There is a lot more to being a technical fighter than punch form. Joe had far better upper body movement, better footwork, a much better punch selection and a higher ring IQ than Froch - the first three are all part of technique, and last heavily influences how you apply that technique. Joe was technically unconventional in most ways, but that does not mean that he wasn't technically superior. I think Froch improved a lot after Joe retired, but if they had fought at the end of Joe's career then I don't think Froch would have won. He would have been constantly beaten to the punch, and would have found it very hard to pin Joe down. He wouldn't tire him out, he probably wouldn't get the KO - so Froch's strengths would not be capitalised on, and Joe's would dictate the fight.
He retired because he saw how the super middleweight division was starting to heat up and knew if he kept fighting, he'd lose his undefeated record...so he retired in the same cowardly way that he protected his record by spending most of his career fighting soft European opposition. He deserves credit for beating Kessler and Lacy but I give him zero credit for beating Jones and I personally feel Hopkins beat him 7-5. RJJ would have killed him at 168 had they fought when Jones was in his prime and I feel Andre Ward would beat any version of Calzaghe. At the end of the day, Slappy had a very carefully managed career and bowed out of the game when he really could have cemented his legacy as the greatest 168 pound fighter of all time (as his nutthuggers across the pond claim him to be).
I saw he buildup of Lacy, he's from my hometown. Nice guy and everything but, i couldn't understand why the announcers were gushing over him while he struggled to beat his opposition. I was at the Lacy-Reid fight in Tampa. I did not like that fight at all, the fix was in and the referee ****ed with Reid all night long. Everyone cheered because the hometown hero won, but I didn't like it. Watch the video, Reid is literally watching the referee as much as he was watching lacy. Reid would have probably lost to Lacy legit, but that night he had to fight Lacy and the shitty ref at the same time.
Undefeated 2 weight world champion Earned a lot of ££££ Had all his facilities in tact Was 37 and admits that he was beginning to cut corners in training Retiring when he did was a good decision.
tbh, if he had the balls to get in the ring with an unbeaten prime Kessler, I'm pretty sure he would end up fighting Ward.