Carl Froch My new baby Rocco gives me the grit to fight

[crusader]

British strongman Carl Froch takes on German strongman Arthur Abraham in a hefty super-middleweight clash later this year at a neutral venue to be announced.
It says something for the durability and stamina of both fighters that neither is prepared to concede home advantage to the other, hence the neutral setting. This is likely to go 12 lusty, even brutal rounds, and one could visualize Froch taking the verdict in his home city of Nottingham and Abraham getting it in Germany. Who knows? Maybe it will be a draw. Froch, 26-1 (20), has never lost in Britain but comes off a loss in Denmark to Mikkel Kessler, which proved that the big, punishing, granite-jawed Midlander is only human, even though there was no secret to Kessler's success. The great Dane worked away while Froch fought in seemingly casual spurts, almost as if he were boxing in Nottingham or felt that one big shot could turn the fight his way. This was never going to happen and cost Froch on all three scorecards.
At least Carl's chin held up because Abraham comes off a defeat himself in which he was floored for the first time in his career by American slickster Andre Dirrell in Detroit. Like Froch, Abraham, 31-1 (25), went into it unbeaten but went down in the fourth round and rarely got a grip of things. His frustration showed in the 11th when, trailing on all three scorecards, he thumped Dirrell on the floor after a slip. Referee Laurence Cole immediately slung him out. The similarities between Froch and Abraham are abundant, two heavy handed aggressors who load up, who trade on strength and power, who start slowly and finish strongly and who expect to win. Their recent taste of defeat will be a wholly unpleasant one and, at the risk of repeating oneself, we can expect a real blood an' guts brawl as they strive desperately for victory.
Froch has long arms and can box when he wants to, using a good jab, but it is doubtful he boxes much on the night. "The Cobra" likes nothing more than to whip in the big punches, body and head, and even if he admires his work, which he does, he knows how to nick the later championship rounds of a fight and took out American Jermain Taylor with only 14 seconds left of their 12-rounder, behind on two of the cards, although Abraham also stopped Taylor with only seconds remaining which shows you how evenly matched they are.
Froch is three years older than Abraham at 33 but has never been overused and looks to have shaken off a succession of injuries he suffered in recent years, including a badly broken thumb against Brian Magee, the current European super-middleweight champion. Abraham famously shrugged off a broken jaw to outpoint Edison Miranda, hammering the Colombian in four rounds in a rematch. Despite the injury and the Dirrell knockdown, "King" Arthur probably has a tighter guard than Froch, who always carries his hands low.
The consenus among British boxing fans is to favour Abraham but these Germans are shrewdly matched from the beginning. Who has Abraham actually beaten apart from the used-up Taylor (used up by Froch) or the wild-swinging, much smaller Miranda? His other handpicked victims include old men like Raul Marquez, Kofi Jantuah, Howard Eastman and Wayne Elcock, or gimmees such as Elvin Ayala, Mahir Oral and Shannan Taylor. Arguably the first first live one he encountered picked him off and beat him - a man Froch had beaten.
Froch took a tight verdict over Andre Dirrell last year in Nottingham when Dirrell was unbeaten. He also snapped the unbeaten record of Canada's Jean Pascal in a 12-round war in Nottingham in 2008, and Pascal now holds the WBC light-heavyweight belt. Froch is huge for super-middleweight whereas Abraham boxed at middleweight as recently as last year. I can see Froch starting the faster of the two and building up a lead. Abraham piles it on from the middle rounds but Froch stays with him, smirking at the best blows of his rival before firing right back to the final bell. Froch, for me, takes home the bacon.

Froch was seriously hurt by Taylor and buzzed by Dirrell, I can't see him smirking at Abraham's best punches. You can criticize Abrahams opposition but there is no denying he has tons of punching power. When he connects clean his opponents crumble and Froch is a wide open target. I would be shocked if Froch laughed at Abraham after getting hit flush over and over.

[IRLangmaid25]

It is has the potential to the be the most exciting fight of the tournament so far, because the winner is guranteed to go through in the Semi Finals, but the loser may have to sweat a little bit depending on the results of the other two fights. Personally I reckon it is going to be all an out war, Arthur Abraham is going to keep coming forward and try back Carl Froch up against the ropes where he will unload the big shots on Froch to force the stoppage, but Abraham will have to walk through an awful lot of shots, to get inside and target Froch's body. But what I would be trying to if I was Robert McCracken is get Froch to try and step to the side and go for Abraham's body to get him to drop that high guard and try and take Abraham out with an upper cut.

But I will not be surprised if it is points or a late stoppage from either side as it is going to be an utter knock them down and drag them out affair. So sit back get the beers in, order it on the Sky Box and enjoy one of the fights of the year.

[jameswilson]

Abraham will probably go through even if he loses due to his KO win as that has given him the extra point.

In other Super-middlweight news we heard that Lucian Bute's next fight would definately be the big one against a reputable opponent (I know we heard that for the previous 4 fights but this time it was different apparently) and so it has proved as he fights Jesse Brinkley, in Quebec. Boy can I not wait for that one.

[DavidPayne]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

[THEBUTCH]

.....and Bute is the lowest form of Super middleweight champion if he's boxing Brinkley, when you consider what Froch, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell etc are putting themselves through.

[DavidPayne]

Agreed.

Didn't Hopkins offer Bute a fight?

[jameswilson]

Agreed.

Didn't Hopkins offer Bute a fight?

I'm sure the Canadian fans will have us believe that Hopkins turned down an excellent offer, Maxime may well be in here soon with behind the scenes insight of purse offers and what the smallprint was.

In reality the dialogue probably went something like

Team Bute - 'OK Mr Hopkins/Pavlik are you interested in a fight at the Bell center, Quebec the place we always fight.'
Team Hopkins/Pavlik - 'No'
Team Bute - 'OK bye'

[THEBUTCH]

Watching the Dirrell-Abraham fight last night on Eurosport, I'm sure Froch has the beating of Abraham.

