World Top Stories News - Fight andre ward vs carl froch predictions : Froch's style makes for spectacular power shots, but if Ward can get inside his style is perhaps more geared to scoring and he has more flexibility to change his tactics for the second half of a long fight. Froch daren't let this one go to points, even though resilience and conditioning are likely to play a decisive part here.The enigma here is Ward himself - he is a very talented and adaptable boxer who has consistently found different ways to beat his opponents whilst sometimes leaving onlookers not quite sure how he's done it. His fight against Abraham had more to admire than love in terms of style and it will be interesting to see if he attempts to set the tempo v Froch, or just settle in and outlast Froch's attempts to bully him early on. I really think it's too close to call, but if Ward finds himself behind at any stage and needing to force the pace, he may be caught on the counter and possibly even stopped late.
Thankfully, you don't have to trust my "ifs" and "buts". Here are the predictions of some of the other Super Six contenders on the Bad Left Hook blog and here's how The Ring's resident experts call it. And whilst we're at it, here's the view of the never concise but always precise Guardian commenter Consortium11
So the expert's consensus has Ward as favorite and Froch as a dangerous opponent who has the power to trouble him. What do you think?
Preamble: As this big boxing fortnight winds to a close and a bewildered Phil Sawyer (see the last two weeks' round by rounds here (Cotto v Margarito) and here (Khan v Peterson)) stamps on the last of his wine box for any remaining fermented matter, we are left wondering if the last of the Guardian's three big fights in three weeks can deliver a definite winner. Week one saw Miguel Cotto exact some precise, if probably mercifully anticlimactic, revenge against Antonio Margarito, whilst last week a somewhat graceless Amir Khan lost a controversial points decision to Lamont Peterson. More on that one later no doubt, as the British complaints rumble on - though the uncomfortable fact remains that if Khan had stopped his man as he anticipated, the comments on local officials and partisan refereeing would have been moot.
On to tonight's match-up then, and Carl Froch, who in comparison to Khan will be fighting in front of a positively multinational array of officials, in the bastion of integrity that is Atlantic City. Froch has been briefly training in the same New York gym as Cotto and would be very glad of a similarly efficient night's work as his colleague had against Margarito. Can the Nottingham fighter finish off the Super Six series with victory against Andre Ward in the glitz (if you squint) of America's Playground?
As a boxing town, Atlantic City may not have the Boxing's Capital™ glamour of Las Vegas, or offer the intensity (and often downright ugliness) of a New York fight night, but as Kevin Mitchell points out in his preview, it's seen some tumultuous bouts over the years, including this particular young gentleman's primer on the correct way to avoid losing a close decision in a world title fight (take note Mr Khan):
And of course, if Froch needs any further inspiration (other than his own victory over Glen Johnson in Boardwalk Hall, earlier this year), there's always this night in Atlantic City - arguably the greatest ever upset caused by a British fighter on American soil:
Actually, given that Froch shares Don Curry's "Cobra" nickname, perhaps that's too confusing a motivational tool. Any excuse to watch that fight back though.
So what's it to be - Britain's recent underwhelming world title streak to continue, or Froch to finally get the recognition he deserves in America?
Steve Busfield will be with me, watching the action and ready to step in if the blog lever at Guardian HQ gets stuck.
Kevin Mitchell will be ringside, presumably in the sharpest shirt he can manage with a hotel iron. You can read his preview of the fight here
Join me for the build up to the fight and the round by round. Share your tweets, emails, Jersey Shore spoilers and parochial outrage at the addresses above and I'll share the ones that on balance, probably did just enough to nick it.
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