Froch’s Night Of Retribution Reveals True State Of British Boxing

In a interview in March of this year, former World and European Heavyweight title challenger Dereck Chisora had proclaimed that “boxing is dead because it needs characters”.

But if Finchley based Chisora had taken the Northern and the Jubilee Lines on the London Underground to North Greenwich, the location of the O2 Arena that played host to this great rematch between two of the finest 12 stone fighters on the European continent, Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler, he would have realised that his proclamation was grossly flawed.

When this match up was announced by the promoters, in the shape of Eddie Hearn and Kelle Sauerland, of these two great gentleman warriors, who are engaged in this beautifully violently sport that we all follow and adore, showed that you did not need to be the enfant terrible of the boxing world to sell a fight.

The fight had sold itself not because of bad-mouthing and disrespecting each other’s manhood and anything else that you can name, but rather simply through a number of factors.

Firstly, it featured two fighters who have both achieved so much inside of the ring with eight world titles between them and have fought the best boxers of their generation in their division, and showed that success in the ring, no matter how it is gained, through technical brilliance or sheer guts, can attract interest.

A second selling factor was their first fight, which took place back in 2010 during the much drawn out Super Six World Classic, which served to see who was the best 12 stone boxer on the planet.

That bout was a 12 round war which rocked back and forth between these two intensively ferocious fighters, which ultimately saw Kessler not only take away Froch’s unbeaten record but also the World Boxing Council Super Middleweight title which the Nottingham born Froch brought into this fight under a cloud of Icelandic volcanic ash.

And it was these factors that saw, in just three hours after this rematch was announced, all 18,000 tickets sold out without even the undercard being announced.

Third, and finally, you do not need to be a “character”, as Chisora proclaimed, to sell tickets or get far in this sport.

Froch and Kessler are both gentleman practioners of this noble and brutal sport, who conduct themselves in such a manner which makes them ambassadors not just for boxing but for sport as a whole in both the United Kingdom and Denmark.

It is through their commitment to their craft that makes them so widely respected and that served up a brutally intense battle, which saw Froch emerge victorious against his conqueror and great friend Kessler.

The rematch left all in attendance, including this writer, realise that boxing here in the British Isles is wonderfully healthy and that Chisora’s remarks are ink on yesterday’s newspaper.