Was there any improvement in Carl Froch & can he beat Ward?

Physically he is better than ever but..? technically, he is still the same old Carl Froch.

Interesting.

Ward as not at his best when he fought Froch, and according to Froch..? he was also not at his best.

 

No, I don't think he improved. What did he do in this fight he's never done before? He fought better than he did the first time, though. He was clueless up close against Ward which I think he's admitted himself, and Kessler ain't the kinda guy you're gonna find out if he's improved on that because that ain't Kessler's game.

 

The improvement is his work rate. Although he's always had great fitness he's often been a bit lazy I think, and a slow starter but I think he's decided to change that. I don't see anything that makes me think he can beat Ward. Still very slow, leaves himself off balance and I thought he was wide open to the left hook last night. These are things Ward will exploit. He is on a roll at the moment and the home town factor in boxing is a big deal though with the roars of the crowd influencing judges and possibly psychologically affecting the travelling fighter and putting him under pressure. I still think Ward can silence the crowd though. Same result for me.

 

One thing Froch was awful at against Ward is being sharp enough not to let Ward on the inside. He was a little too slow to react, Ward's got good feet and that worked for him all night. Problem Froch has is his whole repertoire of punching is thrown from quite far out, he likes that jab from the hip, the looping rights round the side and that uppercut that is like something out of a comic book. But up close he's gangly, slow handed, he doesn't really have a tight, short hook or great instincts when somebody is on his chest. Ward was clipping him with little left-hooks all night when coming in and out of clinches and Froch ain't fast enough or adept enough to shorten his punching and stop him getting in, or fighting with him on the inside. They weren't powerful shots, but they were landing cleanly and regularly against him, its tough to see that changing.

 

Carl Froch throw his signature uppercut, which is based on Ken & Ryu's uppercut from Street Fighter. And he missed by a mile, if it would of landed..? It would of been game over. The momentum of the punch, move Froch himself.

 

Carl has shown improvement since the last Kessler fight. But is still open. His last two fights before Kessler were a bit of a joke. Against an over hyped, pampered and heavily protected Bute, who had skills that had only been shown at low levels and then Mack.

Mack was a laughable opponent. "Mandatory" or not. Froch had been fighting on another level.....just become IBF champion.....and then Mack.

One thing was still clear in Kessler II. Froch can still take a shot, but he is still open for taking plenty of shots. Kessler landed some real blows, some real thudding punches that exploded on Froch's head, 1-2 hook combo's. I particularly remember a shot that Kessler hit Froch with straight after the low blow. Kessler was tagging Froch with a "soft" punch and coming straight back quickly with a hard follow up. Kessler was basically landing 2 punches at a time, and not just single punches. You could hear some of these punches from a mile away. They sounded like gunshots. Froch sucked most of them up somehow, but some of them did have an obvious effect on his balance. But that maybe because of Froch's awkward stance and style. He is a stiff fighter Carl and he looks lost against slick fighters. Kessler is hardly "slick" but he was making Carl miss and landing similar punches to what Andre Ward was landing when Froch and Ward fought. Carl hangs out a lazy jab sometimes, and if you can bypass it you can get 2-3 bombs of while he is hanging the arm out. Carl Froch is wide open for left hooks because of his right hand. Sometimes its fine where it is, other times he gets lazy and commits. Something which Ward targeted in the first fight.

Basically, all these punches he is getting hit with isn't good, how can it be good? They all do lasting damage, as tough as Carl is. One day they will all contribute and take effect. You cant keep taking these shots all the time, without it doing serious damage. I feel its going to be a bit of a delayed reaction with Carl, but I still stand by that before Froch retires, depending on his opponents, he will get stopped.

I believe Andre Ward will work a lot on power, and generating power from the legs in his layoff. He will take his skills to another level.

I believe he stops Froch in a second fight. Froch may be able to take it to points in the UK. But I dont think Froch beats Ward. Froch is one tough son of a gun and has a tremendous fighting spirit and will. But skill wise he just isnt good enough to match Ward, never mind beat him.

Although, thats hardly a bad thing, a negative or a criticism, Ward is pretty much unbeatable, I dont think anybody is good enough RIGHT NOW to beat Andre Ward.

 

Carl Froch keeps a black book, all his training sessions are recorded. From repetitions, run times, recovery times. He's been breaking all of his records constantly in his last couple of fights. Physically the performances do not lie, he is in the best condition he has EVER been in.

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

/

No way does froch beat ward, not a chance.

I would rather see froch v hopkins at a catchweight

 

What's so funny.

I never said Froch will beat Ward, i think Ward would beat Froch.

 

Whilst its good to keep a record, sometimes you can become to conditioned to the regime, to focused on statistics and numbers. You can take your eye of the ball and it can lead you into a false sense of security.

How do you know your opponent isn't matching all your mini personal self confidence world records, how do you know they aint beating all of them in your little black book?

While its good to keep a record and have a regime of sort, its also healthy to not depend on them to much. Take them, look back at them, but dont prioritize them.

 

To me, Froch looked on the slide. I personally thought in the week leading up to the fight he was looking very thin & guant in the face, for the first time he had that struggling to make the weight ill face about him. Match that with his interviews where he was nastier & moodier than normal, sure signs of a guy thats not eating enough. Joe Calzaghe said his mood got terrible as a result of depriving himself of food in the lead up to a fight, I noticed Frochs mood matched his gaunt look.

Froch is a big guy at SMW & no spring chicken either, so its natural making the weight is going to become more of a chore, the older he gets.

Froch was never the fastest, but to me during the fight he was really slow & poderous, missing wildly at times against an old Kessler who was slapping away at him... Sure Froch showed massive heart, chin & durability, but he always does. Its what sperates him from the also rans.

It was his boxing that was ragged though, & on the weight thing how many times did Carl wince & wilt when he was getting hit to the body? Hes normally poker faced, but you could see Froch struggle. His face was telling the story every time kessler was spearing his body with jabs.

It seemed cos it was a fun fight to watch, that people forgot to look at Frochs & Kesslers actual boxing. I didnt, & I saw a guy who doesnt have much left in the tank at super middle struggle against an old foe who didnt have much left in the tank himself.

So in carls world its face ward in a rematch, step up & face the insane workrate of cleverly, or give the mercurial young talent of george groves a shot.

IMO Carl knows his reign is coming to a close, & thats why he will pursue the option of one last fight with his fellow old timer Kessler, a man who he has the measure of instead of the prospect of losing the fight & losing face against any of his other 'rivals'.

 

Not sure where you're getting this idea he struggles at the weight, Dunk. They've always said they won't go anywhere near 175 as it would be a big disadvantage to fight guys that walk around 190-200lbs whereas Carl keeps in shape and ain't ever losing masses to make weight. Compare his thickness to Kessler and its a different story, I'm surprised Kessler has never moved up.

 

I agree froch looked borderline shot his career is over imo