• Steve Bunce

Complacency could floor Froch

Carl Froch schooled Arthur Abraham in his most recent fight in the Super Six tournament © Getty Images

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Carl Froch faces a massive test when he comes to defend his WBC super-middleweight belt on Saturday night against Glen Johnson, the veteran Jamaican. My fear is that Froch will, on some level, take his foot off the gas in Atlantic City - and that could prove a big problem.

Froch insists he's not underestimating Johnson - but I don't care what he says, somewhere in his head he's thinking that he's facing a 42-year-old guy who has recently dropped down from the light-heavyweight division.

Complacency has never been a problem for Froch in the Super Six tournament due to the level of opponent he's faced: Andre Dirrell was slick and unbeaten, Arthur Abraham was clever, Mikkel Kessler was class. With this one, I just worry that Froch has grown a bit tired of the whole competition, which has been rumbling on since July 2009 and is now at the semi-final stage.

I've been asking myself if I would be motivated for it, and I would be - and Carl will be motivated - but there's always this little nagging doubt in fighters' minds when fighting someone whose best days are behind them.

I hope I'm 100% wrong. I spoke to Froch just before he flew to America, and he reassured me he knows just how serious this fight is. And it really is - having done so much great work in the last couple of years, all of that could be wiped out against Johnson, so Carl's got to be up for it.

This is in many ways the most important fight of his career because he needs to win here to book a place in the Super Six final, which will be an enormous event in Los Angeles or Las Vegas against Andre Ward this November.

As for Johnson, well, I bet he can't believe his luck - he was scrambling around looking for a few quid, and then suddenly he walked into the Super Six tournament. He's taken care of Allan Green and now is one fight away from a massive fight in the final. This is his World Cup final, and it needs to be Carl Froch's World Cup final.

All that said, Johnson is a worthy opponent. He's a brilliant contender, a former champion. He's comfortable at super-middleweight, he's a good choice.

When the two get into the ring, I think we're going to see the new Froch, the man who dismantled Abraham last time out to claim a wide points decision. He used his brain in that one and, boy oh boy, we'd forgotten how classy Froch is when he uses his brain.

Glen Johnson forced an eighth round stoppage against Allan Green in November © Getty Images

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But at some point against Johnson, who is relentless at eating down the ring, Froch is going to have to fight as he did against Kessler, when he went toe-to-toe in a Fight of the Year contender.

He might even feel pressure to get into an entertaining brawl because it's being shown on Sky Sports, but his trainer Rob McCracken will tell him only to put on a show when he's got no choice. Rob's brilliant like that, trust me. He knows, as we all do, that Carl's looking beyond this fight - and beyond the Ward fight. Instead, he's focusing on a massive pay-per-view homecoming next April. So there can be no slip-ups.

Just as a footnote, I'd like to pay tribute to the Super Six tournament, which has produced a series of great fights - five or six have been fantastic events, three or four have been minor classics, so that's a good ratio.

This could turn out to be the best fight so far. I'll take Froch to win on points after a hard, but not close, fight.

Twelfth Round

Jim'll fix it
Last week, Froch suggested that James DeGale should consider changing his trainer after losing to George Groves. I don't agree with that at all.

But DeGale, his mentor Jim McDonnell and promoter Frank Warren all need to sit down and change the way they prepare for fights, and perhaps consider going in with a few different gameplans.

McDonnell didn't have the best of nights, sticking with one strategy when he could have switched up to others - but you don't change trainers when you lose a tight one. The margins were so fine - if DeGale threw four more jabs in a couple of the earlier rounds, he would have won the fight.

'Everyone in the James DeGale camp needs to admit they got it wrong' © PA Photos

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Everyone in the DeGale camp needs to hold up their hand and admit they got it wrong. They underestimated Groves.

Khan's conundrum
It looks increasingly likely that Amir Khan is going to face Zab Judah in July, but he doesn't want to fight Judah, he wants to fight someone that's going to stand in front of him. He wants to fight someone he doesn't have to chase after, like he had to with Paul McCloskey. Judah is going to make it awkward for him - he's not going to stand and deliver, he's going to run.

Judah's clever, he's living a healthy, clean lifestyle and he's probably a better fighter now than he was 12 years ago. I think Khan will track Judah down, but it could be ugly - Judah is cleverer than McCloskey, although not as fresh.

They're trying to get a couple of other guys in, but Golden Boy Promotions are sometimes very naïve when they talk about Khan in terms of massive fights. They do that, gifting free publicity to fighters who then - quite rightly - turn round and demand a fortune.

A lot of money is going to need to be paid to get a guy in the ring. I hope it's not Judah - nothing against him, it's just that it's not the fight Amir wants or needs.

Courageous Christy
On Saturday in Los Angeles, Christy Martin will go for her 50th professional win against Dakota Stone.

Last year her estranged husband shot her, stabbed her and left her for dead. And Martin, the coal miner's daughter, has come back from that. If they bottled heart, she'd be a millionaire selling it.

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