As the ?Super Six? has gone through an array of mysterious pull-outs and various other snafus, perhaps the most constant aspect of this Showtime-created super middleweight round-robin tournament has been Carl ?The Cobra? Froch, who faces Glen Johnson this Saturday night (Showtime, 9 PM, ET/PT) in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the right to face Andre Ward in the finals of the ?World Boxing Classic? in the fall.
“It?s a tough, arduous task fighting back-to-back fights with top level fighters. I can?t make any complaints about Jermain Taylor retiring. He?s had a fantastic career; he pulled out after the loss to [Arthur] Abraham. It was a bad loss; I think he got a brain bleed. So for his health, Jermain Taylor made the right decision,” Froch said to a group of reporters at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7th, where Showtime hosted a media luncheon for the semifinalists on the afternoon of Manny Pacquiao?s bout versus Shane Mosley.
Froch is gracious when he speaks of the man he bested back in April of 2009 with a late knockout and his WBC super middleweight title on the line but he isn?t buying what the others were selling, as it related to their dropping out of the ?Super Six.?
“I can?t say the same for Andre Dirrell and I?m not sure I can say the same for Mikkel Kessler because he?s looking at fighting again,” continued Froch, never one to hold his tongue. “So it is annoying; it?s frustrating and it?s not ideal but I?m not worried about what they?re doing. I?m worried about what I?m doing. I regained my belt after the decision I didn?t get against Mikkel Kessler. I?m now champion. I?m still in the tournament; there?s two other guys still in the tournament from the original six lineup and I think two of the original six will be in the final.”
A few weeks ago, Andre Ward easily bested Abraham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to earn his place in the finals. Like Ward, this tournament, for all its hiccups, has done wonders for Froch?s profile and popularity with his string of bouts against Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham (which he has gone 2-1). “It?s given me an opportunity to fight top-level fighters to prove that I am the best because obviously in boxing, there?s different world title belts. The WBC?s the main one as far as I?m concerned than the WBA and IBF. It?s a shame we didn?t get the IBF champion [Lucian Bute]; he?s hovering in the back, having a little easier life, waiting for the guy to win the tournament.”
One of the stronger aspects of this scrum is that the boxers who stayed throughout this process were forced to fight meaningful and tough fights almost every time out. The combined mark of Froch?s three opponents coming into this bout with Johnson (who was a late sub for Kessler) was 91-2.
Froch says, “I?ve definitely had the hardest road of fights; you?re dead right. It?s been acknowledged by the boxing pundits and the boxing fans. Before I came into the tournament, I boxed Jean Pascal, who?s a top, top-level fighter, a world champion at light heavyweight and then, I boxed Jermain Taylor. Y? know, Jermain Taylor?s finished now but when I boxed him, he just beat Jeff Lacy; he was on the crest of a wave. I came over to fight Jermain Taylor in America and defend my title. It almost went wrong for me. I got put down for the first time in my career, caught me with a cracking right hand over my guard, put me down. I had to find something from within to get the fight finished in round 12.”
For all the talk of Bute and Ward, it just might be the man from Nottingham who has the best r?sum? of any current 168-pounder on the planet.
“I think so, yeah,” agreed Froch, not-so-surprisingly. “I think I deserve to be ranked number one or number two, not number four, number three. I don?t think Lucian Bute- I?ve got nothing against the guy- but talking boxing, who?s he boxed? Who?s he beat? How?s he looked against the people he?s beat? Y? know, when the referee picked him up off the floor in round 12 against Librado Andrade. It happens in boxing; there?s politics involved, it happens in every sport but the bottom line is Lucian Bute does not deserve the number one spot that he?s getting. I don?t think he does. He?s got to fight somebody l like Kessler or like myself and when he does, you will see he might be the top fighter everyone?s talking about. But at the minute, he don?t deserve it.”
There is talk that later on this year, Kessler, whose return against Medhi Bouadla in Denmark (leading off the Showtime broadcast this weekend), could be paired with Bute later this year. Bute, who is in the middle of a three-fight pact with the network, could eventually be paired with the winner of the ?Super Six? if all goes well.
However, Froch has to take care of his own business at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom against the rock-hard Johnson, who halted Allan Green in eight heats in November to secure this match-up.
“I?m not overly familiar with Glencoffe Johnson,” Froch said a month ago. “I?ve seen him box a couple of times. I?ve been looking at videos of his fights, which I don?t usually do, but my trainer?s making me watch a couple of them. I?m going to be watching a few more of them when I get back to England, closer to the fight but I know enough about him to know what I need to win.”
JUDAH-KHAN
After looking rather bleak throughout Memorial Day weekend, on Tuesday afternoon, the junior welterweight unification tilt between IBF beltholder Zab Judah and WBA titlist Amir Khan was consummated for July 23rd at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in a fight that will be televised by HBO.
And it was done through old-fashioned common sense and compromise.
“Let?s just put it this way; Khan and Golden Boy gave a little bit and we gave a little bit,” said the leader of Main Events, Kathy Duva, who reps Judah, “and that?s what got it done. In the end, Zab and Main Events- all the team- agreed that sometimes you gotta stop worrying about a percentage, point here or there- or who gets their way and just make the fight happen. Because really, the real upside for Zab is going to be after he wins this fight. You gotta be in the fight to win it, so there?s going to be a fight.”
