Froch: Ward is probably going to be a little bit paranoid about using his head now

CIANI: Well do you personally feel that you have grown and developed as a fighter throughout the course of the Super Six? In other words, do you believe you’re a better fighter now than you were going into your fight with Andre Dirrell?

FROCH: I think every single fight you have, regardless of what stage of your career you’re at, you’re developing and learning as a fighter because you become more hardened. You become toughened to the different environments and different circumstances in the ring, i.e., getting put down by Jermain Taylor. You know that was a learning curve. Andre Dirrell running and holding, and jumping on the floor and moaning, you know he was fast, he was awkward, he was negative. That was a learning fight. The loss against Mikkel Kessler, I’ve learned but I’m no different than everybody else. You know I’ve evolved as the tournament has gone on. Ward will be a better fighter than he was when he started, as were all the other boxers who have now been eliminated. So yeah, I’ve definitely developed but that’s a natural progression. That’s something that has to happen.

CiANI: Now you mentioned earlier about when you do fight Ward, about him using his head. He’s known for some rough house tactics and perhaps a little bit of bending the rules. In the case he does that when you and him do square off, how do you think you’ll respond if he employs those type of tactics?

FROCH: I’ll respond within the rules of boxing. You know. If the referee sees him bending the rules or trying to do anything underhanded, it’s the official’s job on the night to sort that out. But I’ll say this, if the official doesn’t sort it out, I will! It will be interesting for people to watch because they’ll see what happens. But I’m not going to make threats or accusations and I’m not going to talk about what I’m going to do if somebody blatantly head-butts me in the face—I won’t be letting him get away with it! Let’s put it that way. In all honesty, with his cut above his eyebrow, Ward is probably going to be a little bit paranoid about using his head now, because it might open that cut or open up a new cut, which he won’t really want to do in this fight. That’s the last thing you want in a fight of this magnitude.

CIANI: Now I’m curious Carl, a lot of fans still are not sold on Andre Ward’s ability to take a big punch. I’m curious what your assessment of his chin and his ability to absorb a big shot is?

FROCH: Well I’ve seen him take a punch, well he didn’t take it. He got hit with it and he went over. I can’t remember the name of the guy that hit him. He hit him with a straight right and then an uppercut and Ward looked like he was in pretty bad shape to be honest. Since that fight he seems to have employed these tactics where he’s either on the move, totally at a distance, or he’s up close smothering his work and being rough. I think that’s an attempt to not get hit and not be in punching range, which is good tactics but it’s not exciting to watch. Although it gets the job done, because he’s undefeated, but it’s not the best tactics against hardened, seasoned, experienced professional like myself. His chin is definitely suspect. There are definitely question marks around it because he’s been over and he looked badly hurt. I actually feel that fight when it was over I thought he lost the fight. It was a six rounder. He lost that round, I think it was round four 10-8, and then he held on for dear life in rounds five and six. So on my scorecard, he lost that fight. You can put question marks around somebody’s chin and you can think and say what you want based on previous fights. But you can’t draw an overall assessment of somebody having a weak chin because he’s been put down once. You know I’ve been put down myself, and I know I have a solid chin and I know I can take a punch. He would have learned from that knockdown. He would have grown and developed mentally, and physically maybe have gotten his legs stronger. To answer your question, can he take a punch? We’ll find out when I connect because I’m a big puncher and I will hit him, but I’m not going to go into the fight thinking that I’m going to knock him out easy because he’s got a weak jaw. That would be foolish of me.



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