By William Mackay: Both Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham are coming off of disappointing losses in their last Super Six tournament fights and need to win to ensure that they make it to the semifinals of the tournament. Froch, 33, lost to Mikkel Kessler by a narrow 12 round decision and Abraham was pretty much dominated by American Andre Dirrell until being disqualified for blasting Dirrell with a right hand after he had slipped down on the canvas in the 11th round.

Abraham, 31, was the talk of the Super Six tournament after knocking out the fragile-chinned Jermain Taylor in the 12th round of their fight last year in October. Abraham fought reasonably well in that fight until dropping Taylor with a scorching right hand that left Taylor flat on his back in spasms.

Abraham was now the feared puncher going into his fight with Dirrell on March 27th. The praise for Abraham died completely when Dirrell made him look severely limited in out-boxing Abraham for 10 rounds and dominating him the whole time.

In the 11th, Dirrell slipped on the canvas while trying to escape a desperate looking Abraham, who looked intent on trying to score a late knockout. Abraham had to have noticed that Dirrell was now on the canvas after slipping, because you could see Abraham standing over Dirrell and peering down at him moments before teeing off with a big right hand that badly hurt Dirrell.

Abraham was immediately disqualified for the shot. A lot of boxing fans now see Abraham differently since that fight and many of them no longer believe that he’s capable of winning the Super Six tournament.

Froch fought poorly in his first Super Six fight against Dirrell, and yet was able to win a controversial 12 round split decision while fighting at home in Nottingham. In the Kessler fight, Froch simply outworked and didn’t do enough to get the win.

On October 2nd, Abraham and Froch will be fighting in Monaco, the neutral venue that Froch insisted on. It’s highly likely that the turn out for the fight will be painfully small because of the travel distances that fans will have to go to see the two fighters. However, this is a fight that won’t likely end in a decision so fans really aren’t all that important.

Abraham and Froch will be looking to take each other’s heads off. Abraham clearly has the better defense of the two, but he also isn’t nearly as busy as Froch. Abraham could end up giving away a lot of rounds in the same way he did in the Dirrell fight unless he’s busy.

This could cause him to get desperate again if he falls behind. However, unlike Dirrell, Froch will be there standing in front of him if Abraham is in need of a knockout win. Unless Froch’s chin is rock solid like a lot of people think it is, he could wind up getting knocked out by Abraham. In fact, that’s what I see happening. I think Abraham will be too strong for Froch.