Carl Froch has admitted he needs to chop down the sturdiest of trees if he's to reach the Super Six super-middleweight final.
The WBC 12st champion from Nottingham crosses swords with veteran former world light-heavyweight king Glen Johnson in Atlantic City on June 4 with the knowledge his Miami-based opponent has only been halted once in a 67-fight career.
Johnson, who once knocked out all-time great Roy Jones Jr and who also had three epic duels with Sheffield's Clinton Woods for world titles, is known as a sturdy, battle-hardened warrior who's not affraid to meet a man head-on or in his own back-yard.
But the Jamaican-born American gets home (well, country) advantage against Englishman Froch, 27-1 (20), who will be boxing away from Britain for the third time in as many outings.
None of this seems to faze the 33-year-old, however, and his mood has been lifted with news that the world title 12-rounder will be broadcast live on Sky Sports; the first time the East Midlander will have been on the channel since he stopped Robin Reid in his home city in November 2007.
Froch's out-of-the-ring business seems to be finally sorting itself out as he's also put pen to paper on a five-fight deal with Matchroom.
Now he can look forward to the prospect of a Super Six final showdown with undefeated WBA champion Andre Ward and then a massive home-coming in Nottingham, possibly at the City Ground (home of his beloved Nottingham Forest), afterwards.
By then, he could hold two of the four major titles at super-middleweight. But first, he must find his way past Johnson, 42 and 51-14-2 (35), who knocked out hammer-fisted Allen Green in November to book his place against Froch.
"Johnson is a very hard man," said the two-time world champion, who arguably put in a career-best showing to tame and soundly out-point Arthur Abraham last time out. "Hitting him will be like hitting an old oak tree.
"He is not going to move, even if i'm catching him with massive shots that would knock lesser men out.
"But i'm not going in there to show him how hard i can hit. He's been in with the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver and Chad Dawson, and only Hopkins managed to stop him. That was in 1997 as well," reasoned Froch.
"I'm going to jab and move, hit him and not get caught - like i did against [former IBF champion Arthur] Abraham. Johnson tends to walk onto you and try and close you down.
"It is my job to box him and make the night's work as easy as possible."
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