Froch eyes Ward rematch

Carl Froch immediately set his sights on avenging the other blot on his record after overcoming his first conqueror Mikkel Kessler in a scintillating super-middleweight unification fight on Saturday night.

IBF champion Froch’s only career losses have come at the hands of the Dane three years ago and the outstanding American Andre Ward 20 months later.

The Cobra atoned for his defeat at the hands of Kessler, earning a unanimous verdict in a brutal 12-round thriller at the 02 Arena, and is now targeting a fight with Ward on home soil.

“I said before this fight that the winner should really be concentrating on moving on and my only other loss was against pound-for-pound number two in the world Andre Ward,” Froch, who added the WBA belt on Saturday, said afterwards.

“What a fantastic fighter he is and a great, great champion, but he is there to be beaten.

“But not over in America — let’s get him over here. I went over to America and now let’s get him over to England.”

The victory, by margins of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 on the judges’ scorecards, was arguably as impressive as his five-round demolition of Lucian Bute just over a year ago.

Indeed, the Nottingham fighter dominated for large parts, albeit while also taking plenty of punishment from the seemingly indestructible Kessler.

“It feels really good,” he added. “The only thing that feels bad is that I have had to beat such a real gentleman, a real warrior and real nice man.”