By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) says he’s spotted a flaw with former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) as he prepares for their April 24th stage 2 Super Six tournament bout in Herning, Denmark. At East Side Boxing’s On the Ropes program, the 32-year-old Froch says “He [Kessler] doesn’t move very well. He comes in at straight lines. He does do the basics very well.” Froch thinks that Kessler, because of his 11 round technical decision loss to American Andre Ward in November 2009, will be desperate for a win.

Froch, speaking about Kessler, says “You have the wounded fox syndrome where he’s bleeding and will come out fighting. Kessler has absolutely nothing to lose. He lost his title already. He’s fighting for the WBC title, and on top of that, he’s fighting in his own home town.” Froch is correct. Kessler can’t afford to lose this fight, because not only would it mean that he won’t make it to the semi finals of the Super Six tournament, but it could also have a disastrous effect on his career.

A loss to Froch would be Kessler’s second consecutive loss and his third in the last three years. To be sure, Kessler would still remain a highly ranked contender in the super middleweight division, but for a fighter that has become accustomed to being a world off and on for the past four years, it won’t be easy for Kessler to accept being anything less than one of the super middleweight champions. Kessler could always go after the WBO super middleweight champion, Robert Stieglitz, who is by far the weakest of the champions. Kessler would likely beat Stieglitz if he has anything left by the time the Super Six tournament is over.

Froch comes across as perhaps a little too confident of his own ability, giving himself a grade of an “A+” for his performance against American Andre Dirrell in his stage 1 bout of the Super Six tournament. For boxing fans who saw the Dirrell-Froch fight, it’s doubtful that few people would give Froch a grade anywhere close to an ‘A’. Perhaps a better grade would be a ‘C-‘or possibly even a ‘D’. Froch didn’t fight well, and resorted to fouling when he struggled with Dirrell in the first four rounds of the fight.

Froch points out that he has three “impressive wins” against Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell. The Taylor and Dirrell victories were far from impressive, though. Froch struggled in both of the fights and is fortunate that he won the fights in the end. If Froch hadn’t stopped Taylor in the last round, he would have the fight. And many people felt that Froch got a home town decision in the Dirrell bout. With those two fights being his last ones, you can’t really say that Froch is in a stronger position for the Kessler than the Dane. Froch could easily have two losses on his record if things didn’t work out in his favor.