by James Slater – Earlier this week, the word directly from Carl Froch was that he was looking at his next fight being a defence against the unbeaten Andre Dirrell, with “The Cobra’s” second defence of his WBC super-middleweight title taking place in his home town of Nottingham. It seems the unbeaten 31-year-old is now more interested in, and hopeful of, a fight with once-beaten Dane and reigning WBA 168-pound champ Mikkel Kessler next.
Froch will still make his next defence as scheduled, but in an interview with The Sun, he has made it clear it is Kessler he really wants in either September or October.
“I keep hearing about Kessler so he’s in my veins now, I want to go out there and decapitate him,” Froch told The Sun. “I want to knock him out in style and then see what people have to say for themselves about me..”
Froch also spoke about the fight perhaps happening next, in either September or October – although the WBC champion would prefer to fight sooner if he could.
“It’s looking like late September, maybe early to mid-October,” Froch said. “That’ll be six months from when I fought [Jermain] Taylor but you know what it’s like with politics in boxing.
“Kessler’s had more fights than me so he deserves to be ranked higher. I’m honest enough to admit that but I’m a proud warrior and I want to take him on and take his scalp. His only loss was against Joe Calzaghe so you can justify his ranking, but I’ll beat him for sure.”
There has been no word yet from Kessler or his team, and with all this talk of a super-middleweight tournament maybe taking place on Showtime – with both Froch and Kessler possibly going to take part amongst others – it is no way certain yet that the Dane and the Brit will hook up in the UK.
Kessler, now aged 30, hasn’t exactly been overly active as of late. Last fighting back in October of last year (when he made a successful first defence of his second reign as WBA champ, stopping Danilo Haussler in 3-rounds), “The Viking Warrior” has been missed by the fans.
A fight between the two rival champions would be a great event and a very hard match-up from which to pick a winner. Froch states, correctly, that he is a proud warrior. Kessler is a proud man too, and when he reads about what Froch has said he wants to do to him he must surely respond.
Froch Vs. Kessler would be a great date on 2009’s fight calendar!