By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-1, 20 KO’s) struggled hard to beat 42-year-old Glen Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KO’s) last weekend in their Super Six tournament semifinals bout at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After eating right hands from Johnson all night long, Froch was able to win a 12 round majority decision. The win puts Froch in the finals of the Super Six tournament against the fighter pretty much destined to win the whole ball of wax WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KO’s).

In an article at thesun.co.uk, Froch said “I had a premonition when this tournament first got under way I would be up against him [Ward] in the final. I never asked for his autograph because I only want it after I’ve beaten him. Then I will display the glove in my own wall of fame at home.”

That empty case is going to be collecting a lot of dust for Froch, I’m afraid. Froch might be better off saving that spot for someone else after he’s beaten and drummed out of the Super Six tournament by Ward. I want to give Froch a chance but I can’t. Ward is too quick, too talented and too superior to Froch in every way. Froch has some serious holes in his defense that I don’t think he can ever really fix. His style of fighting where he leaves his gloves dangling below his waist is going to leave Froch vulnerable to getting tagged all night long by Ward. And I had forgotten how slow Froch is.

He looked incredibly slow against Johnson, who oddly enough was the faster fighter of the two despite being nine years older. Froch’s feel looked leaden and he seems to have lost a couple of steps since the tournament first kicked off in 2009. Froch seriously looked robotic and more than a little sluggish against Johnson. He also looked uncomfortable when Johnson started opening up with his right hands. If Froch thinks he had it bad against Johnson, can you imagine how he’ll look with Ward tattooing him with shots all night long. It’s going to be bad for Froch. I’m already counting that as a loss for Froch, and wondering about his next fight. I think Froch can fill his wall display with another glove if he goes over old territory and faces Jean Pascal again. I see that as a winnable fight between two guys coming off of loses. Why Froch would want to fight Pascal again right now is beyond me, since he was badly exposed against by Bernard Hopkins, but at least Froch could fill his wall position with another glove.