If froch fights ward again

[Bennyblanco]

What has he got to do to win?

Lets be honest, ward is class and if froch fights him in the way he did last time he will loose. Is there a way he can win?

[mickey1975]

Froch has now said he is willing to go to Vegas. Is he overestimating the demand for it over there? Sure, it's a big fight here but to the Americans he has already lost comfortably to him. His recent wins will have been largely irrelevant over there. No way is it PPV stateside.

[Adamj1987]

become a better boxer than ward. but this wont happen and he wont KO ward or out bully him

[Pug1]

become a better boxer than ward. but this wont happen and he wont KO ward or out bully him

A ref that will warn and take points for Ward's use of the head and his excessive holding.
Fight the way he did against Bute and tighten up his defence and use the jab more.

[Autobarn]

he must inflict damage. he must grab the initiative from the start. he must uppercut ward when the american holds and leans in excessively. he must smash out his jab, dig the body and hope to hell he is wearing ward down. he's got to dig deep, go all out, and try to damage that chin that once appeared to be suspect. he's gotta take ward in the trenches, into real exchanges (not ward's hold and cuff) where i feel ward won't be strong (ward doesn't throw great punches - he's kind of one-handed).

froch should focus on getting the fight over here, not vegas, and has to find a way to impose something on a tremendously awkward and contrary fighter who gets his own way, who fights like some bizarre hybrid of sven ottke, bernard hopkins and virgil hill.

can he get under ward's skin, get him out of that effective but hideously difficult jab and grab style, make him trade? can he goad his man like, say, riddick bowe was able to goad evander holyfield into the kind of toe-to-toe war, the only kind of fight, that bowe could actually win?

so the victory will be on 3 fronts: 1) get the home advantage or a ref that will reduce ward's spoiling, 2) win the mental game, play on ward's ugliness/dullness, and 3) hurt the man, fight and appropriate strategy and FFS don't allow the fight to drift away as froch has done a few too many times.

[The Insider]

I just think Ward has got his number. Comments about the needing a ref being "on side" are definitely valid IMO but it just won't be enough. Froch hasn't got the movement, speed or punch variety to trouble Ward so the only way I see Froch winning would be by a cut stoppage.

[andeeholden]

Froch has now said he is willing to go to Vegas. Is he overestimating the demand for it over there? Sure, it's a big fight here but to the Americans he has already lost comfortably to him. His recent wins will have been largely irrelevant over there. No way is it PPV stateside.

X2

Ward doesn't have a large fanbase in his home country anyway, due to his "boring" (albeit brilliantly effective) style and Carl isn't like Ricky Hatton where he has a fanbase large enough and passionate enough to follow him in numbers across the Atlantic.

The ONLY way Froch wins is to have home advantage. Even then it's a tough ask. If he surrenders his home advantage then he surrenders the fight for me.

[15829]

Styles make fights and Ward is all wrong for Froch, Dirrell arguably beat him Taylor was beating him Ward did beat him quick elite fighters will always cause Froch problems the fight can happen in Frochs front Garden and Ward would still beat him. Ward wont let booing take him off his game he's mentally tough and he hasn't lost since he was 12, and for me the second best fighter in the world

[hurlock]

Ward beats froch everyday of the week!
Froch complained he couldn't work inside against ward because he covers & smothers.
To me froch got owned plain & simple but did comeback strong late on in the contest which shows froch has steel & a freakishly strong athlete & I think buy fighting ward at l. Heavy would potentially slow him up & give froch more a chance

[Final round]

I hope it happens again, it's would be an even bigger stage to shine on than the first fight.

[johnswan1]

Froch simply does not have what it takes to beat Ward. He is physically strong, he is highly skilled, he doesn't get hit, and has excellent accuracy. I think what surprised Froch most in the first fight was his strength. I remember Ward saying he expected Froch to be slow but the only thing that surprised him was how slow he really was. Froch just isn't accurate enough to beat Ward and doesn't have the punch to get lucky.

[Autobarn]

the only way is to grind him down.

[johnswan1]

Interesting stats from compubox.

Against Ward, Froch landed 156/683 punches for success rate of 23%. Ward landed 243/573 for success rate of 42%. That is a huge number to turn around. Even with Froch throwing 1,000 punches he would have landed less than Ward did.

Getting onto the Kessler rematch...

Froch landed 261/1,031 punches for success rate of 25%. Kessler landed 194/497 for success rate of 39%.

So against Ward and Kessler, Froch had a similar success rate, but threw more punches against Kessler. Kessler and Ward also had similar success rates against Froch, but Ward threw more punches.

One wonders if Froch was to throw the same number of punches against Ward, would that result in a dip in Wards output? And would Froch be able to dictate with a jab against Ward as he did with Kessler?

