By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch, successfully landed in Denmark on Wednesday afternoon where the 32-year-old from England will defend his crown this Saturday against Denmark's Mikkel Kessler as part of group stage No. 2 of Showtime's Super Six World Middleweight Boxing Classic.
Nicknamed, "The Cobra," the 32-year-old Froch (26-0, 25 knockouts) arrived by a private jet in spite of the ash from the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland, which has hampered air travel throughout Europe.
"I am here to knock Mikkel Kessler out," said Froch, upon emerging from the jet plane. "He has never been in the ring with someone like me,"
In addition to Froch, the crew of Showtime's Fight Camp 360: Inside the Super Six World Boxing Classic, also landed safely in Denmark to detail and capture all of this week's action leading up to and including Froch-Kessler.
Showtime's Chris DeBlasio "was walking the cold streets of Denmark" at 11 p.m. in Denmark, and 5 p.m. ET., when reached by FanHouse.
"The trip was actually surprisingly very smooth on the airplane," said DeBlasio, senior director of communications for Showtime whose initial flight was out of New York's JFK. "It was the coordination of getting seats on the different airplanes was difficult."
Kessler is coming off of a loss to Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) that dethroned him as WBA king.
"I am in great shape. I am glad Carl made it here in good time so that I can knock him out. I have worked very hard with [trainer] Jimmy Montoya," said the 31-year-old Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs), who is nicknamed, "The Viking Warrior," and who will be in front of his partisan fans at the sold-out MCH Arena in Herning, Denmark.
"I am faster, better and stronger than ever," said Kessler. "Saturday will be the biggest fight of my life, and believe me, I am ready."
Froch, trainer, Robert McCraken, and, Froch's model girlfriend, Rachael Cordingley, were picked up at the airport by Danish racing legend, John Nielsen, a 1990 Le Mans champion who drove the trio to a nearby race course where Froch drove two fast laps before participating in a press conference at MCA Herning.
"I like fast cars, and I really enjoyed the ride," said Froch. "But I am here to take care of business, knock Mikkel out, and take my belt back home."
DeBlasio said he and the crew had "about a five-hour layover" in Austria.
"For me, personally, and the Fight Camp crew, we all ended up traveling together. We were able to secure seats on a flight at the last minute and there were about 10 seats that we were able to secure for myself and for the Fight Camp crew," said DeBlasio, adding that the broadcast team of Gus Johnnson, Antonio Tarver, and, Al Bernstein, will call the fight from New York.
"Our original flight was to go through Paris, but on Tuesday morning, when I arrived at the office with my luggage, I learned that American Airlines had canceled that flight," said DeBlasio. "We had some backup flights that we were looking into, so, myself, and the Fight Camp crew were able to get a flight from JFK to Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday morning. The sky was sunny and clear, and the flight was smooth."
From Austria, the crew and DeBlasio flew into Copenhagen, Denmark.
"We landed in Copenhagen safely at about 3:30, Wednesday afternoon local time. For me, personally, the fear was that we could be going into any sort of cloudy, or, dreary atmosphere," said DeBlasio.
"I wasn't exactly sure what the sky was going to look like in Denmark," said DeBlasio. "The reality of it was that the sky was clear, the air was clean, and the cities are alive with hustle and bustle."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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