Ward vs. Froch: Super Six Tournament Is Way Boxing Titles Should Be Determined

I love boxing, but among the many ills that ail the sport, questionable matchmaking and devalued titles are at the top of the list.

Neither of those two issues will be present  Saturday night when Englishman Carl Froch battles the American Andre Ward for the WBC and WBA Super Middleweight crown. The fight culminates the Super Six World Boxing Classic that began in 2009.

The tournament included all fighters in the weight region with reasonable claim to super middleweight supremacy: Ward, Froch, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler and Andre Dirrell. The one exception is Lucian Bute, the IBF Super Middleweight champ. Though unbeaten, Bute was omitted from consideration, and in many eyes, he is the premier fighter in the division.

The tournament has hit its share of snags with withdrawals by Dirrell and Kessler due to injury and other issues. Despite the fact that many reference the tournament as a joke, the competitive nature, and process of elimination is what sports should be about.

Boxing is as much a survival of the fittest, as it is any other challenge. At the end, only two fighters remain standing, through health, battle and competition. The tournament was designed to crown a true king of the super middleweights.

Bute's ascent and the injuries that impacted the tournament have somewhat changed that, but I contend the winner of the Ward-Froch final will be among the most respected champions in the sport.

He will have stayed the course and fought his way to the title. The tournament has provided the boxing matchmaking equivalent to open scoring.

That is more than I can say for almost every other champion with a belt