Are you kidding me? Actually Froch brings all those things i bolted in your post at the same time. Dude those guys you mentioned are absolute mediocre at best. Froch did beat Pascal the man at 175 where he did beat Dawson. So what I am saying Bute has seen alot but NOT in the one package as Froch is... Froch did not lose Kessler either, it was controversial decision where i had Froch taking the edge. Froch is proven to compete with elite level. Froch is not fast and flashy but he got GOOD skills. he could box walking mummy Andrade easily or taking the harder way slug it out and KO andrade which Froch tend to do alot..:yep
Froch did lose to the absolute worst version of Kessler to ever be in a ring. Froch only way to beat a guy as complete as Bute is to knock him out, see the fight with Taylor for a perfect emxemple. Froch will not make the S6 final and in a year or two, after losing the rematch vs Pascal, he will retire or take a gatekeeper role.
In this case, its retirement for him in no more than two or three years. He's already sliding, he was much better in 2007-2008 than he is now.
Nothing "controversial" about that decision. It was a good and competitive fight, where Kessler clearly had the upper hand most of the time. I don't think any serious boxing writer or experienced fight fan had any problem with that decision... unless they're British, maybe. You can't call something "controversial" just because you and a bunch of Carl Froch fans don't agree with it. It didn't spark any damn controversy. But I have to say that 117-111 scorecard was absurd. The only ones who could score it that way, was the moronic Danish commentators who annoyed the hell out of me the first time.