that night instead of Kessler, because people would be calling for Froch to retire instead of Kessler right about now. I think Ward would have spanked Froch even worse than Kessler, and probably stopped him in the process if he had fought him.

I see Froch basically fighting on borrowed time. He can whoop it up right now, but once he gets in the ring against Kessler on April 24th, Froch will get exposed once again and will lose a lopsided 12 round decision. I think Froch should have lost his first fight of the Super Six tourney against Andre Dirrell, but ended up winning a controversial 12 round decision over Dirrell while fighting in his home town of Nottingham, England.

Kessler is going to be probably too fast and much too skillful for the slow-moving Froch to beat. And after that, Froch will face Abraham in his next Super Six bout in the stage 3 part of the tourney. Abraham will be out for blood after his March 27th fight against Dirrell goes badly for him, and will be looking to trounce Froch like a rag doll.

I see Froch losing that fight too and ending up being drummed out of the Super Six tournament without his World Boxing Council super middleweight title in his possession. With a loss a piece against Kessler and Abraham, I can see Froch facing the same criticism that Kessler is dealing with now about being a shot fighter. Just because Froch loses and gets drummed out of the Super Six tournament it doesn’t mean he’s a shot fighter. I totally disagree with that idea.

I just think that Froch will have met a couple of superior fighters than him. I still think Froch has a few more useful years left in him as a gatekeeper in the super middleweight division. If Froch hangs around for another four to six years, I’m betting he’ll get another two or three shots at a title at super middleweight. He can also move in weight to light heavyweight where the competition is a lot softer. I don’t think Froch has to retire when/if things go badly for him in the Super Six tournament. It’s not the end of the world for him.