By Scott Gilfoid: With the World Boxing Association ordering WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) to begin negotiations with WBA Super World super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs), Froch is digging in for what could be a last stand as he tries to hold onto his last remaining world title.
Froch already vacated his IBF 168 pound title after the IBF ordered him to face James DeGale. After the WBA ordered Froch to fight Ward next, Froch decided he didn’t want to give up his last belt without putting up a fight.
The negotiations between Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn and Ward’s promoters at Roc Nation are currently underway says Hearn. The opinion by some boxing fans is that Froch has no chance of beating the talented Ward. But Hearn sees Ward having a lot of problems when he gets inside the ring with Froch.
Hearn is under the impression that the Froch-Ward fight will be taking place in Froch’s home city of Nottingham, UK. That hasn’t been established yet. If Hearn and Roc Nation aren’t able to agree on a venue, then the fight will go to a purse bid.
Roc Nation has deep pockets, and it’s quite possible that they’ll win the purse bid. If they win the bid then the fight will almost surely be staged in the United States. We just saw Hearn lose a purse bid for the Andre Dirrell vs. James DeGale fight to Warriors Boxing. The Dirrell-DeGale fight will be taking place in the U.S in May, says Hearn.
“Still negotiating with Roc Nation,” Hearn said via Fighthype. “Carl will take that fight if he has to. Carl doesn’t really like Andre Ward and I think the feeling’s mutual. He’s [Froch] not going to step aside for him. It wasn’t really the fight we were looking at, but it’s been ordered. It’s a tough fight for both of them, and also for Andre Ward. It’s been two years out. I can’t think it’s a great place to fight [for Ward] in Nottingham against Carl Froch, because he’s tough to beat in his own hometown.”
Dirrell fought Froch in his own hometown of Nottingham in their fight in the Super Six in 2009, and Dirrell looked superb in that fight. The crowd had no effect on Dirrell. However, Froch was given a controversial 12 round split decision in a fight that many boxing fans thought Dirrell won. Froch got away with a heck of a lot of fouling in the Dirrell fight, and oddly enough the referee ended up taking a point away from Dirrell for clinching. Needless to say, it very, very strange fight. I had Dirrell easily winning the fight by 8 rounds to 3 with 1 round even. It was a pretty one-sided fight as far as I can tell, and I’ve seen the fight at least six or seven times. Dirrell was rarely hit by Froch except for when they were in a clinch.
It may not matter what Hearn or Froch want for the fight with Ward. Unless Ward and his team agree to having the fight staged in the UK, it’s going to come down to the purse bid. Like I said, Roc Nation has deep pockets, and I can’t see them losing the purse bid to Hearn unless Hearn wants to come up with a lot of cash to win the bid.
Ward defeated Froch in 2011 by a 12 round decision in the Super Six tournament. The fight took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Since Ward lives in Oakland, California. That’s 2,930 miles away from Ward’s hometown. You can’t call that a hometown fight for Ward. If you saw the fight, Froch was getting just as much cheering as Ward was. As such, I think that was more of a neutral territory fight rather than Ward having the fight in his own backyard. So it’s not as if Ward owes Froch a fight in the UK due to the first fight being staged in the U.S.
I think see this fight as potentially being the first fight in which it could take place in either of their hometowns. If Roc Nation wins the purse bid, then we’ll probably see Ward-Froch take place in Oakland, California. Of course, Froch can always vacate his WBA title if he’s not interested in fighting Ward in Oakland. If Hearn wins the purse bid, then the Froch-Ward fight will likely be staged in Nottingham, UK.
I don’t see Ward vacating his WBA title in order to get out of having to travel to the UK and deal with the judging or refereeing. I think Ward will fly over to the UK and give it his best shot. Hopefully Froch will do the same if Hearn loses the purse bid to Roc Nation. In the best possible world, the two fighters’ promoters will be able to negotiate the fight without it going to a purse bid, but unfortunately I don’t see that happening.
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