Meyer says “Kessler must have broken his [Froch] pride”

By William Mackay: Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO’s) and former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KO’s) still haven’t decided the venue for their next Super Six tournament fight. Froch and his promoter were under the mistaken impression that the fight was supposed to take place in Nottingham, England, and said there was a verbal agreement that the Abraham fight should take place there.

However, Sauerland Events, the promoter for Abraham, had the contract which stated that the fight is to take place in Europe, but not necessarily in Nottingham. Froch isn’t happy about this and has shot down the idea of fighting Abraham in Germany, and has pretty rejected all of Europe for a possible fallback plan.

Froch is favor of the Abraham fight taking place in Montreal, Canada, though, but that may not happen either. In an article by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Chris Meyer, the general manager for Sauerland Events, had this to say about Froch: “Mikkel [Kessler] must have broken his pride.

That’s not the Froch anymore that went to the USA to fight [Jermain] Taylor.” This is what a lot of people are saying about Froch. He seems to have taken his defeat to Kessler really hard. Froch, 32, was defeated by Kessler in a 12 round unanimous decision on April 24th, in Herning, Denmark.

Froch has got it in his head that he was a victim of a hometown decision in that fight is now concerned about preventing this from happening to him again in the Super Six tournament. The problem is Froch is rejecting a lot of places in Europe where he would likely have no problems in getting a fair decision.

Even in Germany, Froch would likely be able to win a decision if he was to outbox Abraham. However, Froch doesn’t think he can win a decision over there and wants no part in fighting over there. But by ruling out Germany and with Abraham not wanting to fight Froch in Nottingham, the two fighters will likely have to settle for a less than sold out crowd if their fight takes place in a neutral country where neither fighter has much of a fan base.

Froch dominated most of his early fights in his career until recently. However, Froch has struggled badly in fights against Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell and Kessler, which just happen to be Froch’s last three fights. Froch’s lack of hand speed and defense has been a huge problem for him in those fights and he’s taken a lot of punishment in all of them.

Froch is now facing what could be his toughest opponent yet with the powerful punching Abraham, who is going to looking to knock Froch out. Their fight is scheduled for September 19th, but unless they figure out a way to solve their impasse about the fight venue, this date may have to be pushed back even further.

Abraham has little reason to agree to fight Froch in Canada, which seems like a move designed for Froch to build up a fan base for a fight against Lucian Bute in the future. It may come down to Showtime making the call and choosing the location of the Abraham-Froch fight if the two fighters and their promoters are unable to agree to a neutral venue.

The problem with that, however, is that Froch has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the Super Six tournament if he’s not happy with the venue. So, he could end up opting to pull out all together even if Showtime tries to step in and help out.