By James Slater: Britain’s Carl Froch is just over a month away from his “Super Six” grand final with unbeaten U.S star Andre Ward. “The Cobra,” the reigning WBC 168-pound king, has a great sense of self belief and he is sure he will win The Boxing Classic trophy, in doing so adding Ward’s WBA belt to his collection.
As big as the December 17th final is, though, Froch, 28-1(20) is looking at future fights; fights that could be even bigger than the tournament final. Speaking with The Star, Froch said he wants both Mikkel Kessler in a return, and also Lucian Bute after he’s beaten Ward.
Kessler is the only man to have beaten Froch (back in an April 2010 thriller), and even though the 34-year-old from Nottingham feels he won that fight, he wants, no, craves, a shot at removing the one blot from his record. Kalle Sauerland, Kessler’s promoter, also wants to see Froch-Kessler II. In fact, he wouldn’t mind seeing a trilogy – as he explained to The Star:
“I will be supporting Carl [in the Ward fight] as the European boxer and having momentarily buried my hatchet with him,” Sauerland said. “I believe that Kessler-Froch part-one was a classic and that a second or even a third part would be justified. It would generate a massive amount of interest and would be a great advertisement for boxing.
“We would love that fight at The Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and we will make the biggest offer ever to a super-middleweight boxer to make that fight.”
The figure being bandied about is $5 million. But Froch – who plenty of people see as the underdog going into the Dec. 17th fight with former Olympian Ward, 24-0(13) – also has his eyes on a massive fight with unbeaten IBF 168-pound boss Lucian Bute. This fight too would be massive; especially in Canada.
“After this fight [with Ward] I want Bute because it‘s the other world title,” Froch stated. “To fight Kessler means something too, especially as I don’t believe he beat me. To put that right would be appealing but I would want the fight in England. My promoter Eddie Hearn is hoping that something could happen there in April.”
So there are a number of exciting potentials for Froch. 32-year-old Kessler, 44-2(33) has fought just once since being forced out of the “Super Six” after losing via TD to Ward and then winning on points against Froch, and he underwent eye surgery last year. Forced to pull out of a WBO title challenge of Robert Stieglitz with a hand injury, Kessler has been inactive since his June 2011 hammering of a game Mehdi Bouadla. Would “The Viking Warrior” be wise to take an instant fight with Froch next spring, or would a tune-up be needed first?
As for Bute: he seems unstoppable right now. Coming off a wide points won over another former “Super Six” entrant in Glen Johnson, the 31-year-old with the 30-0(24) record is fast convincing fans he is the best super-middleweight in the world. A fight between he and Froch would prove hugely significant.
There are two big prize fights out there for Froch; all he has to do to get them is become the first man to beat Andre Ward!