Froch wants Abraham fight in the States

Froch wants Abraham fight in the States

John Gichigi - Getty Images

Carl Froch (right) says he won't fight Arthur Abraham anywhere but England or the United States. (Photo by John Gichigi/Getty Images)

Terence Dooley reports that former WBC super middleweight titlist Carl Froch has said no to fighting Super Six rival Arthur Abraham in Sweden, as the two keep wrangling to find a neutral site for their August clash.

Froch and promoter Mick Hennessy remain adamant that they had an agreement to stage the fight in Nottingham, Froch's hometown. But Abraham won't fight Froch there, and Froch won't go to Germany, where the Armenian Abraham is based. Froch now says he won't fight Abraham anywhere but England or the United States:

"It’s England or America as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to Germany or Sweden or anywhere east of Nottingham because I can’t win on points out there."

Froch (26-1, 20 KO) and Abraham (31-1, 25 KO) are both coming off of the first losses of their respective careers, and this fight is huge in determining whether one of them will move on to the elimination rounds of the Super Six tournament. If the fight does come to the States, which I've been expecting it might, someone's going to have to do some major league promoting to draw a house.

Abraham has fought in America twice, same as Froch. None of those fights drew major houses and none were in any of the major boxing cities. Abraham fought Edison Miranda in Florida, then Dirrell in Detroit. Froch fought Jermain Taylor in Connecticut in 2009 and Henry Porras in Hollywood back in 2005.

The best place in the States for this card would be in California, where hopefully they could pull the Armenian population out for Abraham. Abraham and Dirrell were originally scheduled to fight in Rancho Mirage, paired with Vic Darchinyan on the undercard. The show reportedly sold very well, and then Dirrell pulled out with an injury.