By Scott Gilfoid: On the Steve Bunce boxing hour show, WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) was in fine form, predicting a win over his stage 2 Super Six tournament opponent Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s), whom he will be fighting on April 24th, in Herning, Denmark. I’ll say this: For a fighter that is lucky to have escaped his last two fights with wins, Froch sounds like the most confident person in the world about his chances against Kessler. Froch is dead certain he’s going to win and that is really strange given how poorly Froch looked against Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell. If it was me, I’d be like, “I hope I win.”

I wouldn’t be talking in absolutes as if I had it in the bag because of this or that. Froch can punch a little, I’ll give him that, but he’s not that big of a puncher to have his kind of confidence. And his hand speed, movement and defense are all very mediocre. Froch is a fighter that gets by on his chin, stamina and his good – not great – power. He’s no knockout artist, and I think there are a number of other fighters in the Super Six that can punch harder than him.

This is why I feel he is giving himself a little too many pats on the back going into his fight with Kessler. Froch says “I’m going to break his [Kessler] heart. I’m going to be looking to put him in his place early on.” I bet he will. There’s no mystery about what Froch is going to be trying to do against Kessler. He’s going to be loaded up and hunting bear early on with his heavy artillery, but I see Froch missing over and over again in the early going and eating a lot of hard jabs to the head.

If Froch was smart about it, he’d so something a little unexpected like coming out and trying to box Kessler early instead of plodding right into the teeth of Kessler’s offense. After all, Kessler doesn’t have the same kind of stamina that Froch has, so it would seem like the smarter thing to do to box Kessler early and then turn it on late if and when he fades.

I see Froch looking a little silly against Kessler in the first six rounds, taking punch after punch to the grill while the Danish crowd goes wild. I can see Froch losing the first six rounds and struggling badly as the fight gets out of control early. Froch may end up needing a knockout to win like he did in the Taylor fight. If that becomes the case, I don’t think Froch will win. He won’t be able to pull out a knockout against Kessler, because he has a solid chin and will able to take Froch’s best shots without going down like Taylor did.

Froch says “He’s [Kessler] backed in the corner. He’s fighting for his life and he’ll come out swinging and have a real go. I have to take his jab away from him by using my right glove. It’s my job not to give him any confidence. I’m going to out-jab him, outwork him and as soon as opportunity presents itself, I’m going to hit him hard with my power and let him sit down between rounds and think to himself – ‘I’ve lost to Calzaghe, I’ve been beaten by [Andre] Ward and I’ve had second thoughts about where my boxing career is going. Now I’m in with Carl Froch and I’m getting hurt here.”

That’s pretty amusing. Froch sounds like he’s got it all figured out like a game of checkers. It’s too bad it’s not going to end up like that. Let me tell you: Froch is not going to out-jab Kessler. If Froch really believes that then I think he’s having delusions of grandeur. Kessler has an excellent jab. There’s no way Froch with his pawing jab is going to out-jab Kessler. And I don’t think Froch will be able to connect enough to outwork Kessler. It takes hand speed and accuracy to connect with a high percentage of shots against Kessler, and by the way that Froch was whiffing with his punches against “The Matrix” Dirrell last October, I think it’s safe to say that Kessler won’t be getting outworked or out-jabbed by Froch on April 24th.