By Lem Satterfield

England's WBC super middleweight king Carl Froch will put his crown on the line on Saturday night opposite Glen Johnson in a semifinal of Showtime's World Super Middleweight Boxing Classic.

The 33-year-old Froch (27-1, 20 knockouts) is nicknamed, "The Cobra," and the 42-year-old ex champion, Glen Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KOs), "The Road Warrior."

BoxingScene.com sought the opinions of 11 boxing insiders as to whom they feel will be victorious on Saturday night.

Norm Frauenheim, 15rounds.com

Carl Froch SD 12 Glen Johnson: Carl Froch displayed good timing and accuracy, often from a distance, in his last outing, a victory over Arthur Abraham. Froch will need the timing, the accuracy and maybe a lot more in what figures to be a difficult fight against tough-and-tested Glen Johnson.

Johnson will pursue, work inside of Froch’s long jab and try to wear him down from the inside. But the 33-year-old Froch, who is nine years younger than Johnson, is tough in his own right.

Froch has never been knocked out. He possesses an effective uppercut to go with the jab, which should give him the edge he’ll need for a narrow win on two of the three scorecards.

Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Carl Froch Froch TKO 10 12 Glen Johnson: Glen Johnson is a battler, but Carl Froch is proving to have been highly underrated. He'll be able to match Johnson's pace and wear him down as the fight progresses.

Steve Kim, MaxBoxing.com

Carl Froch w 12 Glen Johnnson: I like Carl Froch to win a hard-earned decision over Glen Johnson, who will keep coming all night long and will make Froch work for all of the 36 minutes.

Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN/Reuters

Carl Froch UD 12 Glen Johnson: I expect Carl Froch to be starting out the fight by attempting to use lateral movement to bang the onrushing Glen Johnson from the outside.

Eventually, however, Johnson will close the gap, as he alw3ays does, but froch will dig his toes into the canvas and swap punches with him.

Johnson will have his moments and win a fair few rounds in the second two-thirds of the fight, but Froch will do more than enough to wind up something like a 116-112 decision winner across the board.

Peter Owen Nelson, ESPN.com, freelance writer

Carl Froch W 12 Glen Johnson: Carl Froch may have advantages in both height and youth, but Glen Johnson has the longer reach and appears not likely to peak until he is at least 80 years old.

Johnson will take the crowd, but Froch will take the judges' by decision.

Chris Robinson, Examiner.com

 

Carl Froch UD 12 Glen Johnson: Carl Froch vs. Glen Johnson should be a great, toe-to-toe type of battle. So far the Super Six has been lacking in high-action fights.

But I think this one will deliver. I like Froch to be just a little busier in outhustling Johnson over the course of the twelve rounds.

Michael Rosenthal, RingTV.com

Carl Froch UD 12 Glen Johnson: The Carl Froch-Glen Johnson Super Six semifinals promises to be entertaining, as each fighter has demonstrated uncommon fighting spirit.

This is Froch's time, though. The tough Briton is limited in some ways but finds means to win fights, as he did against Jermany Taylor, Andre Dirrell and Arthur Abraham.

Johnson will have his moments but, as he has done so many times, he'll come up just short. Froch by unanimous decision.

Joseph Santoliquito, Ring Magazine Editor

Carl Froch SD 12 Glenn Johnson: This should be fun. Anything involving an old warhorse like Johnson is fun. But I don't know if Johnson drinks out of the same fountain of youth as Bernard Hopkins.

Although this promises to be a great battle, Froch may have a little too much for Johnson in the end, pulling out a close, split-decision victory.

Don Steinberg, Philadelphia Inquirer/Wall Street Journal

Carl Froch UD 12 Glen Johnson: Carl Froch against Glen Johnson will be a good brawl. But Froch should be nimble enough to keep some distance, peck and poke, and outland the tenacious Johnson to win by unanimous decision.

Bob Velin, USA Today

Carl Froch TKO 11 Glen Johnson: Glen Johnson is as tough as they come, but so is Carl Froch, who has shown a great chin in his recent fights.

Froch isn't the most technically sound boxer, but he can be relentless in attacking his opponent. Johnson has shown many times that he can take plenty of punishment.

This one will be a slugfest from start to finish, whch will come in the 11th round, a TKO victory by Froch. At the age of 42, Johnson won't have enough left to stand up to the punches Froch will dish out in this fight.

Rick Reeno, BoxingScene.com

Carl Froch Unanimous Decision in Twelve: I think Froch is too young and too gifted at this point in Glen Johnson's career. The fight won't be easy but I expect Froch to pull through with a comfortable lead to win.

The experts are going with Carl Froch, 11-0, to defeat Glen Johnson.