Veteran Johnson next up for ‘history making’ Froch

Carl Froch believes he will make history by winning the inaugural Super Six tournament after he boxed superbly to regain his WBC super-middleweight crown against Arthur Abraham in Helsinki on Saturday night.

“Abraham’s strong and tough but quite predictable and I was able to stick to the gameplan by using my height and reach to outbox him. Normally I like to get stuck in to my opponents and have a proper fight but Robert (McCracken) kept holding me back and told me to stick to what I was doing as it was working perfectly,” said Froch to BBC radio 5 live this morning.

“It’s great to regain my WBC title, I lost it last time on a dubious decision to Mikkel Kessler in Denmark, and he’s unlikely to fight again after boxing me now. Abraham was my fifth big fight in a row after Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell and Kessler.”

“I’m making history by fighting all the best people in my division. Jean Pascal, who I beat to become WBC champion, is now the best light-heavyweight in the world which proves that I’m taking on the best fighters and not taking any easy voluntary defences,” stated Froch, quite rightly, too.

‘The Cobra’ will now face veteran Glen Johnson in the Super Six semi-finals whilst the crestfallen Abraham, having suffered back-to-back losses to Froch and Andre Dirrell, will face Andre Ward in the tournament’s other semi. The unbeaten Ward kept busy with a comfortable points win over Sakio Bika at the weekend. Johnson, a late entrant into the Super Six after he replaced the injured Mikkel Kessler, sealed his semi-final spot with a commanding eighth round stoppage over Allan Green earlier this month. It was the former IBF light-heavyweight champion’s first fight at super-middleweight since he stopped Toks Owoh in Bethnal Green a decade ago.

As with Abraham, Froch certainly won’t have to go looking for Johnson, but could elect to utilise his underrated boxing skills again to keep the ‘Road Warrior’ at bay as he demonstrated so faultlessly in Helsinki on Saturday night. Johnson, 51-14-2 (35), will turn 42 in January and has gone 7-4 in his last eleven fights.

The uncompromising American-based Jamaican can be outboxed as best demonstrated by Chad Dawson (twice) and Antonio Tarver (in their rematch in 2005) but is not to be underestimated. Just ask Clinton Woods who shared a trilogy with Johnson between 2003 and 2006 (drawing, losing and then controversially outpointing Johnson) and Roy Jones Jr, who was dominated and knocked cold in the ninth round by the ‘Road Warrior’ in 2004.