By Scott Gilfoid: The promoter for former World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KO’s), Mick Hennessy, believes that the upcoming October 2nd stage 3 Super Six tournament clash between Froch and former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO’s) could be the best in the Super Six tournament, according to Livefight.com. Hennessey says “This is going to be such an incredible fight. Both men are coming off their first career defeats, both are tough and are regarded as the biggest hitters in their weight class and they will both put everything on the line for this one, to guarantee their Super Six futures. Throw in the fact that it’s going to be staged in such a beautiful area such as Monaco and you have all the ingredients for an amazing showdown. It really could be the best fight of the series with Froch the winner.”

A couple things: I don’t see Froch as being a huge puncher. Sure, Froch hits hard but I think Mikkel Kessler and Andre Dirrell are bigger punchers than Froch in the Super Six tournament. However, Hennessy has it right by saying Abraham is one of the biggest punchers. He clearly is the biggest puncher in the entire Super Six tournament. But unfortunately, Abraham doesn’t let his hands go enough to fully take advantage of his big power. As we saw in his loss to the talented Dirrell, Abraham handicapped himself by just covering up and taking shots for most of the fight.

He quickly fell hopelessly behind and then tried to desperately score a knockout in the 11th round. But it didn’t come and he blew it by hitting the defenseless Dirrell after he had slipped on the canvas. This resulted in Abraham being disqualified. What I’m hoping for is that both Abraham and Froch can keep it clean in this fight on October 2nd. Froch got a little foul happy in his fight with Dirrell last October when he was unable to land any shots against the defensive artist, body slamming Dirrell to the canvas at point in the 5th and then landing numerous rabbit punches, while the referee stood idly by letting it all happen without penalizing for the rough stuff.

I just hope that Abraham and Froch don’t turn this fight into an all out MMA bout, with both of them teeing off with elbows, rabbit shots and body slams. What I want is a nice brawl without the extracurricular stuff going on. I don’t really see this fight as being the best in the Super Six tournament series. It could be one of the best, but I suspect it will end rather early. If Froch comes out with his hands dangling uselessly by his sides rather than protecting his melon, Abraham is going to waste no time in blasting Froch’s unprotected head into the 3d round. Fighting Abraham without guarding your head is like walking into a grizzly bear enclosure with your bare hands and expecting to come out in one piece. It’s just not going to happen.

Unless Froch can protect his head somehow, he’s going to get planted on the canvas very quick. That’s pretty much what I see happening in this fight. Froch will come out, inching along with his slow plodding style of fighting, with his hands down by his sides instead of in front of his head. Abraham’s eyes will widen like saucers at the site of Froch’s unprotected head and he’ll immediately load up one of his huge right hands and send Froch into dream land. I hope it doesn’t end this way, because I want to a see brawl between them. But unfortunately, I just can’t see this fight going beyond the 3rd round because of Froch’s lack of defense. This is like Joe Frazier facing a young George Foreman. Abraham is going to be much too powerful for Froch to handle and we’ll see a quick knockout.