Interesting Article about Froch/Kessler and the state of American Boxing

In a sport with no real structure and four highly dubious sanctioning bodies, it's understandable how boxing logic can often appear to be a jumbled mess. Such is the case in the super middleweight division, where the World Boxing Classic Super Six Tournament of 2009-2011 saw Olympic gold medalist, Andre Ward, come from relative professional obscurity to a consensus placement as the top 168 lb. fighter in the world.

Ward, en route to a tournament victory, scored decisive wins over Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green, Arthur Abraham, and Carl Froch.

However, since his December, 2011 defeat of Froch in the tournament finals, Ward has only fought once-- an impressive TKO 10 defense of his WBC super middleweight title over visiting light heavyweight titlist, Chad Dawson.

Injuries to Ward and to his proposed opponents have ruined a couple of planned outings, but the business of boxing and the current confused state of affairs have also conspired to put the deep freeze on his career plans.

The Oakland native, although acknowledged by everyone as the best super middleweight in the world and a top 3 figure in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings, is not a bankable star. And if cinching the Super Six title and stopping Dawson hasn't gotten him there yet, it's a fairly sure bet that there's pretty much nothing he can do to get to that next level of stardom.

This same issue has affected many American prizefighters recently as a sluggish, shrinking American boxing scene loses ground to a booming European scene. Other than Floyd Mayweather, there are no American boxing superstars anymore and, increasingly, power brokers are losing their leverage to attract some of the biggest and best fights to the United States.


Very soon, many American fighters, even those among the best of the best, will feel the pressure to pack a suitcase and head out to where big, mainstream-level shows are the norm, not a once-a year anomaly. At some point, all of the top, viable contenders may be entrenched in their own European bases and if their American counterparts want to get meaningful fights, they will have to hop on a plane-regardless of who's "better" or more accomplished.

Andre Ward may be the first fighter forced into this position.

On Saturday at the O2 Arena in London, UK, IBF 168 lb. champ Carl Froch won his rematch with Mikkel Kessler via unanimous decision and added the WBA belt to his collection. Froch is now 3-0 since losing to Ward, with wins over Lucian Bute, Yusaf Mack, and Kessler making the case that if Ward is no. 1, Froch is the most solid no. 2 fighter in the sport.

And after fighting in front of close to 20,000 screaming, supportive fans, he may have also learned that business trumps any sort of sporting narrative. In other words, it's not the best that gets to call the shots; it's the one who can generate the most money.

"I said before this fight that the winner should really be concentrating on moving on and my only other loss was against pound-for-pound number two in the world Andre Ward," Froch said Saturday, after the Kessler win. "What a fantastic fighter he is and a great, great champion, but he is there to be beaten…But not over in America - let's get him over here. I went over to America and now let's get him over to England."

Ward, with no real plans on the horizon, may have to swallow the pride that comes along with having earned his top slot at 168 and take a trip across the pond. Froch has forcibly eliminated Kessler and Bute from the list of possible foes for Ward and may be the only commercially viable opponent for the American. It's doubtful, though, that the Nottingham native will be back in the States anytime soon.

This means that the winner will have to concede to the loser's demands if there's ever to be a rematch. It's a strange state of affairs, but that's the fight game these days.



Source - Yahoo sports

 

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