Carl Froch: "I'd smash Lucian Bute to bits in 6 Rounds; he cannot hold a shot."

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Carl Froch Heads for Reservation Still Cussing Joe Calzaghe

Carl Froch is preparing for his fight against Jermain Taylor still angry that Joe Calzaghe refused to fight him

Fighters are driven by many things: ambition, money, fear, a hunger for applause. Carl Froch is motivated by all of these and one more – frustration.

As he heads for the backwoods of Connecticut to defend the WBC title he won in what most observers regard as the British fight of the year, a punishing points win over the undefeated Canadian Jean Pascal in Nottingham last December, Froch is a seething bag of anger. It is impossible not to feel for the unbeaten super-middleweight with the big right hand and the steely eyes, a seriously gifted fighter who has lived in the shadow of Joe Calzaghe for seven years only to reach his peak once the Welshman decides to retire.

Compounding Froch's frustration, he then wins Joe's old title and virtually has to beg the mandatory challenger, Jermain Taylor, to share a ring with him for his first defence – on an Indian reservation in Mashantucket, an hour from the nearest airport. If that were not enough to mess up his psyche, he now finds that British television stations are reluctant to pay for a live screening of the fight, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino on 25 April, because they are strapped for cash.

If he were to wake up and discover that someone had run away with his wife and stolen his car it would be no more than of a piece with the wretched time he has had striving for recognition over seven years and 21 fights. While Taylor is the hurdle in front of him, Calzaghe remains the ghost behind him. For years Froch called Calzaghe out; for years Joe declined, saying he was busy elsewhere.

"It is the Trent water that makes me," says Froch, warming to his theme. "I don't talk for the sake of talking and I don't talk with a forked tongue. When I say I am going to win a world title, I mean it; when I say I'll fight the best, I mean it; I say I'll fight Joe Calzaghe because I wanted to.

"When he vacated, I lost sleep over that. It had nothing to do with money or the belt. He was renowned as the best super-middleweight in the world and that is what I want to be. I wanted to fight him to prove to people that I could knock him out in style and beat him easily. That is exactly what I think I can do, even still."

Froch is at that stage of his career, at the top of the home stretch, where he has to make it pay. And he is prepared to go anywhere, fight anyone, to achieve that.

"I think I can be remembered as a better champion than Joe especially with what I am doing by going over to America for my first defence. I'll fight [Kelly] Pavlik if he'll have it and I am happy to fight Mikkel Kessler in Copenhagen if I have to. The IBF champion, Lucien Bute, I would smash to bits in six rounds. He cannot hold a shot.

"David Haye shows a lot of guts and character the way he does things. He says he is going to do it and has a right go. He fought Jean-Marc Mormeck in France. He got a good payday for that but it was a risk. I am from the same sort of breed as David Haye, where I have got belief, self-confidence.

"There is a fine line between that and stupidity, but we both believe in our abilities. We are big punchers who are prepared to travel to get what we want out of the sport."

After sounding off at Calzaghe and praising Haye, Froch has plenty of ammunition left for Taylor. "He is a legitimate mandatory challenger but he is not man enough to come over to England. It shows his heart and love for the sport is a little bit limited. It is a ***** in his armor.

"I have boxed my last 10 or 11 fights at Nottingham Arena. I've sat in the changing rooms. I know what pattern the wall is. I know the colour of the carpets. It is too easy, too familiar. I put my shorts on, my boots on, have a drug test, warm up and go out and do the business. I don't get nervous, I don't get the adrenaline.

"At Foxwoods there will be Jermain Taylor's entourage giving it the big one, different press, the American accent, I'm away from home. It will lift me to that next level. I am going to shine and take the opportunity."

He reserves his final blast for British TV executives who are dithering over live coverage. "For Britain's only world champion to defend against a big name in America and not to be on British TV is ridiculous," he says. "It is not like I am fighting a bum or an ordinary top 10 fighter that nobody is interested in. This is a marquee-level fight."

Taylor, a bronze medalist at the Sydney Olympics, has beaten Bernard Hopkins twice and has enough credibility left – despite two losses to Pavlik – to be classed among America's boxing elite. He is fast, clever and dangerous – but British TV remains unconvinced.

"It must be the credit crunch," Froch said of the silence emanating from the offices of ITV, Sky and Setanta. "We all know what is happening with ITV. They are dropping X-Factor, Emmerdale, their share price has halved. They are in trouble because people aren't advertising. It is the current economic crisis.

"Setanta Sports say they are the home of boxing. Well, they should be getting behind a British boy who is our only world champion. And the budgets have also been cut at Sky."

The odds are Setanta will come in with a late bid and it will be accepted.

And then Froch might be satisfied, a genuine world champion, acclaimed at home and abroad and maybe just a little bit more at peace with himself.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 3/28/2009

 

True, that...

 

Setanta will pick it up at the last minute, for a rock-bottom price. But it won't be live on ITV...that's the big problem for Froch. ITV will probably only show it the next day, IF Froch wins.

 

All fighters without exception want the big fights when it suits them (when the risk/reward is very good)...and like almost all fighters out there, Froch did not want to fight the best when it didn't suit him (when the risk/reward was not very good) - he spent a much longer time than almost all fighters out there who end up winning a title fighting very poor competition at home, when he could have challenged himself against proven contenders and tough prospects - he dodged Bute in the IBF eliminator for example, prefering to fight the much better fighter instead - Tatevosyan - the man Bute just took to school, before fighting shot Reid instead of a proven, live contender...

Yap...the idea that Froch has been looking to fight the best is laughable...when you look at his past record...

And when you look at the options he's currently got:-

1. He's almost 32 and he's been a pro for donkey's years and he hasn't proved anything at world class level
2. He's not a draw in Britain, not even in his home town.
3. The British networks aren't prepared to hype him and market him
4. He's unknown and not rated in the rest of the world...He's 6th in The Ring's top 10, for example...and no one's heard of him in the USA or the rest of the world...
5. If he doesn't fight Taylor, he'd have to fight worse risk/rewards in Ward and Dirrell...
6. Given his skills and style, he's not going to get much better in future...
7. The division is becoming hot and it's "now or never" if you want to make the big bucks...

...so it makes more than good sense to chance it, get a couple of big paydays under his belt, make a name for himself in the process and then cash in a bit back in Nottingham...for, what other options does he really have? :conf

If you think he's in it for the glory and recognition or being a "hero" for going to fight Taylor in the USA, and for calling out the big names, you're a bit thick...sorry...

 

Froch is trying to market himself as the diet version of David Haye...but it's just not working, not even here in Britain...thank god! I mean, we've got Amir Khan...and he's a future p4p star in the makingatsch...but we're not that gullible...