Andre Ward vs Carl Froch: Yankee Doodle vs John Bull for the Crown

Saturday night,  December 17, 2011, Andre Ward, 24(13)-0, will meet Carl Froch, 28(20)-1, in the finals of the Showtime Super Six Super Middleweight Tournament. Let's be clear. This is a legitimate world title fight and there is national pride on the line. For those of us in the Fancy, these are terrific conditions for a fight.

True, it does not have the personal animosity of the recent Cotto-Margarito fight, but how many fights in the long history of the sport have? These are two men who have reached the pinnacle of a sport where the object is to beat up your opponent. You better believe they are coming to fight.

And obviously it doesn't have the historical significance of a part three to one of the great trillogies of all time like Pacquiao-Marquez. But Ward is just 27, Froch is a superbly conditioned 34, and they have but a single loss between them in over 50 fights. So we could very well be seeing the opening episode of the next big series.

Andre Ward, 24(13)-0, is our most recent Olympic Gold Medalist/World Champion fighter. In a different era this made you a superstar in the sport's world, but outside of his native Oakland Ward just doesn't get the attention he deserves. 

Still, in Oakland he is huge. People who complain that he got a lot of hometown fights throughout the tournament need to accept it: Ward sells big time tickets in Oakland and that was an important consideration for convincing the kind of people who control money that the Super Six really needed to go on. The Ward case provides an excellent example of how important passionate regional fan bases are to sustaining boxing.  

A big win over Carl Froch, 28(20)-1, Saturday night in Atlantic City will go a long way towards raising Ward's profile. Coming on the heals of Pacquiao-Marquez in November and Cotto-Margarito earlier this month (plus excellent recent premium cable main events like Kirkland-Angulo and Khan-Peterson) boxing as a sport in on a roll. 

And the Super Six tournament has built up its own head of steam.  Fought out over the course of more than two years, the tournament has had its starts and stops and has seen fighters withdraw and new fighters recruited. But Froch and Ward, both original entrants, arrive at the finals as the clear cut numbers one and two in the super middleweight division. 

Sure, there will still be the matter of Lucian Bute, 30(24)-0, and his IBF version of the title. By any logic the Montreal resident should be in line to fight the winner. Fortunately, he has recently begun fighting on Showtime, as well, so even the perfect post-tournament fight should be easily made.

Now, if we can only get a good fight out of it, I will most likely wake up a happy man on Sunday morning, my 41st birthday. 

As a fan of technical boxing, I always enjoy seeing both of these guys fight. Both men are high level craftsmen: Each one knows how to fight inside; how to box skillfully at a distance; how to control range and manage the ring; how to bully and thug and how to stick and move. Both have shown the technician's ability to alter their styles and strategies for specific opponents.

They have a combined 52-1 record and the tournament that they have both survived to reach this double-date with the Destiny Sisters has forced them to both fight and beat pretty much the best available talent in the world.

But as an honest boxing writer, I have to admit that Andre Ward's fights are not always exciting to the more casual fans. I had at least one friend express disappointment that I had encouraged him to watch Ward-Abraham. 

I think it will be different Saturday night. I believe that Froch will come into the fight pushing an aggressive pace, trying to really bully Ward and build up his own confidence while also building an early lead on the cards. Froch is the kind of fighter who banks in part on being as well or better conditioned than any opponent, so he will not hesitate to start in a sprint.

Ward will be able to match him stride for stride, though it will be interesting to see him react if Froch shows himself committed to a battle of attrition.

Froch has been crowing that he'll walk through Ward's punches with a smile. That makes for juicy copy from the presser, but I believe Andre Ward would tell you, it doesn't mean a thing in the ring. I seem to recall their being some talk about how Al Green was going to bully Ward, and what happened there?

I do think Froch will be stiff enough competition to force Ward to take it up a notch. He does have the tools to beat Ward.

I sat next to a couple of British guys at Cotto-Margarito and they were very high on Froch.  With Khan going down to Peterson last weekend, Froch becomes the clear cut standard bearer for the U.K.,at least for right now. 

I am predicting that Ward will ultimately have to much physical ability for Froch to overcome. I further predict that Froch's gameness will force Ward to turn in one of the better performance of his career.  I'm taking Ward by unanimous decision, of about 116-112. 

I am predicting that the competitive level of the