By Michael Collins: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch doesn’t believe he was at his best when he was beaten by Mikkel Kessler in 2010, and Andre Ward in 2011. Something got in the way of both fights that kept Froch from being 100%. However, Froch believes he was firing on all cylinders when he stopped IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in May of this year to grab his IBF title. Forch also thinks he was 100% when he beat Yusaf Mack recently in Nottingham.
Froch wants to Kessler back in the ring to fight him by early to mid-2013 in the UK so that Froch can try and avenge his painful loss in 2010.
Froch said to Sky Sports News “I wasn’t at my best when I fought Kessler and I am firing on all cylinders now, you have seen that when I ripped the world title from Lucian Bute and defended it against Yusaf Mack with a body shot, folded him in half like a deckchair.”
I hope Froch isn’t overestimating what he actually accomplished in beating Mack and Bute, because from my understanding, Mack has been beaten a number of times by other fighters, and he had to come down from 175 to fight Froch without a catchweight. So in essence, Froch beat a guy that had already been exposed by other fighters in the past, who had to come down in weight to fight him.
Froch’s win over Bute no longer looks like a big deal after Bute came back from that loss to beat Denis Grachev recently. Bute has to really struggle hard against a guy that’s beatable. Bute looks like he’s a shot fighter. He doesn’t move like he used to and he’s spending more time fighting off the ropes now, and that’s something he didn’t do when he was younger.
If Froch overestimates his own talent he could end up getting thrashed again once he takes on Kessler for a second time.