Saturday 17 December 2011

Froch Aiming to Restore Boxing Pride


Carl Froch is aiming to restore British pride when he fights American Andre Ward in the final of the Super Six tournament in Atlantic City.

In the past 12 months, British boxers have lost nine world title fights and won only two.

"We're due a win, aren't we?" Froch, 34, said. "If you're a roulette table, eventually a red will come in. We've had eight blacks on the spin.

"I want to put us back on the world map. We can't be a nation of losers."

He added: "I have to bite down on to my gum-shield even harder because I've got to restore Britain's pride."

Amir Khan, Matthew Hatton, Ryan Rhodes, John Murray, Brian Magee, Matthew Macklin, David Haye and Darren Barker have all lost fights abroad this year.

I'm a regular fighter. When I fight inside, things happen. I don't have a malicious bone in my bodyAndre Ward

Ward, 27, who is unbeaten in 24 fights, is favourite heading into the bout in New Jersey where Froch's WBC title and Ward's WBA belt are on the line.

However, Froch is aiming to prove people wrong and hopes improvements in his technical boxing skills will give him the extra dimension his opponent may be lacking.

"I'm not really surprised to be rated as the underdog," said the Nottingham boxer. "I was the underdog when I went into the Arthur Abraham fight last year, a massive underdog, and I produced such a landslide winning performance."

Froch dismissed the suggestion that Ward will benefit from fighting in his own country as Ward, who is based in California, rarely fights on the east coast of the United States.

"It's like a neutral venue because he's used to fighting on the west coast," he added. "It's levelled the playing field quite a lot because he's got to come over to Atlantic City."

The super-middleweight bout was due to take place in October but Ward suffered a cut over his right eye in sparring.

"It might slow down his use of the head because of scar tissue above his eye that could open up," Froch commented.

However, Ward insists the injury is now fully healed, meaning Nottingham's Froch is braced to fight fire with fire.

"It's obviously a concern in that you don't want to be getting headbutted in the face or eyes because you can get cut and, if you get blood in your eye, then it can be a very big hindrance," said Froch.

"This is a fight of such magnitude it's all going to be fair and above board. I'm looking forward to a great, clean fight."

Froch weighed-in half a pound under the 168lb limit on Friday while Ward was bang on.

Ward won the WBA title with a technical decision win against Kessler,when the Dane suffered a nasty cut, and there were accusations of headbutting levelled at the American.

But Ward, an Olympic gold medallist in 2004, countered: "I'm a regular fighter. When I fight inside, things happen. I don't have a malicious bone in my body. People try to tag me with being a dirty fighter."