Mcguigan picks Froch to beat Kessler

By William Mackay: Boxing great Barry Mcguigan is picking WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) to retain his World Boxing Council title tonight against Mikkel Kessler (42-2, 32 KO’s) in Herning, Denmark. In his colimn at the Mirror< Mcguigan points out that Froch is "still on the rise" as a fighter, and that he sees Kessler as going downhill in his career after a recent loss to Andre Ward last November. Mcguigan describes Kessler as a "straight line" fighter, with heavyweight hands and an excellent jab." I disagree with the first part. I think Kessler can move well laterally and doesn’t just fight in straight lines. His jab is quite good and he punches with a lot of power when he’s loading up on his shots.

Mcguigan’s assessment of Froch is pretty much dead on, describing him as an “awkward” fighter with a great chin, good stamina and big power. Mcguigan doesn’t like the way that Froch keeps his hands down by his waist when he fights, saying “It is not sensible to box with your hands by your navel. It leaves Froch open. None of his last three opponents Andre Dirrell, Taylor or Jean Pascal had any difficulty finding the target.”

Froch seems to be stuck with that bad habit, as he’s not done much to change it in his last three fights despite the fact that he’s getting clobbered more and more in each progressing fight. Mcguigan doesn’t like it and thinks it may hurt Froch eventually, remarking “Froch can’t hope to sustain a long career as a champion taking punching like that. It is probably asking too much at 32 for Froch to change radically.”

Well, I hope Froch changes a little and soon because he could turn out to be another Ricky Hatton if he doesn’t start holding up his hands in front of his beak to stop some of the constant incoming shots. Froch may have a great chin, but it can’t be a good thing to have his brain rattled constantly with big shots from the kind of opposition that he’s facing now. When Froch was fighting mostly B level fighters earlier in his career, it didn’t matter as much, but he’s stepped up the level of his opposition in his last three fights and can’t afford to keep using his head as a door stop for punches.

Mcguigan thinks that Froch will win by a decision tonight and thinks it will be an exciting bout. He does, however, think that Froch could take kessler out starting in the 9th round.