Golden Boy gave into a 55-45 revenue split and Main Events agreed to have the fight in ?Sin City? and not Atlantic City.
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told Maxboxing, “I mean, it wasn?t easy but I?m glad at the end it got done because it?s a title unification bout. I think it?s a big summer fight and Amir and us, we?re excited and now the fight fans are excited to see this fight because there?s a lot of interesting storylines.”
While this was a back-up plan to Khan-Tim Bradley, in all honestly, this might be the more crowd-pleasing match-up and Judah, because of his history, brings a bigger profile than the ?Desert Storm.?
“This turned into a situation where I know HBO put tremendous pressure on the Khan camp to take this fight and in the end, frankly, it was the best fight out there that they could get with what was left,” said Duva. “I personally believe it?s been the best fight all along that they could get but they had other plans and all of those plans fell out over things we had no control over and all of a sudden, there it is. At some point, you just say, ?Alright, let?s just do this. Let?s just get this thing done.?”
GOLDEN NUGGETS
With Khan-Judah becoming a reality, Robert Guerrero will now headline a ?Boxing After Dark? telecast on HBO on August 6th. So who would ?The Ghost? face? Schaefer says, “Well, one fight- and I have to be careful how I say it- but I know one fight every fight fan would probably want to give me a hug for is if we could do a Guerrero fight against [Marcos] Maidana. That would be a helluva fight. I mean, there?s NOTHING bad we could say about that fight. I think we?d probably call it ?Excitement? because it?s excitement all around and that would be an amazing fight.”
No disagreements here; sign me up for Guerrero-Maidana.
Schaefer says he?s discussed this with Guerrero?s manager, Bob Santos, who is on board with this proposed fight.
As for Erik Morales, who just fought tooth-and-nail with Maidana in April, “I think Erik wants to fight in August in Mexico. We had discussed with him the possibility to fight Khan, as well. He?s very interested in fighting Khan in the fall but he would really like to have another fight before that and his preference is doing it in Mexico. So it looks like we?re going to be working with him on putting a fight together in Mexico.”
In regard to the rescheduled bout between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares, which will take place on August 13th on Showtime, the search is on for a venue.
“I talked to Don King last week,” said Schaefer. “He said he was looking at some sites. We are looking at some sites. One possibility would be the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.”
CHANGES
Froch is now promoted by Matchroom Promotions, led by Eddie Hearn, leaving Hennessey Sports, which had represented him for years.
Of that move, Froch admitted, “I can?t say it?s not been a distraction; it has been a distraction but I?m a very tough, strong, physically and mentally strong person. You?ve got to be mentally strong in this game, especially when you?ve got problems like I?ve got but I?ve not let them affect me. I?ve been running hard and I?ve been adding fuel to the fire.
For years, Froch?s fights were not aired under the SKY Sports umbrella. This fight will be. He admits that not being on the network weighed on his mind. “It did bother me,” Froch said. “I was very disappointed that a lot of people missed the opportunity to see my fights on the best platform in British boxing, which is SKY Sports.”
DRAW
I?ve been asked what happens in the event of a tie between Froch and Johnson.
The answer I received from Chris DeBlasio of Showtime was:
Draw is same as tie breaker from Group Stage. 1) Head to Head. 2) tournament KOs. 3) scorecard points.
SCHATZ
Here?s some information I received on a new boxing book coming out next year…
Howard Schatz?s upcoming book, AT THE FIGHTS: INSIDE THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL BOXING will be published in the fall of 2012. You can see a preview of some of this spectacular work on Schatz?s website: http://www.howardschatz.com/portfolio.php?galleryID=44
Certainly looks like that one might be a keeper.
NBA FINAL FLURRIES
So Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. says he?d face Sergio Martinez if he won the WBC middleweight title on Saturday? Not if Bob Arum has anything to do with it…Count me in as someone who wouldn?t mind seeing a bout between Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal down the line, should Cloud defeat his IBF mandatory, Yusaf Mack, on June 25th…The Mayor of Philly, Michael Nutter (yes, that?s his real name), will help honor Bernard Hopkins at the Rocky statue on Wednesday afternoon…A fight between Victor Cayo and Lamont Peterson will take place on the Judah-Khan undercard. Schaefer said, “I?m currently talking to HBO about this.”… ,when Ohio State coach Jim Tressel ?resigned? from his head coaching post, I heard folks call him a man of honor and integrity. Uh, yeah, the man basically covered up a bunch of NCAA violations and skirted the truth and he?s a man of honor. Yeah, and this was on Memorial Day…I?m not lying, if you want a quick gauge of how well-received by the public a particular bout is, go on Twitter. It has to be the quickest form of market research around. And Judah-Khan has been met with a very positive response and folks absolutely love the possibility of Guerrero-Maidana…Going back to ?Tresselgate,? this whole thing has me glad that I?m in an honorable and straight-up business like boxing…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
