Boxing News Boxing News
Carl Froch kept hold of his WBC super middleweight title and moved into the finals of the Super Six tournament by posting a victory over veteran Glen Johnson last night at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
Johnson had predicted that his aggressive style would be too much for the champion to deal with but the 42 year old former ex-IBO/IBF light heavy king didn’t find Froch to be standing right in front of him in the early rounds, which featured little action.
As the rounds wore on, Johnson picked up the pace and had success with single shots but Froch was spurred on to launch combination punching that scored more often than not and kept the challenger from taking control.
Each time it seemed that Johnson had made a breakthrough, back came Froch with faster punches that multiplied the challenger’s efforts and kept the champion in the lead.
Both fighters showed durable chins as they took the biggest shots each could throw and were never shaken.
Froch basically outfight Johnson on the inside, counter to pre-fight expectations, and that more than anything else allowed him to capture a majority decision verdict by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and a surprising 114-114 after twelve rounds.
The WBC champion, 28-1 (20), will now meet WBA kingpin Andre Ward in the Super Six tournament final while Johnson, who drops to 51-15-2 (35), has showed that he is still competitive with the best in the super middle division.
Chief support was provided by former champions as longtime WBO light heavy titlist Zsolt Erdei, 33-0 (18), hammered out ex-WBA super middle beltholder Byron Mitchell, 28-8-1 (21), in six.
