• Super-middleweight

Froch: Kessler is ducking rematch

Carl Froch floored Mikkel Kessler in 2010, but the Dane claimed a controversial points decision © Getty Images

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Carl Froch fears that Mikkel Kessler could prevent him from breaking into the world's top 10 pound-for-pound fighters by ducking his call for a rematch in the summer of 2013.

Kessler subjected Froch to the first defeat of his career, a controversial points decision in Denmark in 2010, but was forced to take an extended spell out of the ring to allow his damaged eyes to heal.

And the Dane sounds less than keen to give the Nottingham native a chance to set the record straight, according to Froch.

"I spoke to Kessler on the phone recently and I said 'Let's get this fight on'," Froch told the Sun.

"But he gave me short and sweet answers and then changed the subject and asked me how my mum was!

"He sounded like a man who doesn't want to fight and he certainly wasn't saying, 'Let's do it in the summer'."

IBF super-middleweight champion Froch and Kessler are friends outside the ring, and Kessler was ringside to witness Froch's five-round demolition of Lucian Bute in May.

But Froch, who takes on Yusaf Mack at Nottingham's Ice Arena on Saturday, believes the Dane is keen to avoid a rematch.

"If a fight against me isn't a necessity and he's not a mandatory challenger, it won't happen," Froch added.

"It will have to be money-motivated for him. He's thinking why fight Froch after seeing what I did to Bute when he could earn a load of money by fighting Brian Magee in Denmark.

"I'm trying to get into the top 10 pound-for-pound ratings in the world, I'm just outside it at the moment.

"I know fighting Kessler and then a rematch with Andre Ward, who also beat me, would put me in the top five pound-for-pound and that will be unbelievable.

"This fight against Mack probably won't get me into the top 10."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.