England’s former WBC super middleweight world champion Carl Froch’s eagerly awaited bout in the Super Six World Boxing Classic series with German pugilist Arthur Abraham was postponed on Monday because the Englishman has a back injury.

The 33-year-old — nicknamed the Nottingham ’Cobra’ — was set to fight the Armenia-born Abraham in Monaco on October 2 but after suffering the injury last Friday he has been told he needs three weeks of complete rest.

Froch, who has struggled to get the media attention his exploits deserve in his homeland, lost his WBC super-middleweight title after he was outpointed by Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler in April.

In August Kessler withdrew from his fight against American Allan Green in September due to an eye injury.

Following Kessler’s injury, Froch said his fight against Abraham was for the WBC super-middleweight title.

“There’s me and Abraham left, and we’re fighting. Andre Ward versus Andre Dirrell is the other semi. So in the final, you’ll have a WBC-WBA unification fight. After the final, Kessler’s got a shot at the WBC,” said Froch.

“Kessler will be what they call the ’marital’ WBC champion, which means that Abraham and I are fighting for my old title.

Froch’s promoters Hennessy Sports are now hoping to stage the fight in either November or December.

The tournament awards points based on three guaranteed bouts in the opening stages. Knockouts are worth three points, a win by decision is two points and a draw is one point.

Andre Ward is the only fighter to win his first two bouts and leads the tournament with four points. Abraham has the only knockout and is second with three points, while Froch is tied with Mikkel Kessler and Andre Dirrell with two points each. Late substitution Allan Green has zero.

The four with the most points after their third fights will advance to seeded semi-finals. A championship showdown is tentatively scheduled for next year.

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Back injury forces Froch to postpone Abraham clash

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