Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 15 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Despite suffering serious injuries in the past playing tennis and mountain biking, one of Britsih boxing's hottest properties - Carl Froch - will be warming up for Saturday's fight against Andre Dirrell by roaring around his home city on a motorbike. But when it comes to business, he's likely to deliver, says Ralph Ellis.

"You’d think Froch might know better. He’s already had his career disrupted at various times by serious injuries collected away from the ring while mountain biking and playing tennis. But at 32 he’s now totally in control of his career as he proved in his last two fights, outpointing Jean Pascal to win the WBC super-middleweight title and then defending it with a spectacular late punch that knocked out Jermain Taylor 14 seconds from the end of the final round."

Once upon a time, a warm-up before a big game meant sitting next to the radiator with a cup of tea. How times change. Now most of our Premier League footballers seem to have played about an hour's five-a-side before the first whistle for the actual match even goes. Look further down the leagues and the pitch before the game has got more traffic cones than the average set of motorway roadworks.

It's spread to other sports, as England's cricket team discovered to their cost this summer when Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Joe Denly all suffered embarrassing injuries playing football to warm up before the day's action.

So what do we make of Carl Froch's preparation for Saturday night's world title defence against American Andre Dirrell? The Nottingham fighter has revealed he's getting ready to put his belt on the line in front of his home city by roaring around on a souped up motorbike.

Froch owns a Honda that can hit a top speed of 170mph, and he's been telling the Daily Star's boxing man Kevin Francis about his need for speed ahead of a big contest. "It is a very dangerous thing to do before a fight, a bike accident could put me out for two years," he says. "But I am one of those people who are into adrenalin. A week before a fight you are tense and it's not a good idea, but I jump on and tempt fate and I love it."

You'd think Froch might know better. He's already had his career disrupted at various times by serious injuries collected away from the ring while mountain biking and playing tennis. But at 32 he's now totally in control of his career as he proved in his last two fights, outpointing Jean Pascal to win the WBC super-middleweight title and then defending it with a spectacular late punch that knocked out Jermain Taylor 14 seconds from the end of the final round. Regular followers of this column might recall we made money on that fight by laying a Taylor points victory, and there's an opportunity again this time beyond the safe option of backing Froch at [1.62].

For the Nottingham fighter it's a major opportunity at the start of the "Super Six" series to move out of the shadows as one of Britain's lesser known fighters. Progressing further to end up as undisputed champion would finally give him the profile enjoyed by the likes of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe.

Switch hitter Dirrell, who has revealed today he's inspired by news his brother is in remission from cancer, might be able to land good blows with both left and right, but he doesn't have the one, explosive punch that the Nottingham man is capable of producing. Froch does his sparring with heavyweights because his punch is too hard for anybody below that bracket to take in practice. And the ability to land a telling blow that he showed against former undisputed middleweight champ Taylor that will be the biggest factor on Saturday night. On that basis backing Froch to win inside the distance at [2.46] represent the best value on offer.

Five things you might not know about Andre Dirrell

1.Born in September in Flint, near Detroit, his dad walked out when he was four and he was raised by his Mum Lola and maternal grandfather Leon Lawson

2.It was granddad who got both Dirrell brothers into boxing and is still their trainer - believing it was the only way either could escape the poverty of the town hardest hit by the collapse of General Motors

3.Starting out as an orthodox southpaw, he won the American National Amateur Championship in 2003. His brother Anthony won it the following two years,

4.He won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens before turning pro and developing his switch hitting style - he's unbeaten in 18 fights since then

5.A father of two small children, he might be a tough guy in the ring, but he's admitted on Twitter that he's scared of spiders!

Tags: Andre Dirrell, boxing betting, boxing odds, british boxers, Carl Froch, Nottingham boxers