Carl Froch tells Tim Hobbs he is in no mood to let Andre Ward steal his thunder in the Super Six final.
Froch the perfect match for Atlantic City - and Super Six success
Atlantic City is the second gambling capital of America. It is also known as the Las Vegas of the East Coast. And it might well, depending on who is telling you the story, be more sinful than Sin City itself. But for all its similarities, Vegas it is not.
It doesn't possess the same glitz and glamour, the same hedonism and high life, the same sense of fun or the feeling that something weird, wonderful or worrying is around the corner, should you stray from The Strip.
Viewers of the popular television series
Boardwalk Empire will know of Atlantic City's menacing history, its hard times and its hustle.
Boxing fans will know of it's rich tradition, of Mike Tyson knocking out Larry Holmes, of Roberto Duran blunting The Blade and of the last two iconic meetings between Mickey Ward and Arturo Gatti, the resort's dear, departed favourite.
Atlantic City is steeped in fighting history, a throwback to hard times and an altogether unforgiving place.
It is also where Carl Froch has a spot in the Super Six final on December 17th and a date with destiny.
Prestigious
The two-time world super-middleweight champion faces unbeaten American Andre Ward and if ever a boxer and venue were made for each other, it is Froch and the seafront resort some 60 miles south-east of fighting Philadelphia.
It might as well be a million more from his home in Nottingham but somehow it suits the boy from Colwick right down to the ground.
"It's no big deal going over to America to fight," Froch tells
skysports.com.
"I've boxed over there a couple of times and it's not a massive, massive arena where we're fighting - it's not Las Vegas.
"But it is the Boardwalk Hall, it's prestigious, it's got a massive history and it is the States."
This will be his second time at the Boardwalk Hall, following his points win over Glen Johnson in the semi-final that carried him into a summit meeting with Californian Ward.
The former convention centre, built in the height of prohibition in 1924 when Atlantic City was dubbed the world's playground, was Artuto Gatti's house. The fearless New Jersey hero had his last 11 bouts there; he bled, made hearts bleed and he dumbfounded packed houses over 24 appearances spanning 16 years, beginning with Ward II and III.
Latterly, Kelly Pavlik, the blue-collar middleweight from cross country in Ohio, brought it all flooding back on several occasions, not least with his comeback win over Super Six contestant Jermain Taylor in 2007.
Those two had nicknames, Thunder and The Ghost respectively, that struck a chord with a place that has seen some dark days. They were not the Sugared showponies of The Strip. And neither is The Cobra, who will slip into town at the start of December.
Combative
Ward will travel almost as many miles from San Francisco as Froch will from England to get there - around 3,000 compared to 3,500 - but will do well to feel as comfortable in front of such a combative backdrop.
"I think all of his fights have been in California, so for him to fly over to the East Coast is going to take him right out of his comfort zone," says Froch.
"He's going to be feeling it himself. He'll be feeling a long, long way from home and I've got a lot of travelling fans coming with me to make him feel even further away from home.
"It doesn't matter though, where the fight takes place or when the fight takes place. We've got to get in the ring mano y mano and do the business on the night."
Those closing two sentences offer as much of a snapshot into the psyche of Carl Froch as any of the six interviews he gave at
Sky Sports and
Sky News on a long, long media day last week.
You might think that nothing much bothers the 34-year-old except winning boxing matches, so blunt is he in his assessment of the task ahead, so abrupt are his answers and so sharp is his focus, even some five weeks shy of fight night.
But Froch is not as cold as you might imagine and certainly not as cold as it will be on the Atlantic coast eight days before Christmas.
He mentions girlfriend Rachael, who is by his side all day, and 15-month-old son Rocco throughout our interview and Nottingham is undeniably where his heart lies, despite the rumours that he is ready to make America his permanent home in search of recognition.
He would, he admits, prefer to be fighting at the City Ground or the Capital FM Arena in his hometown, but it really it is nothing more than a minor inconvenience to be heading across the pond.
But after half-a-dozen world title fights in succession, Froch can afford to be matter-of-fact. Fighting the best super-middleweights in the world, usually on foreign soil, is what he has been doing since he signed up for the Super Six two-and-a-half years ago. And it it is what he will do again in Atlantic City.
"I'll just do the same as I've done with every opponent and get switched on a day, maybe a couple ahead of the fight," he says.
Unbelievable
"My confidence has grown with my ability and success; success breeds confidence so I'm a very confident person because of the success I've had in top-level fights.
"It's been a natural progression for me to get where I am now. I've been a professional for 10 years now which is unbelievable looking back.
"I'm a 34-year-old experienced veteran of the sport now so I'm not going to make a big deal of any opponent and I'm not going to put anybody on a pedestal. On the flipside I'm not going to take anybody lightly or put myself on a pedestal because it's dangerous to do that.
"I just need to make sure when I fight I turn up 100 per cent in shape, mentally focussed and ready to what I need to do - and that's what I've done before, time and time again."
Familiarity in this instance, though, does not breed contempt.
That is because Froch is as meticulous now as he has ever been. He knows more than anyone that for his return to the Vegas of the East Coast, that the stakes are the highest yet.
