Road Warrior Johnson won't derail Froch

This Saturday sees two example competitors who are a credit to sport step between the ropes in Atlantic City as Britain’s Carl Froch defends his WBC super-middleweight prize against Glen Johnson with the winner also progressing to the Super Six final.

While challenger Johnson with 67 fights to his name lives the notion that life begins at 40, Carl Froch with a mere 28 bouts in comparison epitomizes a familiar sporting adage that ‘your only as good as your last performance.’ Ever since he first captured the world title in 2008 with an enthralling points verdict over Jean Pascal, the Nottingham man has continued to captivate audiences with his never say die attitude. After bagging the prized WBC crown many fighters would have been quite content to have a few ‘safe’ defences and bank their money. But Froch rapidly made his intentions clear just four months later when he travelled stateside to make the first defence of his newly acclaimed title.

Having seen British rival Joe Calzaghe bow out of the sport undefeated and heralded as the finest British boxer ever to lace up the gloves, Froch realised he would need a momentous effort to surpass the Welshman. And while never attempting to match Calzaghe’s 21 defences, Froch embarked on ensuring no accusations of facing inadequate opponents could be directed at him.

Step up former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor who gave Froch a huge scare when he became the first man to floor the granite chinned ‘Cobra’ in round three. Despite recovering sufficiently enough to continue, Froch was lagging behind on two of the three judges scorecards going into the final round. Somewhat amazingly Carl staring into the face of defeat snatched victory with just 14 seconds remaining but the ambitious Froch envisioned mightier mountains to climb.

Henceforth the news came that Froch had agreed to compete in the inaugural tournament which ensures matches are of the highest and most evenly matched calibre. Carl began his punishing campaign in October 2009 with a frustrating spilt points win over the talented and elusive Andre Dirrell which was followed by a controversial April points reverse to Dane Mikkel Kessler. Again the bout was moulded in typical Froch fashion as the two tussled in a 2010 classic. Froch then followed that epic by regaining his WBC strap last November with a master class of sublime boxing in which he schooled Arthur Abraham.

Now enjoying his second reign as a WBC super-middleweight champion, Froch stands just two victories away from being crowned the Super Six king. Undefeated WBA ruler Andre Ward has already secured his place in the 12st tournament designed to unify the WBC and the WBA champions. A match between the skilful American and the all action Froch would certainly be a mouth watering prospect in which brain and brawn compete for the ultimate prize.

However, the 31 year-old ‘Cobra’s’ immediate priority rests in defeating veteran Jamaican Glen Johnson who despite being 42 still possesses a potent threat to any top campaigner. Sensibly Froch hasn’t been complacent in his preparations and recently predicted Johnson would present stiff opposition. Sheffield’s former IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods would testify to that claim as he endured three gruelling twelve round battles with Johnson between 2003 and 2006. Johnson has fought in eight world title bouts and shared the ring with Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones, Antonio Tarver and current IBF light-heavyweight boss Tavoris Cloud.

Although recently thought to be past his best and not fighting at super-middleweight for over ten years Johnson jumped at a final fling in boxing’s big time by replacing the injured Mikkel Kessler and knocking out Alan Green. Akin to Bernard Hopkins who at 46 recently became the oldest world champion in boxing history Johnson is renowned for his disciplined lifestyle and has completed the 12 round distance on 13 occasions. Anything less than a 100 per cent Froch could see an upset but the smart money suggests the champion should be too fresh and too quick for his game but outgunned senior.

Froch will need to follow his formula of careful and precise handy-work that reduced Abraham to a mere bystander rather than reverting to a gun ho hands low, ‘may the sharp shooter win’ policy. A mature performance will enable Froch to obtain a hard earned points victory and could even help him to emulate Bernard Hopkins as the only man to have stopped him. And subsequently the ‘ring warrior’ Froch will have derailed ‘The road warrior’ Johnson. Enjoy the ride.