By Joe Met: Looking at the current Ring magazine P4P rankings, I have to wonder if WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch will find his way onto that list if he manages to batter his way through Glen Johnson and Andre Ward to come out on top at the end of the SuperSix tournament.

Froch isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you consider his last five fights and take into account who his next 2 fights will be against, if he manages to win the SuperSix surely he would stake a valid claim to a spot on the P4P list based on the quality of his most recent opposition. If Froch wins, his last seven fights will have been against: Jean Pascal, Jermaine Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, and Andre Ward. And if his only loss at the end of this sequence of fights was a close decision against Kessler, would it not be one of the most impressive resumes in boxing at the moment?

If you look at the list you will find Wladimir Klitscho at number 7, and Timothy Bradley at number 8. Wladimir’s inclusion I think is based on the fact that there just isn’t any decent opposition at heavyweight and he has been a world champion for so long. Fair enough I suppose, but looking at his resume, even though he has fought pretty much every one there is to fight, it still doesn’t look very impressive compared to that of the last dominant heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis. Unless we see Wladimir take on David Haye and beat him convincingly, I think his place on the list is almost certainly up for grabs.

Why Tim Bradley is on the list I will never know. The only possible reason for him being there that I can think of is because he is probably the best active American boxer around at the moment. With Floyd still on hiatus pending the outcome of his legal wranglings, the Ring probably feel the need to keep the American subscribers sweet with a token inclusion on the list. Bradley was awful against Devon Alexander, and although his previous four fights were against decent opposition he is certainly not an elite level fighter. His style is crude, untidy and dirty, and with only 11 KO‘s in 27 fights…..not that effective either. Amir Khan will make short work of him using double and triple jabs to stop him coming inside and using his head, before blasting him out in the later rounds with four and five punch combinations after he’s been suitably softened up, and that will be the last we see of him on the P4P.

At the end of the Super Six if Froch doesn’t appear on the P4P list straight away having won it, going after Lucien Bute and unifying the titles at 168lbs, perhaps avenging his one loss via a rematch with Kessler, and then moving up to light-heavy for a crack at the big names like Dawson, Cloud, Hopkins and another tear up with Jean Pascal, if he keeps taking these tough fights and winning them I think eventually the Ring will have to sit up and take notice and find a place for him on their list.

In an age where many fighters look for the easiest possible route to success, and with boxing losing a lot of support due to the fact that the biggest fights often don’t get made (unlike the UFC where the big fights ALWAYS seem to get made) it’s good to know that there are still some fighters out there who follow the old fashioned route to the top: …you are only the best, when you have beaten the best. I think Froch is a shining light in the sport and his commitment and desire are second to non, he may not be slick but he stands and trades with respected world champions, fight after fight after fight.