BOXING:CARL FROCH hopes Andre Ward's recent cut will dissuade the American from fighting dirty with his head when they clash on Saturday. The pair meet in Atlantic City in a unification of two super-middleweight world titles and the final of the Super Six tournament. The contest had been scheduled for October 29th but, when Ward sustained a cut over his right eye in sparring, the fight was postponed by nearly two months.

Ward insists the injury is healed and Froch this week claimed he would not target the old wound, but the Nottingham fighter does concede it could have other advantages.

Ward won the WBA title with a technical-decision win against Mikkel Kessler when the Dane suffered a horrible cut and there were accusations of headbutting levelled at Ward. He has a reputation for liberal head movement, but WBC champion Froch believes he may be more careful now he has a vulnerability of his own to protect. “It might slow down his use of the head because there is scar tissue above his eye that could potentially open back up,” Froch said.

Froch has been philosophical about the prolonged wait for the fight to take place. “He had a bad cut, he needed seven stitches so he felt he wasn’t going to be ready because he couldn’t spar in the build-up to the fight. So fair enough, everybody’s different.”