In a sport with 80+ world title holders, the only real way to prove that you're a worthy champion is to defend your belt against opponents who might actually be able to beat you. That's what Nottingham's Carl Froch does – in his last fight, he successfully defended his WBC super middleweight title against lightning-quick American contender Andre Dirrell and prior to that he TKOed three-times world middleweight champion Jermain Taylor.

On 24th April, he's fighting dangerous Dane Mikkel Kessler, a world-class opponent with impressive tactical skills and a seriously big punch. If Froch is to triumph over Kessler he's going to have to fight the fight of his life, but that's just the way he likes it.

Froch's success is partly due to his ability to throw powerful, accurate shots, as he did against the equally hard-punching Canadian Jean Pascal when he won his world title, and Taylor, who he knocked out in the 12th round of their fight. 'To win a fight, you need to be strong and explosive with good stamina so you can throw hard punches in every round,' Froch says. 'Because boxing is weight-governed, it's important to do strengthening exercises that don't add bulk, so I don't use fancy equipment or weights.

'I do classic moves such as press-ups, crunches and dips - as many as 300 of each in a session because volume equals strength. I include variations so my body never gets used to my workouts because shocking your muscles keeps forcing them to get stronger.'

But boxing isn't only about strength. 'Most training days include some cardio, such as skipping, hill climbs, six-mile runs - which I do in 35 minutes - and track sprints,' Froch says. 'As well as improving lower-body strength, these drills increase my anaerobic capacity so I can work intensely for 12 three-minute rounds.'

On the right you'll find one of the workouts Froch has used to get into title-retaining shape. Get down the gym and start doing it today.

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