He should just vacate the belt and fight Kessler, titles mean nothing that fight will be just as popular regardless. Froch doesn't need to be bothering with Stevenson at his age he should just make the fights he wants and not worry about belts and mandatories etc.
A strap means nothing....if he really wanted the fight he'd drop the meaningless bauble and get Eddie to move heaven and earth to get it. Kessler must be laughing his **** off
The strap means a lot. Froch has much more bargaining power financially if he is bringing a world championship to the table. Not just with Kessler but with anyone. Froch can demand massive purses with the belt. Take away the belt and what does Froch have to demand big pay days? He becomes a challenger.
Bull ****.Without the belt,Kessler calls the shot as champion and Adonis is no easy task.Froch can be hit and it's the one thing Stevenson can do.
Have you seen who Kessler has beat since then? Boudla Green Maggee Whereas Froch has beaten Abraham Johnson Bute Mack Also, Froch is in possesion of A) The higher ranking, B) A "Real" World title I think it's fair to say Froch's stock is higher at the current time.
People should not be bitching about Stevenson as a fight. He is a quality fighter. Top notch actually. I think he has every chance of beating Froch.
stevenson improved since he was with steward obviouslly can bang , with froch always likley to take a few , it would be intresting
Froch will knock Adonis out, then make his mum and sister put on boxing gloves and fight naked for his amusement.
Kessler/Froch is going to be PPV anyway, the IBF belt won't sell the fight to the casual any more than it would anyway and in any case Kessler holds the "regular" WBA crown so they could just use that and pretend it means something instead of the IBF belt. Joe Public would be none the wiser and they save a sanctioning fee if anything. Plus if the IBF do make him fight his mandatory and he got caught with something unexpected the PPV money is not definitely still there with Kessler so there's a small risk. The sport would be better if more boxers at the top just abandoned the belts and made the big fights. Look at Martinez for evidence of a fighter that was clearly the best in the division and in the p4p lists yet held a "WBC Diamond" title for years!!