I dont think he was getting skooled as much as people make out.Froch may not be the fastest but his punch accuracy is amongst the best in boxing.Timing can negate speed and Froch was landing some beautiful shots on Taylor throughout the night systematically beating Jermaine up to the stoppage.
Impress you or not, Pascal's tier rating isn't opinion based. He's the WBC light heavyweight champion. So yeah, Froch beating a guy convincingly who was then able to move up to light heavy and take a major belt is a thing of note. And quit with the Taylor runs out of gas comments. There are so many excuses others offer for Taylor. After the Spinks fight it was, "Taylor fights with no passion, his work rate is too low." After losing to Pavlik then it became, "Taylor over extends himself physically..... running out of gas late". If only every KO loss was rationalized with, "nah, he wasn't TRULY knocked out.... poor guy was just dead tired." Even if that was truly the case (which I doubt) then all the more praise for Froch. That fight is 12 rounds, if one is more apt to handle himself in the 12th and final round then kudos for him. If Taylor had the possibility of gassing well then so did Froch.... but guess who didn't gass: Froch. Being adequately prepared for a fight is just as important as being in the ring and fighting. If you fail at one aspect (preparation) and that causes you to come up sort with another aspect (winning the fight).... then you're the One and True loser of that fight. Try as some of you might, you can't take the win from Froch. Shift the focus to talk about Taylor gassing (which is bs anyway) and you still are left with Froch being the better fighter and Taylor being the lesser.
Froch can't be tired with his more than conservative workrate. Prop to him for knocking a washed up 160lbs but it is what it is, poor fight from Froch, great KO at the end, that's what matters anyway.
I really like Froch he is a "no nonsence" kind of fighter he always fight like a man. He was a WC as amateur and is unbeaten as pro in 25 fights and a KO rate at 80% it speaks for itself...World Class fighter. For me his biggest assets is his stamina and his willpower...no one in Super six beats him in these areas i think.
Alot of american fighters tend to make shots from different angles and it does look really impressive when its succesful. But the problem with shots made from angles is that they come from an off-balance position and therefore they are not so powerful. Most european throw straight rights shot from perfect balance position, and therefore its a harder punch. It doesnt look as pretty but its more effectice and i think alot of americans underestimate that fact.
That uppercut he throws from half way across with either hand is really something! I like Froch a lot, but I think Direll is going to be the fastest fighter he has ever been against. Wonder how he will adapt to Direll's speed.
Damn good point about angles but I don't think it applies to MOST Europeans or Americans. None of those generalizations are true the way they might have been a decade ago. Some Americans are good at throwing from odd angles but so are some Euros. Some Euros throw only straight textbook punches but so do some Americans. You have to jude it on an individual basis.
Dirrel doesnt have awesome footwork. He has fast feet. Footwork is aligning yourself perfectly when either punching or on the defensive. Dirrell has fast feet, but he fights off handspeed, which means he often gets himself in awkward positions during fights. He hasnt fought anyone good enough to take advantage of this however. When pressed Dirrell may find himself out of position and not able to properly fire off on punches, which I think will happen against Froch.
I had Froch losing to Taylor, by four rounds or something before the 12th, but Froch was in it from the 4th on, making Taylor work. Froch's stalking forced Taylor to fight at a higher pace than he wanted to, causing him to tire. But Froch was getting blasted by some nasty shots and was stung more than once. Dirrel isn't even as good as Jermain was at the same stage in their career.
Breaking News: Just because you are a belt holder doesn't mean you are great. Thats a **** excuse. Heres some more breaking news, when you get dead tired your hands drop and open you up. I took nothing away from Froch, just spoke the truth, deal with it.