By Rob Smith: There’s no question that Carl Froch looked great last Saturday night in stopping IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in the 5th round in Nottingham. It was the perfect performance from Froch, who jumped on the hard hitting Bute and never really let him in the fight. After the bout, Froch was interviewed by Ifilmlondon and asked about whether he’d be interested in facing WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward next.
Froch said he’s not interested in facing Ward right now, and mentioned Mikke Kessler as a possible option. But Froch said he fancied his chances against Ward in a rematch if he was at the same level he was last night.
Froch said “The Ward fight for me is a fight that I’d like to avenge, but on my own terms. I don’t want to go to California and fight Mr. Big Shot or, you know, listen to his rubbish…I showed what I can do when I’m on form. Andre Ward got a very, very poor Carl Froch that night. He was fortunate to fight me on a bad night, because if he fights me when I’m firing on all cylinders like that, he’s getting battered as well.”
Froch was pretty well dominated by Ward in that fight and it’s difficult to see how the outcome would be any different a second time around. By the looks of it, Froch would insist on a Ward-Froch rematch to take place in his home country this time. I think that would be a nonstarter with Ward, because he’s considered to be the top fighter in the division and to be dictated to by a #2 or #3 fighter would likely be something that Ward likely wouldn’t be open to.
Froch likely feels that because he fought Ward in the United States in their fight last December that Ward should return the favor. Even if he did fight Froch in the UK, Froch would still probably lose because Ward is a better inside fighter than Froch and has a much superior jab. As long as there’s weird judging like there was in their fight last December, Ward should beat Froch again without any problems.