Does Froch need to beat Kessler to be remembered as a great fighter?

[emallini]

He has a great resume no doubt. But he has lost to the best 2 fighters he has fought.

Does he need to at least avenge one of those defeats to go down as a great fighter instead of a very good fighter?

[zulander]

Hmm maybe its close i think. He only just lost to Kessler the first time. Hes beaten all the other contenders and beat the next big thing in Bute convinceingly..... I think he will beat Kessler this time around to even the score... If he beats Kessler hes clear at number 2 behind Ward and should rightly go down as one of the best fighters we have produced and you could probably make a case for him being the best ever.. although some people like Lennox have scary CVs

[REEVO]

He is a modern great for sure, But if he beats Kessler and then went on to beat Ward in a rematch that would be very special and lets be honest would make for a great story. Considering he isnt exactly the most technicall skilled boxer i have ever seen, but even saying that he is great to watch and his skills have improved massively since his loss to Kessler.
I have nothing but admiration for Froch he is class..

[Boxed Ears]

If he beats Kessler convincingly, he is arguably great, to me. I rate him only as very good though, as much as I've grown to like him.

[HeavyT]

If he avenges the Kessler defeat (I believe he will), he's a great British fighter in my book. A win against Ward would put him as one of the greatest modern fighters.

[Hattons Hook]

Originally Posted by zulander

Hmm maybe its close i think. He only just lost to Kessler the first time. Hes beaten all the other contenders and beat the next big thing in Bute convinceingly..... I think he will beat Kessler this time around to even the score... If he beats Kessler hes clear at number 2 behind Ward and should rightly go down as one of the best fighters we have produced and you could probably make a case for him being the best ever.. although some people like Lennox have scary CVs

I like Froch but if he's the best to come off this rock god help us.

[smegmaa]

Sure does, if Carl loses this one then he'll be remembered as a warrior who fought anyone anywhere but lost to the best elite fighters

[JonnyBGoode]

Froch needs to beat Kessler in order to be one of the great British fighters in my opinion.

If he doesn't people will say that he was a good fighter that over achieved out of sheer heart and desire but if he beats Kessler than he can only really say that Ward got the better of him in his career and that is no disgrace.

[bigboots]

he'll be remembered as a good fighter anyway but he does need to beat Kessler to be remembered as Great. I can't see Froch beating Ward though, the gap in talent is too big for Froch to bridge. Ward is pound for pound 1 of the best & i recon would have beat Eubank, Benn, Watson & Collins. Ward v Calzaghe when both at their peak would have been something special.

[billy nelson]

Of coarse not the guy is a great fighter,not as great as JC but there's Absoulutly no shame whatsoever in that is there.

[JonnyBGoode]

If Froch beat Kessler then rather than face Ward again (who lets face it would win again) moved up to LHW and had success he would have outstripped Calzaghe at least in my estimation. Not saying he beats Calzaghe as I think he loses by UD but I would rate him higher in my estimation of them as fighters.

It's not like Froch couldn't beat Shumenov, then get a unification fight against Cleverly and retire a 5 time two weight world champ. If he did that I'd have him up there as one of the best modern britsh fighters, couldn't say the best as Lennox and Nas may have something to say about that but I'd put him above Calzaghe.

[True_Hero]

Nah, Froch is a great fighter regardless. No shame in losing to Kessler and Ward who are both great fighters too.

Been the third best in a division that includes the likes of Abraham, Bute, Dirrell, Pascal etc is no shame at all. Besides, I think Froch has faced better competition than Calzaghe did. After the fight with Ryback until Mackhe had a run of facing 8 guys who are among the best in the super-middleweight division.

[dftaylor]

He's a good fighter, he'll never be great. He'd have to beat Ward, Kessler, Dirrell (he did lose to him if you're objective about it) and then step up to 175 and become the man before I'd consider him "great".

Love the bloke and his attitude, but he's no great.

[True_Hero]

[quote=dftaylor;14636970]He's a good fighter, he'll never be great. He'd have to beat Ward, Kessler, Dirrell (he did lose to him if you're objective about it) [quote]

Perhaps, it was close, but then some say Froch beat Kessler.

At the time I gave the edge to Kessler, rewatching it I gave the nudge to Froch but honestly, it was too close to call. A draw would have been fair imo. It certainly wasn't the clear-cut Kessler win the judges scored it.

[dftaylor]

Originally Posted by True_Hero

Perhaps, it was close, but then some say Froch beat Kessler.

At the time I gave the edge to Kessler, rewatching it I gave the nudge to Froch but honestly, it was too close to call. A draw would have been fair imo. It certainly wasn't the clear-cut Kessler win the judges scored it.

As Intentional Butt put it, it's whether you score the fight correctly (giving Kessler credit for his body-punching) or not. I had Kessler by four rounds, which was a little generous, but a Froch win is giving him the benefit of every doubt.

Regardless, he did lose the fight so it counts against him. By the same virtue, I can give him the Dirrell fight to some extent because at least he actually tried to work.