By Scott Gilfoid: You never like to see a fighter that takes too much pride in his ability to block shots with his head. When you get a fighter that likes to crow about their ability absorb punishment, it’s generally a fighter with poor defensive skills who lacks the drive to improve their flaws. Former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) is one of those guys that blocks punches with his face and who takes pride in being able to take shots.

As much as Froch likes to brag about his ability to take a hard shot, he’s been hurt in a number of fights in the past three years. That tells me that he’s not made of iron and he can be stopped if the right guy puts it on him for a longer period of time. That guy I believe is IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KO’s), who will be meeting Froch on May 26th in what could be a make or break fight for Froch.

Froch also lost his last fight to Andre Ward, and he suffered another loss to Mikkel Kessler in 2010. A loss to Bute will be disastrous to Froch’s career, because he would then have three defeats in his last five bouts, and you can really call it four defeats in his last seven fights because Froch’s win over Andre Dirrell in 2009 was a controversial one.

I would like for Froch to beat Bute and beat him badly, because it would set things up for a rematch between Froch and Dirrell in 2012 in what would be a huge fight in the United States. It would have to happen in the U.S because Dirrell isn’t crazy enough to risk facing Froch a second time in the UK after losing to Froch in his home city of Nottingham in October of 2009. But Froch will have to find a way to beat Bute, and I don’t think he can.

I see Froch’s chin betraying him in a big a way on May 26th. Either Froch’s chin or his body will give in under the sheer massive power from Bite’s big punches. I can see Froch getting it in the midsection and being sent down on the canvas where he’ll be unable to get back to his feet for several minutes until the crippling pain subsides enough for him to get back to his feet. But I also think Bute can land a big head shot that will pole axe Froch and send him down face first on the canvas out cold.