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Froch regains WBC crown after masterclass

Carl Froch lands a jab on Arthur Abraham © Getty Images

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Carl Froch bounced back from the first loss of his career by capturing the vacant WBC super-middleweight title with a unanimous points victory over Arthur Abraham in Helsinki.

The English pugilist enjoyed total control of the fight as he stuck rigidly to his pre-bout strategy of keeping Abraham at an unthreatening distance with a series of devastating jabs.

Froch regained the belt he surrendered to Mikkel Kessler in April after the judges awarded him the fight 119-109, 120-108, 120-108. He now moves forward in the Super Six tournament, which will crown a unified champion at 12 stone.

Abraham, a notoriously slow starter, vowed to not throw away the early rounds of the bout - but he was powerless to stop Froch dominating the opening stages. The Cobra was content to use his height advantage and box at long range, keeping his opponent at bay with a jab that prodded away incessantly.

Beyond the odd cluster of punches from Abraham - many of them ragged and thrown out of frustration - it was smooth sailing for Froch in the first five as he regularly tagged his adversary with an impressive range of blows.

Abraham launched a mini-fightback in the sixth with a couple of clumping rights, but still he nearly found himself tumbling to the canvas after Froch's shots threw him off balance.

The beleaguered German began to lose patience as the bout entered the seventh - perhaps suspecting that a points victory had already eluded him - and his ragged thrusts forward were easily repelled by Froch, who had grasped total control of the bout. There appeared to be no plan B from Abraham as he continued to walk straight into a barrage of jabs and body shots.

Abraham's troubles became a crisis in the ninth after he was rocked by a straight left that threatened to bring a premature end to the battle. But Abraham, fighting for the third time at super-middleweight, showed his stubborn streak by staying on his feet and spoiling Froch's attempts to go for the kill.

A desperate Abraham, whose reddened face was beginning to betray his woes, began to throw caution to the wind in the tenth, coming out swinging with a series of wild blows that Froch evaded all too easily. The Nottingham fighter put out the fire of an Abraham comeback with a series of body shots in the 11th that inhibited his opponent's movement.

To his credit, Abraham landed a huge right in the early stages of the final round, but he was unable to sustain the momentum. By contrast, Froch has received a substantial confidence boost as he aims to become the undisputed super-middleweight king.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.