The big difference between the punches thrown of Kessler and Ward is that Kessler landed 90/165 power punches for 55% success, compared to Ward landing 136/321 power punches for 42% success. So 56% of Wards punches thrown were power punches, compared to 33% of Kesslers.

On the success side for Froch, he landed 109/433 power punches on Ward for 25% success, compared to 135/366 power punches on Kessler for 37% success.

[polecateddy]

Let's not forget Ward has knackered his shoulder. If it's a diminished Ward, Froch has some kind of chance. God knows how he can effectively change tactics though. All he can hope is that his timing works better this time around, as it did with Kessler.

[Bricks]

Styles make fights and Ward is all wrong for Froch, Dirrell arguably beat him Taylor was beating him Ward did beat him quick elite fighters will always cause Froch problems the fight can happen in Frochs front Garden and Ward would still beat him. Ward wont let booing take him off his game he's mentally tough and he hasn't lost since he was 12, and for me the second best fighter in the world

Nonsense. All coulda wouldas might haves.

The fact is Froch beat Dirrel who was too timid. He beat fast fighters like Taylor. It doesnt matter how he did it. He did it, he knocked him cold. Bute was another fast guy. People seem to constantly undermine Froch. I dont know what more its going to take people to accept Froch is one of those guys like Vitali who looks beatable but is rarely beaten.

[Benelio]

Let Kessler and Froch both fight Ward. Either all three men in the ring at the same time, or alternating rounds. Whichever Ward is prepared to agree to.

[Benelio]

I can picture the PPV advert now.

"They were once enemies, but now they must unite to fight a common adversary.

Froch AND Kessler ........... versus Ward."

[Bricks]

Hey benelio thats great i like the way you think.

Id like a scenario where Froch agrees to fight Ward in Moscow on Christmas day. And rachel cordingley tells him he cant do it. Froch rides off in his ferrari through Nottingham blasting "theres no easy way out"....than kessler turns up at his gym....and says "when you beat me you had the eye of the tiger.....you beat me by one point"......the two unite and train together to beat Ward.....and like you say benelio the trailer for the fight should have that deep voiced american guy who used to voice over, all the 80s b movie trailers featuring stallone, segal and van damme saying....."one they were enemies.....now theyre best friends uniting to fight a common foe"......

[rhino222]

become a better boxer than ward. but this wont happen and he wont KO ward or out bully him

A ref that will warn and take points for Ward's use of the head and his excessive holding.
Fight the way he did against Bute and tighten up his defence and use the jab more.

I agree with you, he needs to jump on ward like a rash and hope a big shot connects, if he can catch ward early, as he has been hurt in the past, then froch might stand a chance.

Otherwise carl will get outboxed again, does not matter if the fight is in frochs nottingham back garden or in Las Vegas. Its an 80/20 fight in wards favour. Froch is harder and a better fighter, but ward is a better boxer!!

[fasteddie]

i like froch he is a humble man and a good hard fighter but i cant see anything else but a ward win no matter what froch turns up on the night. ward is a different class from any fighter froch has fought,id like to say froch would win if they fought again but its just not gonna happen.

[fasteddie]

the only way is to grind him down.

you cant grind down a fighter when youre getting pick apart yourself no matter how tough you are,there are only 12 rounds in a fight and ward wont be bullied or ground down. froch best way is to try and box ward but imo there isnt a better boxer at 168 than ward,plus he can go toe to toe with froch and still out smart froch from close range,apart from the stoppage its mayweather vs hatton at 168

[whiskey]

I can picture the PPV advert now.

"They were once enemies, but now they must unite to fight a common adversary.

Froch AND Kessler ........... versus Ward."

[dookus]

What has he got to do to win?

Lets be honest, ward is class and if froch fights him in the way he did last time he will loose. Is there a way he can win?

Hit him with a spade

[SamWise72]

He's got to do a Honeyghan vs Curry; get directly in his face and not let him work. Ward grabs and smothers way better than Curry did that night, so Carl has to up his inside game. It's a big ask, he needs to become significantly better, have Ward be significantly worse, and be given a bit of a break by the ref, but it wouldn't be the first time in history someone got an unlikely result. I'll be wanting to watch it.

[mickey1975]

He's got to do a Honeyghan vs Curry; get directly in his face and not let him work. Ward grabs and smothers way better than Curry did that night, so Carl has to up his inside game. It's a big ask, he needs to become significantly better, have Ward be significantly worse, and be given a bit of a break by the ref, but it wouldn't be the first time in history someone got an unlikely result. I'll be wanting to watch it.

In the twenty odd years since Honeyghan beat Curry, every overmatched Brit has tried to "do a Honeyghan". They never do, I think it will be a great result of Carl "does a Froch" and runs him as close(even though it wasn't" as last time.