Carl Froch - The career of a future British great

[londoner]

Carl Froch - The career of a future British great

 

I knew Carl Froch would go on to greatness after watching only his 2nd bout. He looked mean like a real World champion.

 

In the UK, ironically, the guy gets barely any media coverage at all. He isn't on terrestrial TV or Sky sports, he is barely ever in newspaper sports sections.... The guy is Britain's best boxer (Khan and Haye, move aside!) and yet he's treated like crap.

 

His last 5 opponents were the following:

 

- Arthur Abraham: Was rated as the best boxer in World at 160 and had only 1 loss on record against the speedy Andre Dirrell. He came on strong late on in the fight, however, and the MAJORITY had Abraham to beat Froch before the fight. Froch gave him a boxing lesson.

 

- Mikkel Kessler: Gave Joe Cazlaghe the toughest fight of his career and was the clear front runner to take over from Calzaghe after he retired, which he did. His only loss was to Olympic Gold medallist, and now P4P ranked (on many peoples' lists), Andre Ward. The fight between Froch and Kessler was very close and could've gone either way IMO. I have always said a boxer needs to lose to improve and this loss will have improved Froch IMO. We saw this in his recent win over Abraham.

 

- Andre Dirrell: Undefeated Dirrell came to the UK to fight the champ. Well done to him. I don't think there was any question of the win for Froch as i have always had the opinion that a challenger must WIN the title, the champion can't just LOSE the title. Any "ifs or buts" about the result and the belt remains with the champion. Dirrell would go on to beat Abraham, the King of 160, in his next bout.

 

- Jermain Taylor: Had just two losses on his record, both to the new King on the scene at 160lbs, Kelly Pavlik. However, he also had two wins on his record against the former King at 160, Bernard Hopkins. He was also coming off a UD win over Jeff Lacy. Taylor was one of the main names at 168 at the time.

 

- Jean Pascal: Two undefeated fighters battled it out for the WBC title. Froch would win a gruelling brawl to become the champion. Pascal would later go on to beat the undefeated Adrian Diaconu (twice) and would also go on to beat the undefeated light heavyweight King Chad Dawson.

 

NOTES:

 

- Froch has a record of 27-1-0 (20 KOs)

 

- He has won English, British, Commonwealth and World titles at super middleweight.

 

- He has shown he can fight in pretty much any style of fight: He outboxed Abraham. He got into a brawl with Kessler that the judges felt he lost. He got into a brawl with Pascal that he clearly won. He stalked Dirrell and showed patience to not lose his head. He got outboxed and was losing by a long way against Taylor to only come back and win with only SECONDS remaining on the clock.

 

- He is one of only 8 men to have participated in the first ever "Super 6" tournament. And only one of THREE men who will have started and not pulled out (Ward, Abraham and himself).

 

- He shows a clear willingness to fight ANYWHERE in the World to get the best fights. He fought Abraham in neutral Finland, Kessler in his own country of Denmark and Jermain Taylor in the USA. He also fought an earlier bout against Henry Porras in the USA.

 

- Should he defeat Glen Johnson, which will probably be in the USA, he will most likely fight the final in the USA also. This would mean 5 of his last 6 bouts would've been abroad. How many fighters show that level of willingness to fight abroad?

 

- He is only man to stop Brian Magee and Sergey Tatevosyan and only the 2nd man to stop Robin Reid (after Jeff Lacy). He was also the first man to stop Ruben Groenewald.

 

- He has wins over Brian Magee, Matthew Barney, Charles Adamu, Tony Dodson and Robin Reid who were all good level domestic fighters at the time.

 

- He has beaten great journeymen such as Michael Pinnock, Ojay Abrahams and Paul Bonson.

 

- He also has wins over Sergey Tatevosyan, Ruben Groenewald and Henry Porras.

 

Having analysed his record in great depth i would say you will be hardstretched to find a boxer in the World today who shows the same willingness to engage in a fight/brawl in the ring and fight the very best in the World like he does.

Analysis of these fighters records:

 

- Brian Magee: Had only lost twice and that was to Robin Reid and the undefeated Vitaliy Tsypko, both by UD. Froch became the first man to stop him via 11th round TKO. Magee had wins over Miguel Angel Jiminez, Hacine Cherifi and Mads Larsen. Magee went 10 bouts undefeated after loss to Froch to earn a shot at Lucian Bute's World title.

 

- Matthew Barney: Has wins over Dean Francis and Tony Oakey as well as good journeymen Mark Lee Dawson, Hussain Osman and Jamie Ambler. He has also fought (but lost to) Charles Adamu, Thomas Ulrich and Danny McIntosh.

 

- Charles Adamu: Had lost just once before fighting Froch, to Tsypko. He has also fought Matthew Barney, Otis Grant, Carl Dilks and George Groves.