Yes, Froch will take more punches and the possibility of a one punch knockout is always there (as it is with anyone facing Abraham), but Carl's punches are much more damaging that possibly anyone else Abraham has faced.

Froch by either late stoppage or does enough to cling on to a points decision.

[crusader]

Watching the Dirrell-Abraham fight last night on Eurosport, I'm sure Froch has the beating of Abraham.

Yes, Froch will take more punches and the possibility of a one punch knockout is always there (as it is with anyone facing Abraham), but Carl's punches are much more damaging that possibly anyone else Abraham has faced.

Froch by either late stoppage or does enough to cling on to a points decision.

I'd say Miranda punches as hard as Froch does and AA was never hurt by him. Froch hasn't shown much power at the world level and he clearly does not have one punch power. I doubt Abraham will be stopped. If Froch wins it will be due to his higher workrate.

[markp]

Watching the Dirrell-Abraham fight last night on Eurosport, I'm sure Froch has the beating of Abraham.

Yes, Froch will take more punches and the possibility of a one punch knockout is always there (as it is with anyone facing Abraham), but Carl's punches are much more damaging that possibly anyone else Abraham has faced.

Froch by either late stoppage or does enough to cling on to a points decision.

I'd say Miranda punches as hard as Froch does and AA was never hurt by him. Froch hasn't shown much power at the world level and he clearly does not have one punch power. I doubt Abraham will be stopped. If Froch wins it will be due to his higher workrate.

Agreed. The question is, can Froch keep up the workrate for the entire fight. He was complaining of being tired in the Kessler fight. I wonder what round that was, I just saw it on fightcamp360. Abraham has never had any problem with stamina. It's a tough fight for Froch.

[IRLangmaid25]

.....and Bute is the lowest form of Super middleweight champion if he's boxing Brinkley, when you consider what Froch, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell etc are putting themselves through.

Oh come on he is only keeping himself active until the Super 6 is completed it's course and has to fight the best of what is available at the moment so cut the guy some slack please.

[markp]

.....and Bute is the lowest form of Super middleweight champion if he's boxing Brinkley, when you consider what Froch, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell etc are putting themselves through.

Oh come on he is only keeping himself active until the Super 6 is completed it's course and has to fight the best of what is available at the moment so cut the guy some slack please.

yeah. His next fight after Brinkley should be better - against whoever gets eliminated from the Super 6.

[charlieb]

.....and Bute is the lowest form of Super middleweight champion if he's boxing Brinkley, when you consider what Froch, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell etc are putting themselves through.

Oh come on he is only keeping himself active until the Super 6 is completed it's course and has to fight the best of what is available at the moment so cut the guy some slack please.

Remind me, what was the reason for his absence from the tournament in the first place?

[crusader]

.....and Bute is the lowest form of Super middleweight champion if he's boxing Brinkley, when you consider what Froch, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell etc are putting themselves through.

Oh come on he is only keeping himself active until the Super 6 is completed it's course and has to fight the best of what is available at the moment so cut the guy some slack please.

Remind me, what was the reason for his absence from the tournament in the first place?

According to Showtime executive Ken Hershman and Team Bute, he was not invited to participate.

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=20447&more=1

http://www.examiner.com/x-11372-Dallas- ... ady-flawed

Who should Bute fight with the Super Six in progress? The big names at 175 are busy and he has already beaten the other top fighters at 168 who are not involved in the tournament, bar Stieglitz, who was already knocked out by two opponents Bute stopped.

[whiskey]

Interbox were sounded out about the super six and Bute was even ringside for the Froch v Taylor fight, which had Allan Green on the undercard. But they then took their fighter to HBO, which hardly endeared them anymore.

Bottom line is, they knew it was happening and would have been a dead cert to participate if they wanted to, as they would have brought in the Candian demographic.

[Spud]

Another fighter who takes too much flack from the fans.

He won various titles as an amateur - then went the traditional route and won the prestigious WBC Super Middleweight Championship Of The World - then he has the balls to fight in a tournament where every fight is almost a 50/50 fight and yet he takes criticisms.

[jameswilson]

Oh come on he is only keeping himself active until the Super 6 is completed it's course and has to fight the best of what is available at the moment so cut the guy some slack please.

Remind me, what was the reason for his absence from the tournament in the first place?

According to Showtime executive Ken Hershman and Team Bute, he was not invited to participate.

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=20447&more=1

http://www.examiner.com/x-11372-Dallas- ... ady-flawed

Who should Bute fight with the Super Six in progress? The big names at 175 are busy and he has already beaten the other top fighters at 168 who are not involved in the tournament, bar Stieglitz, who was already knocked out by two opponents Bute stopped.

Yeah yeah the old 'there is nobody out there at the moment' chesnut. Alan Green only came into the Super 6 recently, and we hear from the rumour mill and Bute's fans that Hopkins and Pavlik fights are realistic. Despite Pavlik's recent defeat he would still be the best opponent Bute has ever fought. Hopkins I dont feel is realistic as he never fights on anything other than his terms and we know full well that Bute's team are the same, if they weren't then every single defence Bute has made wouldn't have been in the same damn stadium, it's all well and good using the 'ahhhh but he fills the stadium' excuse but come on guys, a trip to Vegas or Madisons square garden to face a tough American aint gonna bankrupt you is it. There has to be a better reason that so many people are turning these alleged offers down than they are all just chickening out. Bute and his team have to make some kind of allowances ie fight somewhere other than Canada. I can't in a billion years see guys like Hopkins, Dawson or Pavlik fighting Bute in Canada, something has to give in order for these fights to be made.