by James Slater – Depending on your opinion, WBC super-middleweight champion and “Super-Six” participant Carl Froch is either supremely confident ahead of his rapidly approaching shootout with Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler, or he is supremely arrogant. Never one to mince his words, the unbeaten Nottingham warrior known as “The Cobra” has launched his most outspoken attack yet on the former two-time world titlist.
In an interview with BBC Sport, the 32-year-old went as far as to claim “The Viking Warrior” will have no chance against him when they meet in the ring in Herning, Denmark on April 24th. Not only that, but Froch vowed to become the first man to KO the 31-year-old.
“He hasn’t got a chance against me,” Froch said to BBC Sport. “Kessler is going to be knocked out for the first time in his career, unless he’s a lot tougher than I already think he is. Kessler’s a great fighter, don’t get me wrong, he’s got a lot of things going for him; a lot of experience and he’s strong and tough and he knows how to box..
“Kessler’s not had the best preparation for fighting me, coming in off the back of a warm-up fight and a bad loss (to Andre Ward). We might see the best of Kessler but it will be the best of the last because he’ll get beaten on the night by the best in the world.”
See what I mean – either confident or arrogant! Froch, an exciting fighter who has thus far in his career been able to back up his words with a win every time out, seems to have divided the fans right down the middle. Some dislike him and freely admit how they crave seeing him KO’d and silenced; while others still applaud his ability to speak his mind almost as much as they appreciate his in-the-ring talents.
Here, though, in predicting a one-sided winning fight against Kessler – one that he will win by KO, at that – Froch really has put pressure on himself, and it’s a certainty how those fight fans that haven’t warmed to him will now be rooting against the defending champion with even more passion than they have felt in the past.
Despite predicting his KO victory, however, Froch does acknowledge how the fight may well be an exciting and hard-fought encounter – early on at least.
“Early on he’ll have a real strong go,” Froch said of the twice-beaten Dane. “He’ll chuck everything at me, really have a fight – but it won’t be enough.”
An exciting fight on April 24th is almost a given, yet I think it’s fair to say that even Froch’s most hardened fans are no way near as confident as their hero is. As I’ve said before, in my opinion this is about as close to a 50-50 fight as you could wish to find. A KO win for Froch in a one-sided affair? I’m not sure about that. I do, though, think this fight will end in a KO – one way or the other!