By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch, of England, says he'll have no problem trying to take Mikkel Kessler's head off on April 24 -- even though he likes the former WBA titlist from Denmark.This is, after all, the same Froch who took only one round to demolish a close friend, Damon Hague, during a fight back in September of 2004.
"I've boxed friends before. I boxed a friend named Damon Hague for the British title back in 2004, and I almost decapitated him in Round One," said Froch, referring to what was his 11th stoppage victory over the course of 14 wins without a loss. "One week later, I was around at his house having dinner with him, so that's no problem, I assure you."
The 32-year-old Froch (26-0, 20 knockouts) will try to do the same thing against the 31-year-old Kessler (42-2, 32 KOs) before what is expected to be a sellout crowd of more than 10,000 partisan Kessler fans at Denmark's MCH Messecenter Herning, in Herning, Denmark.
Froch-Kessler is part of group stage No. 2 of the Showtime-televised Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic, which held a Thursday conference call featuring the two fighters and their promoters.
Coming off of October's disputed, 12-round split-decision over Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KOs) that took place before his hometown fans at Nottingham England's Trent FM Arena, Froch had some ominous words concerning what he planned to do to Kessler.
Froch was quoted as saying he would "decapitate Mikkel Kessler," the latter of whom has posted that message within his training camp quarters on a large banner depicting Froch's big face.
"If Karl wants to decapitate me, then that's why I put that sign up in my training camp, so that I can watch it every day," said Kessler, who was dethroned in November as WBA titlist following a throughly dominant, 11th-round, technical decision by former Olympic gold medalist, Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) in Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif.
"That sign reminds me of how badly he wants to fight me and how badly he wants to kill me and decapitate me," said Kessler. "We look forward to that, and I'm only training harder and better."
Froch addressed Kessler by easing off of the severity of his statement.
"Hey Mikkel, I don't want to kill you, and you know that. Don't be that harsh. When I say that I'm going to decapitate Mikkel Kessler, we all know that's a figure of speech," said Froch.
"I'm going to go in there and do my best to win, and Mikkel Kessler's going to come and he's going to turn up and he's going to do his best," said Froch. "We're two proud athletes at the top of our game. We both know what's on the line here."
Unlike the animosity that existed between Froch and Dirrell during the leadup to their clash, there seemed to be little acrimony between Froch and Kessler.
"One thing's for sure: You're not going to get any cheap talk from either of us, and I think that Mikkel will back me up on that," said Froch. "But you're still going to get an outrageous fight on that night, and the audience will be in for a real treat. We've both got too much class for anything else but that."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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