The Froch Gauntlet: Weekend Review, Ratings Update
by Cliff Rold
They don’t make them like they used to? Don’t tell WBC Super Middleweight titlist Carl Froch (28-1, 20 KO) that. Don’t tell it to anyone who has been paying attention to the run Froch is on either, especially after the rugged win he posted over the ever-game Glen Johnson on Saturday.
Froch’s next fight is penciled in.
Andre Ward.
Super Six Super Middleweight tournament final.
Date TBA (and it’s announcement to be waited for with baited breath).
It will be the seventh tough call to scratch Froch has made in a row. Win or lose, when the old timers talk about the sort of challenges, the sorts of brass, the modern era lacks, they’re asking for more fighters to do what Froch is doing.
It’s simple really.
If one is going to fight only 2-3 times per year, fans have every right to ask for the fewest soft touches. When a fighter delivers on the request, even manages to go on the road in what will likely be, with Ward, five times in the run, all fans should salute them. The tournament format he’s been involved in has helped but Froch, and Ward, made it through the gauntlet half of the original field couldn’t endure.
What separates Froch from the pack at 168 lbs. is that he faced Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor in the two fights before he entered the Super Six. Over his last six fights, Froch has:
• Faced five current or former World Champions (Pascal, Taylor, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Johnson), three of them former or then-future Ring Magazine or lineal Champs (Pascal, Taylor, Johnson);
• Waged four Fight of the Year candidate type affairs (Pascal, Taylor, Kessler, and now Johnson);
• Had only one debatable win, at home against former U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell, in a fight whose verdict produces advocates on both sides;
• Lost only once, on the road, to a Kessler who threw the kitchen sink coming off a defeat to Ward, in another fight whose verdict produces advocates on both sides;
• Taken the “0” off of two opponents (Pascal, Dirrell);
• Defeated only one fighter coming off a loss (Abraham).
And now he enters the Super Six final. Ward awaits him in this unification contest at 24-0 with 13 stops and a WBA belt. It’s going to be a tough night for both men and Ward is likely to be the betting favorite.
What of the tough night it took for Froch to get there?
Let’s go to the report card.
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Froch B; Johnson B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Froch B+; Johnson B+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Froch B; Johnson B+/Post: B-; B
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Froch A; Johnson A/Post: A+; A
For full fight coverage from ringside in Atlantic City, click here for David Greisman’s report.
Froch started slow and an incident described on the U.S. telecast may explain why. Former Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio Tarver, two-time Johnson opponent, and Showtime announcer stated Froch had asked, at the pre-fight meetings on Friday, how to beat Johnson. The story relayed how serious Froch was taking one of the hardest men in the game and his early caution was a physical exhibition.
In round three, Froch began to find his way in the fight even as Johnson landed a mammoth right in the frame. Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KO) isn’t a one-punch knockout guy, but he has his bombs and the right hand found Froch repeatedly on the night.
What Froch did in reply showed off his deep personal reserves are. Froch, stunned more than once, fired back and refused to let rounds slip away. He fought three minutes, Johnson fought in spots, and Froch never let the spots overrule his activity. Using the shoulder to block occasionally and sweeping with his hard to locate left hand, Froch’s underrated skill was on display when his guts weren’t being tested,
Much must be said about Johnson’s excellent effort. The “Road Warrior” ended the night beaten but not defeated. As he has for years, he left a piece of himself in the ring in a nasty battle. Round eight was a Round of the Year candidate as Johnson made a sustained stand to try and seize a fight slipping away. He found a younger man (their gap between 33 and 42) who rode the storm and was up the necessary escalation.
In the championship rounds, it was Froch who had the reserves to secure victory while Johnson began to flag under the heavy hands and greater activity of Froch. That’s the lone difference in intangibles for the men on the night as each showed serious beard for twelve rounds.
It was a hell of a fight. Most of Froch’s have been, beginning with Pascal. Johnson being in a great fight is par for the course. A tip of the hat belongs to both for a memorable Saturday. Johnson will be back if he chooses to be. Froch will be back, in the Championship of the Super Six, because he earned it.
Report Card Picks 2011: 16-5
Ratings Update
Heavyweight: The suddenly in better shape Chris Arreola has looked sharp enough to sneak back in.
Light Heavyweight: Former lineal and WBO Light Heavyweight king Zsolt Erdei, now two fights into a return to 175 after rising to Cruiserweight and then being out of the ring for a while, creeps back into the top ten.
Super Middleweight: Judged solely on how each man did versus Mikkel Kessler, Ward has a decided edge on Froch. Froch though was a bit more dominant over another common foe, Abraham, and must be judged on the substance of the entire run he’s on. Taking the six in a row he has, and losing only one competitive clash on the road, trumps the run Ward is on in class right now. Froch moves up, Ward drops to #2 and the very talented but resume light Lucian Bute can do nothing but wait for a chance at the winner of Froch-Ward.
Kessler stays put at #4 though a case can be made for him to be ahead of Bute as well based on his career accomplishments, sharp form over the weekend on his return from injury, and win against Froch last year. Kessler-Bute was suggested earlier this year, remains a hell of an idea, and all rights are reserved to reconsider the ratings of both later.
Middleweight: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. got the benefit of the doubt in a close fight and picked up an alphabet strap in an entertaining scrap over now formerly rated Sebastian Zbik. That’s enough to get Chavez a foot in the door to the ratings.
Sometime later this week, look for the Super Middle weights to make a big impact in the BoxingScene Pound for Pound ratings. For now, these results and more are reflected across seventeen divisions (at least those that had fights) in the ratings that really matter.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
