Froch, Kessler, Stevenson And The Super Middle Shuffle

An interesting situation exists in the super middleweight division as IBF champion Carl Froch’s attempts to rematch WBA champion Mikkel Kessler have been made more complex by Froch’s mandatory defense obligations.

For his next fight, Froch has been ordered by the IBF to face his number one challenger, Adonis Stevenson, if he wants to keep his title. But Froch has his sights set on gaining revenge against Kessler, who took away Froch’s undefeated record, and WBC title, in 2010.

“The Cobra” is probably still ruing the day he agreed to fight on the Copenhagen home ground of Kessler and has been trying to get Kessler to come to Froch’s native Nottingham, England for a rematch this spring.

Froch could apply for an exemption to put off facing his mandatory obligations with Stevenson in order to keep his IBF title and rematch Kessler but if that exemption isn’t granted, Froch would be without a belt.

Simply challenging Kessler for the WBA crown rather than offering up the IBF strap in a title unification clash would likely lessen the financial structure of the rematch and Kessler could walk away from the whole thing or demand that Froch come to Denmark again.

As such, much rests on the IBF exemption, which could hinge on Stevenson agreeing or not to step aside to allow the IBF title to be on offer for Kessler vs. Froch 2.

For Froch, it’s a balance between his desire to get even with Kessler and the financial impacts of whichever route he decides to take to get there.

Added to this mix is the pressure to get this rematch done now as Froch is 35 and Kessler is 33, advanced age for most boxers.

Froch could decide to put the Kessler replay off until later in the year and defend against Stevenson, which means Kessler would make his own title defense and a loss suffered by either Kessler or Froch would scupper their lucrative rematch.

If Froch ends up vacating the title, Stevenson would likely get the chance to fight for the IBF belt.

It is a complex situation, no doubt, and it should be interesting to see just how things unfold in the murky world of Boxing.