• Boxing

Froch issues retirement threat & slams Super Six judges

ESPN staff
May 21, 2010
Carl Froch lost on points to Mikkel Kessler last time out © Getty Images
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Carl Froch has threatened to quit boxing if he loses his next fight in the Super Six competition - a tournament in which he says the judging has been a "disgrace".

Danish fighter Mikkel Kessler picked up a controversial points victory on home soil in Froch's most recent bout, a decision that cost the Brit both his WBC super-middleweight title and his undefeated record.

After that fight, Froch disagreed vehemently with the judges' scorecards - saying that "I feel if [the fight had been in] my home town, the decision would have gone the other way".

His next fight in the Super Six - which will determine a unified champion at 12 stone - is against Arthur Abraham in August or September this year. A venue has yet to be agreed, although recent indications have hinted that the contest may take place on neutral territory.

Froch is desperate for the must-win fight - he will almost certainly be eliminated from the tournament if he is defeated - to take place in his home town of Nottingham.

"The next fight is all or nothing for me," Froch told the Sun. "If it doesn't go my way I will seriously consider retirement because I'm only interested in big title fights. I won't hang around at domestic level.

"I'm only going to fight on my terms [against Abraham] - and I won't be pushed around this time. The home-town decisions in this competition have been a disgrace so I am not going to Berlin because there is no chance of a verdict there. I won't be going anywhere east of Nottingham to fight Abraham and it won't be in Showtime's [organisers of the Super Six] interests for me to pull out."

Speaking about the defeat to Kessler, Froch has claimed that the disruption he faced in the run-up to the bout was a hindrance to his performance. "Four days beforehand I thought the fight was off because of the volcanic ash cloud," he said.

"My preparation was shot to pieces and I didn't have my usual sharpness. I had Kessler hurt in the fifth round and usually I would have been all over him and finished it off. But the energy and aggression weren't there. Even so, I went 12 rounds - and I still believe I won the fight."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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