Froch tells Loeffler he'd "tear Golovkin to pieces"

I am factoring Froch's age when I say that. He's been in a lot of wars but I do think it would be competitive even though DeGale would win wide, IMO. Prime Froch vs prime DeGale is a different matter but I'd still favour DeGale to out box him. Froch might catch up to him late though. I'd favour prime Bute over DeGale but it would be very competitive.

Froch is an overachiever who gets by on insane toughness, durability, grit and desire whereas Bute and DeGale are much more naturally gifted athletically. Froch does have some underrated boxing ability though and he has quite an awkward style. I knew Froch was going to become a world champion after watching a couple of his fights and I've been following his career since his debut.

 

I felt he would be intimidated by DeGale's unpredictability (the angles of his shots), speed and power, especially considering where he was at with regards to his lack of self-confidence. I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong about that though. Thing is there's no reason for Bute to lack self-belief considering the talent he possesses. He's athletically gifted, is skillful, can bang hard and his chin is a lot better than many will have you believe. The shot that Golovkin flattened him with in the amateurs was an absolute peach.

And the KD against Andrade in the dying seconds of their first fight was more to do with Bute being absolutely exhausted than any weakness in the chin department. Bute had spent the previous 11 rounds pounding on the titanium mandible of Andrade like a mad man. Andrade was a freakishly tough man and he just kept coming and coming applying constant pressure and walking through everything Bute threw at him. Facing an opponent like that can be extremely draining mentally for a fighter let alone physically. Lennox Lewis once said that he ran out of gas in an amateur bout because his opponent was able to walk through everything he threw at him and just kept coming and coming. No matter how hard or how many times he hit him he couldn't deter him from coming forward.

And if the stoppage loss Bute suffered against Froch (who is very heavy handed and sinewy strong) is indicative of him having a weak chin then god knows how many flush power punches Froch would have to land on someone with an iron chin to get them out of there. Bute stood up to a ridiculous amount of flush hard shots in that one before he inevitably wilted.

 

Both DeGale and Bute beat Jack, IMO. Jack's a nice guy and he has definitely improved but I'd favour both to beat him. Prime Bute stops Jack and I wouldn't be surprised if DeGale was able to as well. But yes they would be competitive fights.

 

Thanks. Bute did pretty well in that one prior to him getting clipped IIRC. :good

 

:yep

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