• Super-middleweight

Froch books O2 date with Kessler

Carl Froch says of his upcoming training camp he is 'so motivated it's not true' © PA Photos

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Carl Froch has named the date and the venue of his super-middleweight rematch with Mikkel Kessler - and stamped the fight with a certificate 18 after predicting a brutal clash.

Froch's shot at avenging a 2010 loss to Kessler was announced in the middle of January, and on Friday he confirmed the fight would be at the O2 Arena in London on May 25.

The 35-year-old IBF title holder admitted his disappointment that the bout would not take place in his home city of Nottingham but still expects the support of a London crowd to spur him on. However, Scottish tennis player Andy Murray was booed when competing against Switzerland's Roger Federer at the O2 Arena in November.

Still, Froch knows that positive support could make the difference, as he believes it did for Kessler in Herning three years ago. But he warned that the fans had better expect blood to be spilled.

"It's at the O2 Arena on the 25th of May," Froch told Sky Sports News. "It ought to be certificated 18 actually because I think it's going to be brutal, I really do.

"When I lost a close points decision to Mikkel Kessler I think his home crowd rode him to victory, especially towards the end there. Kessler kept coming forward and I hit him with some big shots, some heavy shots and he just walked through them.

"He had some big shots, shots that caused damage. I broke my nose, I was bleeding but we both refused to give up and it's one of them. We are both cut from the same cloth, we are both warriors and we both want the same result, we both want to win."

He added: "Unfortunately the arena is not big enough in Nottingham but I don't think Mikkel Kessler would have gone to Nottingham anyway because he didn't want me to have the home-town advantage.

"The O2 is perfect, it's the capital and what a massive fight. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm really looking forward to getting on training camp and getting stuck in because I'm so motivated it's not true."

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