By Keith Idec
NEW YORK — Carl Froch scoffed at the suggestion Andre Ward’s win against Mikkel Kessler makes Ward a decisive favorite in their fight Saturday night.
Ward scored a surprisingly easy 11-round technical decision victory over Kessler in their November 2009 fight in Oakland, Calif., Ward’s hometown. Denmark’s Kessler bounced back to defeat Froch in his next fight, a 12-round unanimous decision win five months later in Herning, Denmark.
“Kessler was coming off a 10-month [layoff] from the ring, so Kessler was at his worst when we he fought Ward,” Froch said. “He also got cheated, as far as head-butts are concerned.”
Froch’s opinion aside, Ward’s win proved that he was a legitimate threat to win Showtime’s “Super Six World Boxing Classic,” a double-elimination super middleweight tournament Kessler entered as one of the favorites, along with Armenia’s Arthur Abraham.
The 27-year-old Ward (24-0, 13 KOs) is 3-0 in the “Super Six,” including another easy unanimous decision win against Abraham (32-3, 26 KOs) in the semifinals May 14 in Carson, Calif. Froch is 3-1 in “Super Six” bouts. His lone loss came against Kessler (44-2, 33 KOs) in a very competitive fight that should’ve been scored closer than two of the judges had it (117-111, 116-112, 115-113).
“Kessler was at his best when he fought me, and I still thought I did enough in his hometown,” Froch, 34, said. “But that’s sort of making excuses, and there’s nothing more boring than listening to an excuse. It’s not an excuse. I lost the fight. If it was at home, I would’ve won it. It was at his house, so we lost it.”
Froch (28-1, 20 KOs) won a 12-round split decision against Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KOs) in his first “Super Six” bout, a 12-rounder in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham, England. Like Ward, he handled Abraham pretty easily en route to a wide win in a 12-round bout last Nov. 27 in Helsinki, Finland.
Ward and Froch will square off in the “Super Six” final for Ward’s WBA and Froch’s WBC 168-pound titles at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Showtime’s broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST.
“Ward’s doing well,” Froch said. “He’s undefeated. He’s got a good name on his record, one good name in Mikkel Kessler. But he’s not bringing anything to me where I’m thinking to myself, ‘You know what? I’m concerned here. I’m worried. This is mission impossible.’ That’s not the case with this fight.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.
