By Sean McDaniel: The trainer for World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s), Rob McCracken, has warned him to “not go to war with [Mikkel] Kessler,” according to an article at the Daily Star. The worry here is that Kessler has already been beaten once in his first fight of the Super Six tournament and will be coming out looking desperate to avoid losing a second time and not making it to the semi finals.

McCracken says “Carl has to be smart and not get involved in any kind of war with Kessler. It’s no good standing in front of this guy [Kessler] and going punch for punch with him, because that may not work. He [Kessler] will be like a wounded animal coming out and will be coming out trying to go toe to toe early. Carl knows he should not get involved. I’m very confident that Card can do it. He can wear him down and get right on top as their fight progresses. But he has to remember that Kessler will be giving it his all. He knows a defeat would finish him, so he literally has nothing to lose.”

That’s all well and good that McCracken says that Froch won’t go to war with Kessler, but the problem with that is Froch doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Froch fights only one way by constantly brawling with his opponents and coming forward all the time. Froch doesn’t have much boxing skills to speak of, gets hit a lot and rarely jabs.

If McCracken has suddenly tinkered with Froch’s style of fighting during training camp to make him more of a boxer and less of a slugger, then I don’t have a good feeling about this for Froch. Face it, Froch is a slugger and that’s pretty much all he is. By asking Froch not to go to war with Kessler, it will probably cripple his game. Froch is a come forward type if fighter, who fights in straight lines much like Kelly Pavlik and Ricky Hatton. He can’t move laterally, and doesn’t have the hand speed that will enable him to get the better of the quicker Kessler when the two trade.

And Froch can’t fight Kessler on the outside, because Froch’s hand speed is too slow. Froch’s best, perhaps only chance in this fight, is to rely on his chin and his stamina to get him through the fight. He’s going to have to keep coming forward all night long, taking heavy shots to get his own punches in. But if Froch tries to box with Kessler, then forget it. Froch will lose and lose badly.