3 weeks ago at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, Andre "S.O.G." Ward (24-0 13 KO's) out boxed and outclassed a hesitant and over matched "King" Arthur Abraham (32-3 26 KO's) to advance to the final stage of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic.
On Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, Carl "The Cobra" Froch (28-1 20 KO's) and Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson (51-15 35 KO's) took center stage for the right to meet Ward in the championship bout on Oct 1st. Johnson (a late entry into the competition due to injuries and tournament withdrawals) was last seen knocking out Allan Green to advance to the semi finals. Froch is coming off an impressive 12 rd landslide victory over Arthur Abraham in Helsinki, Finland.
In the first few rounds it was the same old Glen Johnson, applying alot of pressure and forcing the Cobra to slither away from danger. Johnson doubled up the jab early and also started touching Froch to the body in the second round. Johnson landed a big right hand in the third round which seemed to razzle Froch, this would occur several times throughout the fight. Every time the Road Warrior would unload, Froch would flurry right back to answer Johnson`s big shots.
Froch moved well throughout the fight, using every inch of the extremley large ring to his advantage. When he moved straight back Johnson would catch him with power shots, however when he moved laterally, He was able to evade Johnson`s attack and create better boxing angles for the combination punches he would try to sting Johnson with all night long.
Froch was hit with a few more big right hands in rounds 8 and 10 getting the crowd to its feet. Johnson had plenty of support and gave the fight fans thrills every time he seemed to have Froch hurt. The Cobra showed a great chin and will to win by taking Johnsons best shots and firing back multiple combination outbursts to take round after round in the late stages of the fight.
Carl "The Cobra" Froch would earn his 28th win with a majority decision over Glen Johnson. The judges scorecards read 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111. After the fight, Glen Johnson admitted to falling a little too much into Froch`s gameplan which may have cost him the bout. Froch and Andre Ward talked up the Super Six finals match this coming fall vs each other, something I think we`ll all be looking forward to.
Earlier in Showtime`s telecast, Mikkel "The Viking Warrior" Kessler (44-2 33KOs) got back into action after a 14 month layoff due to an injury to his left eye that he suffered in his fantastic victory over Carl Froch. The Viking Warrior stopped Frenchman Mehdi Bouadla in six rounds by way of TKO. Kessler showed a little ring rust but shook it off by knocking down Bouadla 4 times, including twice in the sixth round to end the bout.
The Super Middleweight division is so deep, they should have another tournament with Ward and Froch, bringing back Kessler and adding Lucian Bute as well. Who knows.... maybe B-Hop and Sergio Martinez could jump in and create a "Super Duper Six"? I should copyright that huh?
Joey Santana can be reached at theboxingkidd@verizon.net
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