BBC man on Carl Froch-watch

Froch relished the atmosphere his fans created at the weigh-in

Knowing that so much is at stake later today, I wonder how well Carl Froch slept last night.

His world title unification fight against Andre Ward is a fight of such significance for the 34-year-old - though in all honesty, we do appear to have been saying that for the past three years.

I have noticed a real difference in him in Atlantic City this time. I have already mentioned the way he was in the hotel yesterday, and the relaxed mood around "Team Froch" carried through to the weigh-in, where both boxers appeared a little taken aback by the number of British supporters here and the noise that they created as they took to the scales.

The Nottingham man milked it, and seemed to be enjoying the moment - and at least for that moment, it felt like he was back fighting in his home city.

To me, Ward looked initially surprised by it, and then looked determined to cover up that surprise as he toyed with the fans in an unconvincing fashion.

The football chants that most of us hear week in, week out (a transcript of which would appear out of place on a BBC website!) had a whole new audience. The Ward supporters and members of the US media were quite enamoured with the demonstration of pride in their home city and fighter.

As I stood in the theatre where the weigh-in took place, I tried to take in everything I could see. Many of the country's finest sports writers were in the room, the lights shone brightly on the stage where television reporters from the US and UK conducted interviews, Jimmy Lennon Jr was on the microphone, while hundreds of fans had travelled thousands of miles to watch their hero.

Yet those journeys must seem short ones in comparison to the one that Froch has been on to get to this point. Little did I realise when I went to cover his sixth fight, against Valery Odin at the Nottingham Arena in January 2003, that it would have all led to this.

You can hear commentary on Froch v Ward on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio Nottingham in the early hours of Sunday morning, and you can follow Robin in Atlantic City on Twitter at @sportchippers