With each of his passing fights - the split decision win that handed Andre Dirrell his first professional defeat, the points loss to Mikkel Kessler that obviously still rankles, the one-sided success over Arthur Abraham and the bruising semi-final win over the game Glen Johnson - Froch has had more and more to lose than his WBC belt.
Of course there has, thanks to a tournament that might have been flawed and hit by withdrawals early but has left us with the best two 168-pounders in the world, been more to gain each time, too.
As down-to-earth and single-minded as he is, he knows that with fortitude and fortune comes fame. And even with so much on the line against Ward, he realises he has a responsibility to help the latter along its way and show American fight fans what we British have known for a long time.
"I don't want to be involved in a boring fight," he says. "Fundamentally boxing is an entertainment business; it's a sport but you've got to entertain.
Unified
"If you're in fight after fight, time after time not entertaining, people get sick of it and don't tune in. I'm renowned for being exciting and I like to keep that going.
"It's difficult with the TV situation. You don't get the viewers to make you a household name just on
Sky alone. You need to get your name in the national press and you need to have your air time on terrestrial channels.
"It's different times; we're moving into a new era and if you want to become a household name you're better off going in the
(I'm A) Celebrity jungle or the
Big Brother house and causing chaos rather than becoming a unified two-weight, or three-weight or five-time champion."
With a bronze medal from the 2001 Amateur World Championships and two ABA titles to his name, Froch will have some idea of what being an Olympic champion can mean.
For his part, Ward ended America's eight-year weight for a boxing gold medal at Athens 2004 and in a nation perpetually seeking a new fighting sensation, has it made in comparison to his opponent, who made his professional back in 2002.
He has of course, done what the Cobra couldn't do and beaten Kessler. He also handed Allan Green his first defeat, and out-pointed Sakio Bika and Arthur Abraham on his way to the final. A sharp mover, in and out, and extremely fast-handed, he has the skills that have diffused dangerous opponents before.
But if he thinks more of the same is waiting for him in the opposite corner in Atlantic City, he will be in for the same level of surprise as anyone thinking America's second Las Vegas is just like its first.
"I know that he won't have come across anyone with my mental demeanour, my physical and mental toughness," says Froch.
"He's probably been in with people that punch as hard as me - maybe or maybe not.
Heavy
"He talks about Edison Miranda and Arthur Abraham but they're middleweights that were coming up. He had a tough fight with Sakio Bika as well, but I'm a fully-fledged, strong super-middleweight, who's strong for 12 rounds.
"Against Ward I'm looking to do some damage and stop him. He's going to feel the pressure from round one right through to round 12. Rounds nine, 10, 11, 12, which are the championship rounds, he's going to feel heavy shots coming his way.
"It's going to be new to him - and that's where he could fall apart."
Anyone who can recall his win over Jermain Taylor or the slugfest in which he and Jean Pascal went at it in one of the most heart-stopping world title fights of an era, will know Froch will fight to the bitter end, win, lose or draw.
A meticulous trainer - he left later in a taxi for an evening workout with long-time mentor Robert McCracken at the Team GB headquarters in East London - he is strong down the stretch, except perhaps in that solitary loss to Kessler, when he appeared to ease off after a comfortable and accomplished first half of the fight.
This time though nothing will be left to chance. He admits a fast start is crucial. It would not be boxing's biggest surprise if Ward set about fiddling his way through his 24th professional fight, his amateur point-scoring potshots at the forefront of his armoury. Froch though, believes his own skills are often overlooked, overshadowed by a reputation for the reckless.
"I don't think he'll come early on, I think he'll look at boxing and moving and trying to out-jab me," he says.
"But when he realises the range I've got on him and every time when he tries to close that gap I get a couple of shots off, or he's being hit with big rights - on the chin, the chest, the arm, because they will land - he'll have to change his gameplan pretty sharpish.
Masterclass
"First and foremost the win is the most important thing. It might be by points and I put a boxing masterclass on but I think what will happen is I catch him early on with a hard shot on the chin and it's going to hurt him.
"He's lost twice in his career. People forget he has been down and been hurt by journeymen but hung in there for six rounds for a points decision. But he's never been hit on the chin by anybody who hits as hard as me.
"If he thinks he's going to get to six or seven and then con his way to a points victory, he's wrong.
"He'll have big bombs coming at him all the way through and when they land they're going to hurt. Trust me, they're going to really hurt."
Ward has already been in the wars of course; a cut picked up in sparring put the fight back seven weeks from its original date of October 29th.
Froch - like any other fighter in his position - suggested it was nothing but a delaying tactic. The cut, above the American's right eye, turned out to be very real but even when he saw it for the first time on
Ringside, the Cobra would not change his mind.
Ward, he insisted, could and should have stuck to the schedule, got on with it and fought through the pain. The scepticism might have diminished after seeing the wound, but there was not a shred of sympathy in his reaction. The Cobra would, he says, have gone through with the fight had it been him and it is hard not to believe him.
As anyone headed for the fight will find out, Atlantic City can be a grim, unforgiving place in the middle of winter. As Andre Ward will find out in the famous old Boardwalk Hall, it is the perfect stage for Carl Froch to do what he does best.
See the Super Six Final, Carl Froch vs Andre Ward, and Kell Brook's US debut live on Sky Sports HD1, midnight, December 17th.
