Carl Froch

By Michael Collins: By now you’ve all heard the news about IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s next fight against light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) on November 17th at the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. Froch’s choice of an opponent hasn’t been well received from boxing fans who wanted to see Froch fight a much better opponent than then the struggling 32-year-old Mack. Froch had always prided himself on not taking any easy fights. Well, this certainly does seem to be an easy fight for him and it’s more than off putting when you consider that Froch may not have more than a small handful of fights left in his career before he retires.

Boxing fans wanted to see Froch fight unbeaten South African Thomas Oosthuizen or Sakio Bika at the least. But in choosing Mack, Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn seem to have really reached for the bottom and it’s disappointing to Froch fans. There are some Froch fans who are okay with this choice and feel that Froch can fight anyone due to him having put in two hard years in the Super Six tournament.

However, many other boxing fans don’t buy into excuses like that and they feel that fighters shouldn’t be taking easy fights, especially given that the price of tickets don’t change to reflect an easier fight. I can understand that. If a fighter is going to take a tune-up bout then the prices of tickets should change along with it so that boxing fans don’t get stuck paying big money for a mismatch that will likely end in a few rounds.

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By Michael Collins: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s) will be taking on a soft opponent for his next fight against recent Tavoris Cloud knockout victim light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout on November 17th at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, UK. The fight doesn’t really make a lot of sense because Mack has already been knocked out by Glen Johnson in 2010, a fighter that Froch already beat in the Super Six tournament. It just looks like a mismatch.

Mack, 6’1″, will have to drop down from light heavyweight to make the fight with the 35-year-old Froch and you can imagine that Mack will be weakened from the process of making weight. It’s already a mismatch going in but when you add to that Mack having to take off weight to get down to the 168 lb limit then you’re really talking mismatch.

Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport did his best to try and hype Mack as an opponent, saying to Sky Sports News “He’s got nothing to lose coming here to face me and I know he’ll put it all on the line to take the title from me so I’ll be fully prepared for everything he’s got and I’ll be hitting him with all my best.”

“Nothing left to lose” sounds like code to me to mean Mack only has a puncher’s chance in this fight. In other words, this is a mismatch.

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By James Slater: Earlier this week, when the news broke that Carl Froch would be defending his IBF super-middleweight title at his hometown arena, The F.M in Nottingham, there was speculation over who “The Cobra” would be facing.

A number of names were mentioned, including Philly’s Yusaf Mack, but in a news piece in The Daily Star it was reported that Mack was unwilling to put pen to paper and accept the terms offered to him. Well, according to a new piece on Ringtv.com, it appears as though 32-year-old Mack, 31-4-2(17) has had a change of heart and has agreed to the November fight.

Ringtv.com reports that the fight is a done deal for Nov. 17th, and that Froch will then fight former IBF champ Lucian Bute in a contractually agreed rematch at a date to be confirmed. If it is Mack next for Froch, some fans may well moan a little, as used as they are to seeing 35-year-old Froch, 29-2(21) fight the very best (Froch’s last eight fights being, in order, Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward and, last time out, the 5th-round stoppage win over Bute – a crazy resume if ever there was one!)

But Froch, having his second fight in a row at home, is more deserving than most when it comes to having an “easy” fight. But this is to perhaps pay a disservice to the tough and experienced Mack.

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