Carl Froch got his revenge with victory over Denmark's Mikkel Kessler in a unanimous points decision to retain the IBF super middleweight title in a thrilling clash at a packed 02 Arena on Saturday.

The 35-year-old Froch, who lost to Kessler in Denmark three years ago, put on a typically gutsy performance to win with a scorecard that read 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110 in favour of the Nottingham fighter to the delight of the 20,000 crowd.

Froch's record is now 31-2, with his only other defeat coming at the hands of American Andre Ward in Atlantic City in 2011, compared to Kessler's 46-3 after an action-packed fight that saw the Dane hanging on near the end of the final round.

"It feels really good,'' he added. "The only thing that feels bad is that I have had to beat such a real gentleman, a real warrior and real nice man.

"He did hurt me a couple of times; I think everybody saw that. But I hurt him a little bit more and I thought I deserved the win. I thought it was unanimously my fight.

"I was close to getting the stoppage towards the end but, when I went in for the finish, what did he do? He fought back with a couple of big, hard shots. Big respect to him.''