Boxing Info: Froch-Dodson judgement day at last

British super middleweight king Carl Froch and upcoming challenger Tony Dodson will finally go eyeball-eyeball next Tuesday in the champion’s home city.

The long-term rivals are both set to appear at Nottingham’s “NCCL Galleries of Justice’ museum to promote their highly anticipated showdown on Friday 24th November at the prestigious Nottingham Arena, being shown live on Sky Sports.

The pair should have crossed paths before.

They have been scheduled to meet three times over the past 18 months – initially when Dodson held the coveted Lonsdale belt – but the Liverpudlian withdrew on each occasion citing injury.

Froch has his fingers crossed that there will be no more no shows.

“I see Dodson’s been slagging me in the press,” said the 29-year-old local favourite. “He’s been doing a lot of talking, giving me a lot of stick. Hopefully that’s a sign of his confidence. Hopefully that means he is going to turn up.

“The head-to-head press conference will give us a good indication of that.

“I want to see if he’s going to say all those things to me in person. It’s going to be interesting to see his reaction when we come face-to-face, when he realises this fight is actually happening.

“When you are 4 or 5 weeks away from a fight it’s easy to talk a lot, but it’s about this time when it all starts closing in on you. We are in the home stretch now and it’s about to dawn on him that he is actually going to be stepping in the ring with one of the best super middleweights in the world.”

Dodson, however, insists that nothing will deter him.

“I know this fight has fallen through in the past, but every time the reason has been genuine,” he said. “I understand people find it hard to believe, but they don’t know the full story.

“I’m going to be there on the 24th. Nobody needs to worry about that. Something major would have to happen to keep me out of that Arena.

“I will be there at the head-to-head as well. I’m looking forward to it. As a professional fighter I always want to look into my opponent’s eyes and see what’s there.”

The “NCCL Galleries of Justice’ is one of the Midland’s most popular tourist attractions. At the heart of the City’s Lace Market, it is based on a historic site used for courts, a prison and even executions between the 1780’s and 1980’s. It is now widely recognised as the nations leading exhibit for celebrating citizenship and law.

The organisation is operated as an independent charity that also promotes and provides “citizenship classes’ for young people in the region in an effort to reduce crime via the “Help a Nottinghamshire Child scheme’.

The Hennessy Sports “Outright’ promotion, headlined by Carl Froch vs. Tony Dodson, takes place at the Nottingham Arena on Friday 24th November. Tickets are available on 0870 121 0123. For more information please visit www.HennessySports.com