By Tom David Drury: One thing about boxing, it will continue to surprise you after years of watching the sport. I’m talking about a fight that looks competitive on paper turning out to be a mis-match, Carl Froch-Arthur Abraham was the most recent one and we’ve seen it many times in the past. The first reaction we as fans have when seeing a fight playing out is “why didn’t I realize this would happen”. Froch bigger and smarter with proven ability to adapt- as shown against Jean Pascal when adapting the jabbing style to defeat him, was always going to beat the one dimensional plodding style of Abraham, right?

Some of us thought Froch would get caught up in exchanges giving Abraham the chance to land big punches. Instead we witnessed a boxing masterclass and Froch didn’t give Abraham a look in. Other instances of this include Winky Wright outclassing Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins almost toying with Kelly Pavlik, Floyd Mayweather boxing rings round Diego Coralles and Manny Pacquiao almost running Oscar De La Hoya out of the ring. In all of these match-ups either the underdog won or the fight was considered even money. In almost all of the bouts mentioned, the ultimate winner made a statement in the opening round, in simplest of terms he hit his opponent harder, faster than he expected.

I am starting to believe that in certain instances, one fighter can have the night of his life, as if all the stars and planets are lined up exactly right. Whether at ringside or infront of the television you can see it in the fighters eyes, one man knows he is going to win and his opponent knows it too, that’s what I saw in the Froch-Abraham fight.