Abraham says Froch can “Plan his retirement” on Saturday night

By Boxing News - 11/22/2010 - Comments

By Scott Gifloid: Former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO’s) plans on sending Britain’s Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KO’s) into retirement on Saturday night in their stage 3 Super Six tournament bout at the Hartwall Arena, in Helsinki, Finland. Froch, 33, is already talking about retiring if he loses the fight, and Abraham is just helping him along with his choice.

In an article at the BBC Sport, Abraham says “After the fight, Froch can plan his retirement.”

Abraham has a big power advantage over Froch, and with Froch’s inability to protect his head form incoming shots, he’s going to be there for Abraham to hit all night long. The problem is unless Froch does a better job of protecting himself, he won’t be around for very long against the hard hitting Abraham. The fighters that Abraham has been in with in the Super Six tournament have made it a purpose to try and keep from getting him by his sledgehammer blows.

But Froch seems to relish the back and forth of combat, and that’s not a good thing when you factor in how hard Abraham punches. This could be a very quick fight unless Froch has some tricks up his sleeves. Thus far, I haven’t seen much versatility from Froch in any of his fights. He seems to tackle each opponent the exact same way and is there to be hit at all times.

Froch says “The next fight [Abraham] is all or nothing for me. If it doesn’t go my way, I will seriously consider retirement because I am only interested in the big title fights. I won’t hand around at domestic level.”

I highly doubt Froch will retire after being knocked out by Abraham on Saturday night, because Froch is already guaranteed a place in the semifinals of the Super Six tournament, and he won’t want to miss out on the big payday he’ll get for that fight. Of course, if Abraham badly hurts Froch the way he did Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell, well then we may see Froch depart from the Super Six tourney under those circumstances. But short of that, Froch will likely stick it out until the bitter end.

I suspect he’ll get knocked out by Abraham on Saturday, and then will lose his semifinal fight against one of the fighters in the tourney. Glen Johnson throws too many punches, Abraham would knock Froch out again, and Andre Ward is simply too talented for Froch to compete against. The retirement question for Froch should be settled with a loss for him in the semifinals. That would be Froch’s third consecutive defeat a sure sign that he’s ready for retirement or a trip back to domestic level opposition in the UK.

Froch sees the Abraham fight as being one of the best in the tournament, saying “This fight has the potential to be one of the best of the decade based on the fact that me and Arthur are both coming to win, we’re both big punchers and we’re both very, very tough me.”

In theory it could be a very good fight, but I don’t think it will be. I think Froch will get knocked out too quickly and it will be more of a slaughter rather than an interesting fight. If you’re a fan of Abraham, you’ll love this fight, but if you’re interested in competitive fights, you might be disappointed.



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