Boxing.com

In anticipation of the defense of his WBC super middleweight title, Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KOs), from Nottingham, England, met with the press via telephone conference call yesterday to discuss Glen Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KOs) and their June 4 semifinal bout on Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic.

Froch is a cool, calm and collected cat, and he’s confident that he has what it takes to retain his title. He was also eloquent, analytical, and precise, the very qualities he displays in the ring. 

“I’m in great shape. I’ve been in New York for the better part of two weeks, to give myself plenty of time to get acclimated to this fight,” he said. “It’s quite hot and humid, the same in England, so I should just be just about getting the hours, the time difference out of my system in the next couple of days, really start thinking clear by the end of the week. Saturday a week, looking forward to it, and it’s exciting, the semi-final of the Super Six. And I can’t wait to put a great show on against the great boxer Glen Johnson.”

Froch has a single blemish on his record, a loss to Mikkel Kessler in April. But many people, not least among them Froch himself, feels he didn’t get a fair shake when he fought the Dane in Denmark.

“I still consider myself to be unbeaten,” he said. “That loss was maybe a little injection or a little kick in the ass, whatever you want to call it, to get myself back to where I was when I became champion against Jean Pascal when he was firing on all cylinders.

“Since that fight, since winning the WBC title I’ve only mixed with the top level against all the opposition: Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham—and now Glengoffe Johnson. So I’m coming into this fight very, very confident, very fit, strong. I’m in my prime. I’m 33 years old and I feel as I’ve just sorta pushed past 30 years old.

“I diarize all my work, so every single run, every push-up, every sit-up, I’m quite meticulous and a bit of a perfectionist around my training regimes. I’m hitting times on my runs that I was hitting when I was 26, 27 years old, and I’m doing the same amount of push-ups and sit-ups and pull-ups and dips all in the time frame. So I’m just feeling really, really fit and strong like I was against Arthur Abraham. Never mind 12 rounds. I can probably do 25 rounds or so. That’s how great I feel. So I’m looking forward to this fight. Expect a great win on Saturday night. Expect a great performance. That’s without being rude or cheeky in any way to Glen Johnson, but he can’t beat me, and you’ll see why on Saturday night.”

Johnson is no pushover. He always enters the ring ready, willing, and able to give it his all. At age 42 he’s no longer young, but he remains a tough customer. And Carl Froch knows it.

“I’ll pick the pace up when I need to. I don’t want to talk too much tactics but the plan is always to hit and not get hit. The one thing about Glen Johnson is I don’t think I’ll have to go looking for him. I don’t think he’s going to be on his back foot looking to jab and pick me off. He doesn’t have the speed or the skill to match me. So he’s going to come straight ahead. If he thinks he’s going to walk though me, he’s going to get a real shot, like Arthur Abraham did.”

Froch can box, and he can slug. Hopefully when he meets Glen Johnson, we’ll see a little bit of both.

“I’ll do a little bit of both,” said Froch. “I’ll box him, I’ll box around him, jab, shot, jab, shot, combination punching. If he wants to stay in front of me, I’ll happily oblige. But I don’t think he wants to stand in front of me too long. If he walks into me he’s going to be taking on some shots. We’ll see how much the referee thinks he can take. It’s going to be brutal if he keeps walking forward taking shots.

“I’m going to be fresh and fit and strong and powerful with fast combinations from round one through round 12. To be honest, I wish this fight was 15 rounds. But a few years ago they dropped to 12 rounds. That’s just how it is. But it’s going to be 12 rounds of hell if that’s what’s needed.”

Some in the stands and folks at home wish fights would go the old championship distance. But whether the bout goes 12 rounds, 15 rounds, or 100 rounds, Froch knows what he has to do to get the W.

“Glen Johnson’s a great fighter. He’s only mixed it with the best of them. He’s been beaten a couple of times, but he’s only lost against the best, so you’ve got to give the guy respect—and I’m giving him plenty of respect. He’s a warhorse, he’s a great fighter, he’s got bags and bags of experience, he really knows what he’s doing, and I won’t disrespect him at all.

Everyone loves a knockout, and Carl Froch is no different. But he fights with his head, not just with his fists, and won’t take foolish chances if he doesn’t have to.

“Glen Johnson’s not the sort of guy you knock out,” he said. “If you’ve seen him fight, you’ve seen how tough the man is. He’s very strong. He’s very durable. And he’s not the sort of guy to go in there trying to knock out. I think I’ve got more of a chance of getting the stoppage than a knockout. Top athletes at this level, there’s not much to separate them. So to go looking for a knockout would be naïve and a bit stupid.”