By James Slater – Reports are surfacing, claiming that the eagerly anticipated Carl Froch Vs. Arthur Abraham fight originally set for October 2nd in Monaco will have to be postponed for an as yet undetermined amount of time due to a back injury suffered in training by Froch. German news paper Bild has broken this news, and web sites Fightnews.com and Insidefights.com have picked it up.
It’s not yet known how serious the back injury is, or for how long “The Cobra” will be sidelined, but this news is yet another blow to the recently-troubled “Super Six Boxing Classic” tournament.. Leading favourite to win the tourney, Mikkel Kessler had to pull out for good due to an eye injury, while fellow favourite to win Andre Ward’s fight with Andre Dirrell has still to find a date and a venue, and now we have this blow.
Apparently, Froch Vs. Abraham will still go ahead in Monaco, the neutral venue both fighters and their teams agreed upon, but when we do not know. None of this can be helped of course, and however trivial or serious the back injury may be, no-one can blame Froch for deciding not to go ahead with the fight – arguably the single most crucial bout of his eight year, 27-fight pro career.
The former WBC super middleweight king went ahead with his April battle with the aforementioned Kessler while suffering from ear trouble and having suffered delays due to the volcanic ash problems that were dominating the news back then, and as we all know, the 33-year-old lost a close decision. Froch knows he must be tip-top perfect so as to be able to beat “King” Arthur.
Hopefully the potentially thrilling fight will be re-scheduled for some time this year. One of the best fights in store for the latter half of 2010, it would be a shame if we had to wait until next year to see the 168-pound rumble. Froch, who recently informed the media as well as his fans that he was pushing himself as hard as can be in training camp, will likely make some public announcement on the postponement issue in the coming days, if not sooner. You can bet money, though, that both Froch and Abraham will be upset and annoyed by this unfortunate development. As are we, the fans.