Carl Froch has said that he will use his defeat to Andre Ward as motivation ahead of his IBF super-middleweight showdown with Lucian Bute.

The 34-year-old takes on the Romanian in his hometown of Nottingham on May 26 as he looks to become a three-time world champion.

"I'm coming into the fight on the back of a loss, and when I did that after the Kessler defeat, I was so tuned in to beating Arthur Abraham that it was a whitewash," The Mirror quotes Froch as saying. "And that's how I feel about this fight.

"I've got a lot of respect for Lucian. He's a top level athlete and so am I. There's no needle between us and there doesn't need to be because this fight speaks for itself."

Froch also said that he was excited to be fighting in Nottingham once again and also gave his opponent credit for agreeing to face him on his turf.

"It's great to be back in Nottingham – it's been too long," added Froch. "I've given him stick and he's not often fought out of his home town, so to put his title on the line in my backyard, he's either very confident or very stupid."

'The Cobra' lost his WBC strap to WBA champion Ward in their unification bout in December.