 

- Tony Dodson: Had beaten journeymen like Paul Bonson and Mark Lee Dawson, was on a 6 fight unbeaten streak when he fought Froch and was the English champion. He would later go on to fight (and lose to) Tony Quigley and Pual Smith.

 

- Robin Reid: He was long past his best when Froch beat him and was in his mid 30s. But, he did have a wealth of ring experience that Froch didn't have. He had been on the losing end to great fighters like Jeff Lacy, Joe Calzaghe, Silvio Branco and Thulani Malinga. He had been the WBC super middleweight champion from 96-97 and was robbed in Germany against Sven Ottke fighting for the IBF title. The referee wouldn't even allow Reid to PUNCH Ottke. Froch become only the 2nd man to stop Reid (after Lacy).

 

- Michael Pinnock: Has only been stopped 7 times in 74 losses. Has fought the likes of Paul Bonson, Mark Hobson, Tony Oakey, Brian Magee, Steve Spartacus. Froch stopped him in the 4th round.

 

- Ojay Abrahams: Has been stopped just 17 times in 76 losses. Opponents include Delroy Leslie, Wayne Alexander, Hussain Osman, Howard Eastman, Anthony Farnell, Ryan Rhodes, Ruben Groenewald, Wayne Elcock, David Starie, Michael Jones, Matthew Macklin, Paul Smith, Matthew Hall, Tony Quigley.

 

- Paul Bonson: He is the ultimate journeyman. In 105 losses he has been stopped just 3 times. His opponents include Michael Pinnock, Mark Hobson, Enzo Maccarinelli, Tony Dodson, Clinton Woods, Albert Sosnowski, Steve Spartacus, Lee Swaby, Carl Thompson, Tony Booth, Ovil McKenzie, Dean Francis, Sam Sexton, Tony Bellew, Matty Askin.

 

- Sergey Tatevosyan: Had never been stopped in 7 losses before fighting Froch and his opponents included Roman Karmazin, James Obede Toney, Howard Eastman, Kheron Gevor, Dmitriy Pirog, Rudy Markussen and Lucian Bute.

 

- Ruben Groenewald: Had never been KO'd before fighting Froch. His opponents have included Delroy Leslie, Ojay Abrahams, Anthony Farnell, Danilo Haussler and Alexander Frenkel.

 

- Henry Porras: Good journeyman whose opponents include Mikkel Kessler, Danilo Haussler, Otis Grant, Juerghen Braehmer and Edison Miranda.

[Wheelchair]

Froch is good, but he's nowhere near becoming a great.

[Crusader]

I really like the analysis of Froch career, the last two times I came in United Kingdom is to see him fight, maybe you will not become a great, but in my humble opinion is the top of British boxing, strong fighter, good chin and huge heart…

Before his embark on the world assault has created a vacuum at home, is not easy to see a top fighter to go abroad so often without problems…I have seen ringside Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins & Joe Calzaghe (amazing poker of great supermiddleweight) and I think that when face and beat Lucian Bute at the table with the fantastic four will be there too

[londoner]

IMO, if Froch can beat Glen Johnson and follow it up with what will probably be Andre Ward in the final (possibly a rematch with Arthur Abraham) then he rates VERY favourably against any British fighter of the last 20-30 years.

 

Wins against Abraham, Dirrell, Taylor, Pascal, Johnson, Ward would rank easily with anything Benn, Eubank and Calzaghe accomplished. Obviously, Froch still has to DO all these things. It's jumping the gun a bit. But, it's not impossible.

 

Also, after the next two bouts, Froch would have plenty of more bouts out there for him to consolidate his place in British greatness: Rematches with Kessler, Dirrell, Pascal and bouts against Bute, Hopkins, Dawson, Cloud...

[WelshDevilRob]

For me Froch career before winning the title was ok but nothing to write home about, the upward spiral was when he won the title with a fantastic win over Pascal and then fighting alot higher standard of opponent.

 

I think hes got a pretty easy win next time out against Glen Johnson. Johnson is a credit to the sport but lets not forget he's been beaten by the average Clinton Woods. Also, while Johnsons win over Allan Green got him the rightful plaudits - Allan Green is a fraud and has been living on hype for years.

 

I think Froch can beat Andre Ward aswell though its a close fight. Intruth, I'm not sold on Andre Ward, he's winning the fights but something is missing.

 

Back to Froch's career and already he goes down as a British/UK Great. Its a shame that hes done all this and he's less well known than Joe Bugner who never won any legit World titles.

