On November 17th, British boxing king Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch will make the first defence of his IBF super middleweight title, against the former world title challenger Yusaf Mack at Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena. Froch, who claimed his third world title with a stunning performance against the previously unbeaten Lucian Bute in May, will hope to put on a show in front of his hometown crowd against the American Mack, who usually campaigns at light heavyweight. Although Froch will be the naturally smaller man on the night, there are plenty of reasons why he should be in for a comfortable night’s work against ‘Mack Attack’ comes November.
Froch’s stock has risen considerably since he stopped Lucian Bute on May 26th. Going into the fight as an underdog, Froch powered through Bute to claim a fifth round stoppage, fighting like a man possessed to knock the Canadian/Romanian all over the ring. Anything Bute threw, Froch took with ease, dishing out his own leather and completely knocking Bute out of his comfort zone and nearly into the crowd. After a phenomenal, career best performance, the world has finally started taking notice of the Nottingham man.
Mack on the other hand, is relatively unknown in Britain and has already been knocked out 4 times, two of those knockout defeats coming at super middleweight. The 32 year old Philadelphia man has already been beaten by former Froch victim Glen Johnson, as well as current world king Tavoris Cloud. He does have 17 knockouts to his name, but those wins came against over matched opponents, none of which can be considered to be in Froch’s league. He can dish it out against the lesser opponents, but when the punches come the other way, Mack can’t take it.
Therefore, you have to say this fight has a Froch win written all over it, and it should be comfortable for the Englishman. Froch has one of the best chins in boxing, he is as hard as nails, and anything that he gets hit with, he marches straight through. He has only been knocked down once in his career, against Jermain Taylor in 2008, a fight Froch won by knockout in the final round. When he gets caught, he usually bounces back with harder shots of his own, that was evident against Bute. Anything Mack lands on Froch, he will walk through and give his own back.
And there lies the problem for Mack. As I’ve said, he’s already suffered four knockout defeats, and I can see him suffering another against Froch. ‘The Cobra’ hits extremely hard, and although he isn’t the fastest, sooner or later he will land something on Mack, and when that happens it will be curtains. I genuinely don’t see how Mack will be able to cope with Froch’s brute strength and power.
Mack has never fought outside of the U.S either which adds to his list of problems when facing Froch, because the hostile Nottingham crowd may play a big part, as they did with the Bute fight. The list goes on too, Mack hasn’t fought at super middleweight in 5 years and on that occasion, and he was knocked out against Librado Andrade. I can see Mack being dead at the weight, which won’t help his cause at all. The odds are rightly stacked against Mack, and I genuinely don’t see how he can win this fight.
Although, Froch has shown that he can be out boxed in the past, against Andre Ward in particular. If Mack stands a chance in this fight, he needs to hit and move; he needs to try and frustrate Froch and the Nottingham crowd by getting out of the way of anything Froch throws. If he can make Froch miss and counter with his own shots, he may well impress the judges. But, if I’m being honest, I’m clutching at straws. Mack hasn’t got the ability to keep Froch at bay in my opinion, and sooner or later, Froch will get his man.
Mack may well make it awkward for Froch, and we could see a scrappy contest, but there’s only one winner on the night for me. Mack won’t be able to live with the power and strength of Froch, and sooner or later, he will get knocked out. Froch will want to impress, and we should see the fight being waved off at the half way stage after another Froch demolition job. I wish Mack the best of luck come fight night, because he’s going to need it in abundance to stand a chance. But, it’s safe to say that the Cobra will once again be king come November 17th.
