Froch keeping it real on ESPN:
On Monday I was at Matchroom Sport's head office, where Andre Ward and Carl Froch went face-to-face for the last time before they enter the ring in Atlantic City on October 29 for the final of the Super Six Classic. Well, there is a conference in New York and Ward's hometown of Oakland, but you get my point.
It was a bit edgy to say the least. Froch said to Ward, in no uncertain terms: "I don't want you to butt me like you butted Mikkel Kessler." Ward looked a little taken aback, but Froch carried on: "I'm not joking. I don't want you to butt me, I don't want the fight to be ruined by cuts."
I spoke to Froch afterwards and he stood by his comments, telling me he didn't want a repeat of what happened to Kessler, who ended up with cuts above both eyes on his way to defeat.
Also Froch said: "If he butts me, I will butt him back, don't worry. And then it will turn into madness." Nobody wants that.
http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/sport/story/107173.html
Froch needs to build himself up for a fight. He knows he isnt going to get that much into Wards head and wont do much more then annoy Ward. He talks all the **** to hype himself up you can tell he wants to believe what hes saying but then when it gets close to the fight you can see a change in his demeanor and thats when he begins to make excuses before the fight even happens. He will start talking about the travel to the states and how it effects him, the commission and media and how theyre against him, anything that will make him seem like an underdog before the fight. In some senses I think he does this all to stay focused and hype himself up but also I think he gets nervous and doubts his own abilities at moments.
Either way hes a great fighter this fight is the one ive been looking forward to more than any other.
Ward will do his talking in the ring I am sure
Froch just trying to get him to FIGHT instead of BOX...NOT GOING TO WORK!
Ward is going to box circles around Froch for 12 Rounds, his only chance is to catch Ward and Hurt Him Early
I disagree, Froch is just trying to highlight to the people in charge and the ref that Ward uses illegal headbuts and dirty tactics.This should not be part of the course and needs to be stamped out.
Some good points but I disagree with your conclusion. All the talk of foul play aside I sense Ward will be way too crafty for Froch.
Wards game has improved ten fold for me since that rather unsavory victory over Kessler. But my view is Kessler was never going to win anyway, he has never looked anything other than simple to me against top opposition. Froch in my view even beat him in Denmark.
However many times I roll it over in my head I couldnt see Kessler knocking out any of the super six competitors and see Ward doing a tech job on Froch.
In my opinion Ward hasn't improved at all. Ward was flying in with those illegal head-buts all night against Bika and the ref had words with Bika, It's a disgrace really. The officiating has been disappointing to say the least.
America is slowly no longer the place where boxers need to go to prove they are the best. This is coming to an end. America only care for sports that they dominate in, which is mostly national games like netball, rounders and the like.
Ward will do his talking in the ring I am sure
Froch just trying to get him to FIGHT instead of BOX...NOT GOING TO WORK!
Ward is going to box circles around Froch for 12 Rounds, his only chance is to catch Ward and Hurt Him Early
I'm sure the headgames before the fight didn't affect Mikkel much, because he's mentally strong.
But I could see Jack Reiss was confusing him and throwing him off a bit, by admonishing him over and over again for nothing, while permitting Ward to foul as much as he wanted to.
And without a doubt, the deliberate headbutt in the third round affected Kessler. You can see him blinking after that, trying to clear his vision, like McLennan did after the headbutt in the Benn fight.
Under fair circumstances, without the headbutts and with an honest referee, Kessler would have been fighting much better and would have adjusted to Ward's style and won the fight by clear decision of late KO.
Some good points but I disagree with your conclusion. All the talk of foul play aside I sense Ward will be way too crafty for Froch.
Wards game has improved ten fold for me since that rather unsavory victory over Kessler. But my view is Kessler was never going to win anyway, he has never looked anything other than simple to me against top opposition. Froch in my view even beat him in Denmark.
However many times I roll it over in my head I couldnt see Kessler knocking out any of the super six competitors and see Ward doing a tech job on Froch.
Still think Froch is one of the best fighters we have over here.
But the way he talks about himself, his opponents and his views on how some of his own fights have shaken up....well, I think the guys a little delusional.
Froch is not only going to take home the prestigious super six cup and Wards WBA strap,but Froch is going to reach out with his hard penetrating jab and rip out Wards soul, take that back home to Nottingham, England.
Ward is a dirty fighter, he headbuts, elblows, hits on the break. He intentionaly headbutted Kessler time and time again causing to serve cuts above his eyes almost ending the guys career.
Kessler is too much of a nice guy to fight dirty and does not have a mean streak.
Froch does, and will give Ward some back, and if the fight turns into a farce then so be it.
Lets hope there is a good ref for this one to take points of Ward when he headbutts, so Froch does not have to retaliate.
Not a good idea. Pavlik said the same thing against Hopkins, plus froch cant ight on the backfoot when mugged, and wont be able to avoid ward potshotting from the outside. Also fouling back wont help when yours look blatant and the other guy is hiding it from the ref and is not seen fouling which means he gets away and you do not. I think ward has froch just where he wants him.
Ward was kicking Kessler's ass before foul play became a factor. Just admit it.
As I recall the fight, the fouling started so early that your statement is not true.
I guess you dont think Ward was dirty then.
So we have to disagree as I thought he was continuosly fouling.
ur looking for excuses for ur fighter. of course u thought he was continuously fouling. at the end of the day, the fight wasnt close. if u wanna say kessler should have won because of the headbutts, then thats on u. the truth is the better fighter won. if u cant accept that then ur just butthurt.
What's a "clean fight" to you?
Because, I didn't come away thinking Ward was "dirty" after the Kessler fight.
I guess you dont think Ward was dirty then.
So we have to disagree as I thought he was continuosly fouling.
Ward was not dirty in the Kessler fight. Stop being so hurt just because he beat Kessler man.
I mean, he landed a slew of right hands to Kessler's head and face. But, that never happened, he butted the man ALLL night.