The Cobra and the Mongoose.

“I really want to pound Barney but I’ve got to keep my composure and keep disciplined because I do want to do a number on him, I really do, so, I plan on making the finish as spectacular as possible.”–Carl Froch sees one outcome in tonight’s fight.

© Levon Biss

Carl “The Cobra” Froch has been patiently waiting for the chance to strike longtime protagonist Matthew Barney. The hard-punching former amateur standout will finally have the opportunity to do so when the two meet Saturday on Hennessy Sports’ “Trailblazers” promotion, held at Nottingham Arena in Froch’s East Midlands

hometown. While Froch is never lacking in self-belief, the unbeaten British and Commonwealth super middleweight Kingpin is especially confident that he’ll knock out the much-maligned Barney. The South Coast boxer has been accused of perpetrating a maddening jab, run and grab style on opponents and paying audiences but given his list of accomplishments; Barney also represents the most credible threat that Froch has yet to face during his fifteen-fight career.

Carl Froch, 15-0 (12), first gained attention in Britain in the unpaid ranks, winning a Bronze Medal at the World Senior Amateur Championships, becoming a Multi Nations Gold Medalist and domestically becoming a double senior ABA champion before he was through. The Nottingham man has not slowed down a bit as a professional, winning his early bouts and an English title in style before beating Ghana’s rugged Charles “The Crusader” Adamu in just his twelfth professional fight and taking home the Commonwealth strap.

Two fights later Froch belted out Damon Hague in a single round to add the British title to his trophy cabinet and was soon calling out the U.K.’s top men in the division such as WBO champion Joe Calzaghe, former WBC belt-holder Robin Reid and former IBO titlist Brian Magee. None of those bouts materialized for a variety of reasons but the next man down on the super middleweight list, Matthew Barney, has gotten the job on the strength of being the mandatory challenger for Froch’s British crown.

Barney, 21-5-1 (6), is a former British, British Masters, IBO Intercontinental and Southern Area champion at super middleweight as well as a former WBU light heavyweight titlist. He most recently suffered the disappointment of traveling to Germany in March and losing a bid to unseat European champion Thomas Ulrich despite winning the fight in the opinion of many of those in attendance. The Southampton man will be looking to improve on that reputation builder by employing his baffling style to take the normally focused Froch out of his game plan.

There isn’t any lost love between Froch and Barney, to be sure and “The Cobra” has a simple yet seemingly effective strategy that he plans to apply on Saturday night. “I’m just going to put my shots together in fours and fives,” stated the super middleweight. “The first three might miss him or fall short but the last two will get him and I’m going to make this a very strong and physical fight. Barney can run for so long but he can’t hide. He’s going to keep running and running but he’s going to have to get tired and he’s going to have to stand still at some point. When he does, I’ll nail him.

“He’s not used to being hit by anyone that hits as hard as me; he’ll wonder what day of the week it is. I’m not worried about him in regards to his style, obviously for two or three rounds, he might be a bit slow and create a few problems but not for long. I’ve got twelve rounds to close him down so I’m going to take my time and enjoy it.”

In his most recent outing, Froch had the kind of opportunity most British boxers can only dream about, fighting in Hollywood, California. Seasoned Costa Rican veteran Henry Porras was the man in the opposite corner for Froch’s American debut and the Central American battler gave the Englishman a struggle early on. Eventually, the younger man’s quality shone through despite having to fight through an injury. “Henry Porras was a very, tough strong man and early on I was looking to get that respect by hitting him hard,” recalled the twenty-eight-year-old. “I actually caught him at the end of round one flush on the jaw and he stumbled back to his corner. That just made me think that I could come out in round two and get him out of there with a big bomb. So I came out in rounds two, three and four swinging, missin’ a little bit, fallin’ short a little bit. I hadn’t boxed for seven months before that so I was a little bit rusty and a couple of my shots missed him and I got counter punched, but I’ve got a good chin. It didn’t present any major problems and as soon as I got my timing back and the ring rust out of the way I started landing big digs.

“The next problem was that I damaged my right hand on his elbow in round four, so I had to go with just my left for the remainder of the fight and I used my left hook and left uppercut a lot. He was a very strong, tough, durable, rugged old pro so he sort of hung in there, did his best to survive. I think his corner-men threw the towel in by round eight because my big shots started to land flush and he didn’t have any answers. An eight round stoppage against an opponent who went nine rounds against Mikkel Kessler not too long ago, I thought that I achieved a great result, really.”

Froch has been targeting his big name rivals in Britain as a way of continuing his quick climb up the ladder but so far hasn’t had any luck in convincing those fighters to share a ring. “I’ve been calling Joe Calzaghe out but he hasn’t been answering me,” lamented the Nottingham man. “I’ve been trying to entice him into a match with me but I think he’s looking for a payday against a bigger name. Because I’ve only had fifteen fights, he doesn’t consider me credible, but going out to America and winning in style the way I did and being British and Commonwealth champion, there’s no reason I can’t challenge him.

“Brian Magee was the mandatory challenger for my British title before Matthew Barney and he pulled out; he don’t fancy the job. He lost to Robin Reid but I think he’s fighting for the European title next. Magee was lined up to fight Calzaghe and that fell through so I offered to step in at the last minute. I was going to go to Northern Ireland and fight Brian but he didn’t want it. He’d rather not fight than fight me, even though he was all tuned up for Calzaghe and ready to fight him, I could have jumped in but he didn’t want it.”

One person who has agreed to challenge hammer-fisted Froch is Matthew Barney but the champion is prepared to make the awkward former British, Commonwealth and WBU titlist pay for that decision and is determined not to allow Barney to enjoy a second of success, lest he play the mongoose to Froch’s cobra. “I really want to pound Barney but I’ve got to keep my composure and keep disciplined because I do want to do a number on him, I really do, so, I plan on making the finish as spectacular as possible,” seethed the popular Midlander. “Because once I’ve got him where I want him and the shots are raining in, I’m going to be putting a little more venom in the punches. After I take care of this defense, I’d love to fight in the States again. I enjoyed the last fight in America and I really loved the response, and I loved the people out there. I do want to defend my British title two more times however to keep the belt outright, so I certainly don’t want to turn my back on Britain!”

Curtis McCormick can be reached at thomaspointrd@aol.com