Carl Froch ready to roll again and end sorry year for Brits on a high

If a referee were to examine the cuts and bruises on the face of British boxing, he might be tempted to stop the fight. If he were Joe Cooper, of Virginia, he probably would have little hesitation. It is fortunate, then, that going into the 12th and final month of what has been a remarkable year, the man standing between the nation's redemption and compounded embarrassment in Atlantic City on Saturday is Carl Froch. Of all Britain's world-class fighters, contenders and champions, the resolute 34-year-old super-middleweight from Nottingham stands alone. Abroad, yet again. It is his fifth fight away from home in his past six. He has been to rural Connecticut, remote Herning in Denmark, Helsinki in the dead of winter, and now Atlantic City for the second time. If this final of Showtime's Super Six series were held in the middle of the Atlantic, he probably would not care. Incidentally, the furthest his opponent, Andre Ward, has travelled in that time from his home in Oakland, California, is Los Angeles. Until now. Froch is probably the most dogged of all Britain's road warriors, a truth Ward will discover when they contest their respective 12-stone titles at the Boardwalk Hall, a most fitting venue, bringing the series to a worthy conclusion, 26 months after it started and at least a year after it should have ended. Depending on which way he cares to interpret the past 12 months, Froch will either be weighed down by history or snarl in the face of it. Britain started the year with four world champions – Froch, David Haye, Amir Khan and Ricky Burns – and added a fifth when Nathan Cleverly won the WBO light-heavyweight title. At one point, we might have had six or seven world title-holders. Now we have three: Froch, Cleverly and Burns, who owns an interim version of the lightweight belt. There has been some British success on the road: the Olympians at the world amateur championships in Baku, for instance. Amir Khan beat Zab Judah in Las Vegas and Froch beat Glen Johnson in this building in June. The rest of the card makes for a grim read, though. In March, the red-headed Mexican Saúl Alvarez beat Matthew Hatton on points in Anaheim, near the original Disneyland, to win the vacant WBC light-middleweight title, then stopped Ryan Rhodes in the 12th round three months later in Guadalajara to keep it. Northern Ireland's Brian Magee was brave but not good enough against the IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute in Montreal. Haye, one toe short of a working right foot, went to Germany and surrendered to hubris and Wladimir Klitschko's jab, losing his heavyweight title and not a little credibility. The Birmingham Irishman Matthew Macklin was unlucky not to get the verdict against Felix Sturm in Germany, coming so close to winning the WBA middleweight title; then the unbeaten but little-fancied Martin Murray boxed the fight of his life to get a draw with Sturm, also in Germany. John Murray was stopped in the 11th by Brandon Rios in New York in December when they contested the vacant WBA lightweight title. And Khan, against all predictions, lost his WBA and IBF light-welterweight belts to street hero Lamont Peterson in Washington last weekend, a verdict he will spend $10,000 disputing with the IBF. As rough as he might have thought referee Cooper was, that looks a doomed cause. That's eight fights: no wins. Froch pauses over the wreckage, smiles and says: "With those stats, if you're a gambling man, then the odds are stacked in my favour. We're due a win, aren't we? "If you're on a roulette table, eventually a red comes in. We've had eight blacks on the spin and we're fighting in a casino town, so those are the odds. It's something definitely to look at. "I have to say to myself: 'Right, OK, I need to bite down on to my gum shield even harder if I can, because I've got to restore Britain's pride. I desperately want to get us back on the world map. We can't be a nation of losers. "Boxers are going away and not getting decisions and are losing so it's not looking good for us, is it, as a nation? Thanks for pointing that out. It's put even more pressure on me now. I don't mind that at all. I love pressure." Historically, it has been tough to come to American and win – for any foreign fighter. The intensity here is special. Some fighters love it, some do not. This inhospitable strip that juts its jaw at the cutting wind and water of the Atlantic Ocean has witnessed many classic fights – not all of them for world titles – stretching back to 1963, when Joey Giardello outpointed Dick Tiger for the world middleweight belt. It was in the 70s that the boardwalk began to buzz, when Gerry Cooney and Bennie Briscoe thrilled the fans; in the 80s, Don Curry beat Marlon Starling here, Tony Ayala starred before going to prison, Michael Spinks, an Olympic hero, announced himself en route to winning the world heavyweight title in Las Vegas, AC's flash older cousin; Mike Tyson embarrassed Tyrell Biggs, before going on to embarrass himself in years later – but not before obliterating Spinks in a round in 1988, the high-point of his career. Two years earlier, a fight more relevant to British fans took place. Lloyd Honeyghan outfoxed and out-toughed a weight-drained Donald Curry at Caesar's, forcing him to retire at the end of the sixth round and surrender the three recognised versions of the world welterweight title. It was the Ragamuffin Man's second visit to the city. He would return again a couple of times, finally against Vinny Pazienza in 1993, when his corner threw in the towel in the 10th and final round. Lennox Lewis fought and won here five times; Naseem Hamed won in AC, against Wayne McCullough. Maybe the sea air suits British fighters – or maybe it is all down to the sort of fighter who really does believe a ring is a ring, where ever you put it. History can be heavy, or it can be dismissed as irrelevant. Froch would like to think the latter. He knows otherwise. Events of last weekend have planted a seed of doubt in his mind about whether or not he will get a fair shake on Saturday night, so he will expend energy keeping his mind on the job rather than trying to second‑guess the officials. British world title fights in 2011 Results Won 5 Drawn 1 Lost 8 Matthew Hatton Opponent: Saul Alvarez Date: 5 March 2011 Title: WBC light middleweight Venue: Anaheim,California Result: lost on points Ryan Rhodes Opponent: Saul Alvarez Date: 18 June 2011 Title: WBC light middleweight Venue: Guadalajara, Mexico Result: lost by TKO John Murray Opponent: Brandon Rios Date: 3 December 2011 Title: WBA lightweight Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York Result: lost by TKO Amir Khan Opponent: Paul McCloskey Date: 16 April 2011 Title: WBA light welterweight Venue: MEN Arena, Manchester Result: won, fight stopped in sixth Amir Khan Opponent: Zab Judah Date: 23 July 2011 Title: WBA and IBF light welterweight Venue: Las Vegas, Nevada Result: won by KO Amir Khan Opponent: Lamont Peterson Date: 10 December 2011 Title: WBA and IBF light welterweight Venue: Washington DC Result: lost on points David Haye Opponent: Wladimir Klitschko Date: 2 July 2011 Title: WBA, IBF, WBO and The Ring heavyweight Venue: Hamburg Germany Result: lost on points Martin Murray Opponent: Felix Sturm Date: 2 December 2011 Title: WBA middleweight Venue: Mannheim, Germany Result: draw Nathan Cleverly Opponent: Aleksy Kuziemski Date: 21 May 2011 Title: WBO light heavyweight Venue: Echo Arena, Liverpool Result: won by TKO Nathan Cleverly Opponent: Tony Bellew Date: 15 October 2011 Title: WBO light heavyweight Venue: Echo Arena, Liverpool Result: won on points Tony Bellew Opponent: Nathan Cleverly Date: 15 October 2011 Title: WBO light heavyweight Venue: Echo Arena, Liverpool Result: lost on points Carl Froch Opponent: Glen Johnson Date: 4 June 2011 Title: WBC super middleweight Venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey Result: won on points Brian Magee Opponent: Lucian Bute Date: 19 March 2011 Title: IBF super middleweight Venue: Montreal, Canada Result: lost by TKO Darren Barker Opponent: Sergio Martinez Date: 1 October 2011 Title: The Ring middleweight Venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey Result: lost by TKO