by James Slater: Despite losing both his World Boxing Council super middleweight crown and his unbeaten record last time out to Mikkel Kessler, Carl “The Cobra” Froch (26-1, 20 KO’s) continues to believe he can go on to win the exciting “Super Six” tournament. The tough and always-aggressive 33-year-old faces what most people think will be an extremely hard fight next, when the Brit will travel to Monaco to rumble with once-beaten “King” Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KO’s) of Germany on October 2nd.
Still, Froch says he has been training incredibly hard for his next step in “Super Six” and that he has a game-plan for how to deal with Abraham’s style of keeping his hands held high in a defensive posture – Froch says he will target Abraham’s body in an effort to break his ribs!
“I have the champion mentality and I know I should beat Abraham,” Froch said to Sunday Mercury. “He sits back and has a high European guard with his hands held high. If he does that then I will try and break his ribs.
“Having said that, his record shows that he can be tough and hard and I will respect his punching power. I have a granite chin but the best way to avoid danger is to make sure I don’t get hit.”
Froch, who says he is already five weeks into his 12-week training camp for the October battle, has never been a guy with a great attention to defence, but he says he and trainer Robert McCracken have been working on that side of his game in camp. So, not only does Froch, 26-1(20) plan on going to the body a whole lot against Abraham, he also plans to not let the former middleweight ruler tee off on him in return. A great plan in theory, but will Froch be able to make his game-plan stick come fight time?
Abraham, three years younger and 31-1(25) is almost always a slow-starter, but he has an uncanny knack for being able to come on strong late in a fight – at a time when the other guy is tired from doing the lion’s share of the early work and being caught again and again as he comes in – and score the late KO. Froch does have a great chin, but has he ever fought anyone as dangerous as Abraham?
Both men figure to ship a good deal of punishment on October 2nd, despite Froch’s attempts at improving his defence, and the winner could be the man who is willing and able to go through the most pain. For short of a dynamite blow from either side that sensationally ends the fight, a grueling, damaging 12-round war looks a real possibility.
One of the great thing about “Super Six” is the fact that there can be no picking and choosing or ducking on the part of any of the world class entrants. So far we have seen some excellent action, and Froch-Abraham could be the best yet. Froch sure sounds confident, too.
“I am still planning on going through to win this competition,” Froch said.
If he can get past Abraham, a good number of fans might believe he will do so.