[grapevine241]

froch has a long way to go before "greatness". luckily hes in a good division so there will be plenty of fights for him

[Joe_Mosley]

I respect Froch for his last fight against AA. He genuinely impressed me as he was able to stick to a gameplan which he executed perfectly and reminded everyone just how good a boxer he is.

 

Saying that, I dont think his personality helps him in the UK. He seems monotonous and a bit boring, never seems to have a good quote, he just likes to moan and bitch about other Brits and his harsh treatment in the super six (namely the Kessler fight which I think was far from a HomeTown decision). I actually can't stand Froch and hope and pray he doesnt win the Super6... Although maybe thats beacuse i'm a Ram and he's a Red Dog!

[Joe Ko]

For me Froch career before winning the title was ok but nothing to write home about, the upward spiral was when he won the title with a fantastic win over Pascal and then fighting alot higher standard of opponent.

 

I think hes got a pretty easy win next time out against Glen Johnson. Johnson is a credit to the sport but lets not forget he's been beaten by the average Clinton Woods. Also, while Johnsons win over Allan Green got him the rightful plaudits - Allan Green is a fraud and has been living on hype for years.

 

I think Froch can beat Andre Ward aswell though its a close fight. Intruth, I'm not sold on Andre Ward, he's winning the fights but something is missing.

 

Back to Froch's career and already he goes down as a British/UK Great. Its a shame that hes done all this and he's less well known than Joe Bugner who never won any legit World titles.

 

I agree with you.

 

I think Froch will go down as a great especially if he wins the super six which is very possible, he is very big name world wide than most UK fighters.

 

Im not sold on Andre Ward either, the guy has no power and I believe is a knockout waiting to to happen, the guy struggled as a super middle as an amatuer and got dropped alot. He then moved up to light heavy won the gold and now in the pros and gone back to 168, If Froch does get cut he call really pull an upset, his jab will be key.

[The_budweiser]

Frochs a very good fighter but no were near greatness, i thought he lost against pascal and more dirrel to be gifted a home town decision, taylor he was seconds away from losing that fight although u got to give him credit for the way he finished the fight. No shame in losing to Kessler, but showed himself up with his constant winging after his loss. Froch was fantastic against abraham and looked a different fighter after his loss, if he demolished every opponent like that you could use the term greatness but he struggles with different styles, were the likes of calzaghe could adapt to any fighting style.

 

as for being a great winning the tournament, the 2 people who beat froch in it Kessler and Dirrel both dropped out. If froch goes on and wins it the fact that Dirrel and Kessler dropped out kinda takes some of the shine away

 

Froch for me is a very good fighter whos over hyped alot by his own fans, hes no were being a boxing great.

[dulais_valley]

I've come to like Froch of late and respect him but I think your analysis is pretty wide of the mark in some aspects.

 

Jermain Taylor was never justifiably one of the main names at 168. He was given a shot at the Super6 on grounds of two losses at the weight. His only win comes against Jeff Lacy who is/was shot to pieces. Despite this, Jermain made Froch look very ordinary for much of the fight. Had he still been able to go twelve rounds he'd have won pretty comfortably. I'd argue Taylor lost it as much as Froch won it though credit to exploiting that weakness.

 

Its stretching it to say there wasn't any question of the win for Froch. I know plenty of people who had him losing. Regardless, his performance was woeful and when that happens there is always a risk of losing the decision.

 

I think saying that Froch has improved based on his loss to Kessler is pushing it. Had Kessler been in the ring against Abraham instead of Froch I reckon he'd have got just as wide a decision. Abraham was absolutely shocking that night, he didn't as much as try to do anything. All Froch had to do was fight on the outside and follow the template laid down by Dirrell.

 

Froch deserves credit for travelling but only so much. Most of the travelling was mandated by the contract he signed to be in the Super6 so the option facing him was pretty much travel of be freezed out of the big time for three years as Bute had been. Unlike Bute he didn't have time on his side. It is difficult to make too much of his travels when he threw his toys out of the pram when told he was to face Abraham in Germany. Lest we not forget he is the only fighter who has threatened to pull out of the tournament for not getting his own way.

 

He has shown he can fight in a number of styles but he generally loses each style against the better proponents of it. He got outbrawled by Kessler and outpointed by Taylor (and Dirrell in my book) until he switched to brawling, while conversely he outbrawled a weight drained Pascal and outpointed Abraham who is never going to win a stylist award. What Froch is good at is identifying the style that his opponent is less good at and fighting at that style, imposing his will on a fight. But I wouldn't say he is superb at any style.

[grapevine241]

i think its easy forget that froch was being thoroughly outclassed by taylor until the 12th. dirrell also more or less did the same.

 

the thing that really makes it difficult to see froch as a future british great is that he lost to kessler, who lost to calzaghe whom froch never shuts up about. though ill admit, i had kessler-froch a draw