Carl Froch vows to knock out Mikkel Kessler on 24 April

BBC Sport Ben Dirs16th March, 2010

Carl Froch has vowed to become the first man to knock out Mikkel Kessler when they meet for the Englishman's WBA super-middleweight crown on 24 April.

Nottingham's Froch, 32, will fight Kessler in the Danish town of Herning as part of the Super Six tournament.

"He hasn't got a chance against me," Froch told BBC Sport.

"It makes for a humdinger. Kessler is going to be knocked out for the first time in his career, unless he's a lot tougher than I already think he is."

Froch, who is unbeaten in 26 professional encounters, will be making the third defence of his world title against Kessler, who was outpointed by Wales' former world champion Joe Calzaghe in 2007.

Froch won his first fight in American network Showtime's Super Six tournament, beating American Andre Dirrell, and a victory over 31-year-old Kessler would go a long way towards assuring him a semi-final spot.

Kessler, who has two defeats from 44 professional fights and was beaten in his first Super Six encounter on a technical decision after suffering cuts against Andre Ward, would face an uphill task to qualify were he to lose to Froch.

Froch commented: "Kessler's a great fighter, don't get me wrong, he's got a lot of things going for him, a lot of experience and he's strong and tough and knows how to box.

"He's a proud warrior but he's not had the best preparation for fighting me - Kessler's coming in off the back of a warm-up fight and a bad loss - so all you can do is wish him lucky really.

"We might see the best of Kessler but it will be the best of the last of him because he'll get beaten on the night by the best in the world. "Early on he'll have a real strong go, he'll chuck everything at me, really have a fight but it won't be enough.

"I'm coming off the back of wins over Jean Pascal [who Froch beat in 2008 to claim the vacant WBA belt], who's now the WBC light-heavyweight champion of the world, and Jermain Taylor, who I pretty much finished off [Taylor was stopped by Germany's Arthur Abraham in his first Super Six fight and has since withdrawn from the tournament].

"Then I beat Andre Dirrell, who was the mandatory challenger for my belt. I've had three world-class, top-level performances on the spin and I'm going in against Kessler with that in the bank."

Froch added that he doubted Calzaghe would make a comeback, as has been touted in some sections of the media, despite the Welshman recently saying he was disillusioned by promotion and hitting out at Froch in an interview.

"Now Calzaghe is retired, he is scratching around thinking, 'what can I say about Carl Froch this week?'" stated Froch.

"He could be getting itchy feet but let's be honest, he's going to struggle to come back and if he does want to come back and fight me he needs to get in line.

"I've got Kessler, then Abraham, then I've got Ward or Dirrell again, a queue of people lining up to fight me.

"But he won't be back, he's finished and it's getting embarrassing for him now."