By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) has a number of things going for him in his fight with Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) on April 24th, at the MCH Messecenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark. Perhaps the best thing that Froch has going for him in their stage 2 Super Six bout is his battering ram-like chin. Froch has an ability to take shots that would probably but a lot of fighters in a coma. Who knows why Froch is able to take so much punishment. Perhaps it’s in the genes, but whatever the case, Froch is able to walk through a hail of fire in all of his fights to get close enough to land his own big shots.

Froch’s chin is a huge asset for him going into his fight with Kessler. God knows, Froch can’t match Kessler for hand speed, jab, or the ability to get out of the way of shots. But it might not matter. All of us have heard of fighters that were able to tire out their opponents just by coming forward and taking all their shots. Froch is one of those kinds of fighters. He basically wears out his opponents by taking their best shots again and again and then coming back with his own big shots once they tire out.

The trick to fighting Froch is not to use up all your resources early, to pace yourself and to keep moving so he doesn’t tire you out. That’s easier said than done. When you have a fighter that is just coming forward all the time with their hands down by their waist, their chin wide open for a right hand, the natural inclination is to unload on them. And the fact that Froch keeps coming forward even after being tagged multiple times seems to illicit a reaction from his opponent to throw even more punches.

Eventually, Froch has his victim so tired that they can barely throw. This is when he takes over and starts having success. This was the case in Froch’s biggest wins of his career against Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor. It didn’t work well for Froch in his fight with Andre Dirrell, because he was wise enough to use lateral movement to defeat Froch’s forward pressure. Dirrell also didn’t waste a lot of energy unloading on Froch with a lot of punches, instead using pin point shots to win rounds.

Kessler moves pretty well, but he hasn’t had to move a great deal in his fights because besides fights against Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward, Kessler has mainly faced come forward types of fighters that made things easy for him. Froch is one of those types of fighters, but with a much better chin than the 42 opponents that Kessler has beaten during his career. This fight comes down whether Kessler is mobile enough to move laterally to stay out of the way of Froch for 12 rounds.

I have no doubt that Kessler is good enough win almost any single exchange with Froch, but Froch just keeps coming and tires you out by taking your shots. That’s not a fight that Kessler can win. He has to stay on the move, not get drawn into any prolonged wars, and above all else conserve his energy by not just going right hand crazy on Froch’s chin as he plods forward. If Kessler fights smart and can stay on the move, then I see him winning. However, if he stays in front of Froch and gleefully pounds away at him for six or seven rounds, I see Kessler tiring out and getting beaten in the second half of the fight.