Just how good is Carl Froch?

Froch has proven me wrong in this tourney but I also noted that he doesnt like Body shots that Johnson hit him with tuff night ahead for him against Ward....

 

Ah, gotta love the bailey propaganda machine, it rolls on ...

bailey is here suggesting that maybe Carl Froch isn't so good, even though he's a "fan".

Why would ole bailey do that?

He's laying the groundwork to discredit a Ward win over Froch (i.e. a win over Froch isn't much of an achievement). His secondary goal (in the unlikely event of a Froch win over Ward) is to prepare you all for the argument that a Froch win over Ward makes Kessler look that much better!

Why would he want do that? What agenda is this?

Well, as a few of you might have guessed, it all has to do with the Joe Calzaghe propaganda foundation, the founder, CEO, and chief boxrec scholar is none other than bailey himself.

Ward and Froch are dangerously close to superseding Calzaghe in terms of resume. bailey can't have that. He must be prepared with sophistical and boxrec-addled arguments in defense of his idol. And here we have a little trial ballon that he has let loose on the ESB general forum, under the pretext of an honest discussion about Carl Froch's abilities.

Do I have it about right, bailey?

 

Hahahahahahaha!

Edit: you forgot 'bringing down this generation of SMW's' as an agenda item, since he thinks JC's era is THE best in SMW history.

 

How did u score the Kessler fight Bailey ? I think froch wins a rematch if he uses his jab more and reach. He demonstrated that he could outbox Kessler at times from the outside. I scored it a draw, Not disgusted at the decision though, could have went either way. He was very frustrating in that fight, a prime example of him losing his gameplan. He was ****ing entertaining though!

 

#2 Kessler was beaten by a 35 year old, #1 Calzaghe... you can't argue Calzaghe was a useless, worn down POS at the time - "old" Joe was #1, period. The mid-2000's were ruled by a few guys at 168, just like it's now been for about 2 years. There's like 3 or 4 top tier 168 fights per year. Unifications are also tougher in terms of opponents level now... Ward-Froch isn't Kessler-Beyer or Calzaghe-Lacy.

Bute looked lucky against Andrade?! Some say he was sick, I prefer to remember the way he adjusted in the rematch by KO'ing a tough SOB who had never been down.

Ward-Bika a draw? WHooooooa. Bika was active in the early rounds if I recall correctly, and did some damage around the 9th/10th, but I wouldn't go higher than 4 rounds. One judge had it 120-108, right? Well fvck no. But it sure wasn't a draw either.

 

Good not great

 

Now heres where the thoughts are.
Froch looked lucky to many early in his career against C Adamu
Against B Magee, Froch was only 1 point ahead on 2 of the judges cards
Against J Taylor, Froch was behind on 2 of the judges cards

He still beat all three clearly!

Frochs win over A Dirrell was a SD that some felt he looked lucky

Yes, not very impressive fight for either of the two.

Froch lost to M Kessler coming off a loss

Yes, but to me this is one of Froch's top three performances. Kessler has lost perhaps 17 rounds his entire career over 40 fights. Froch managed to win about 5 after having some travel trouble. I think Froch looked good and Kessler fought him totally differently to what anyone expected.

Frochs win over G Johnson was a MD

But it should have been a UD. However, Froch looked sluggish for the first 7 rounds or so. He won clearly but didn't look impressive I agree.

Clear win over Abraham coming off a DQ loss

Yes, Froch looked strong here. About the same as in the Kessler fight, Abraham was just much less of an opponent.

Good win over Pascal who went on to become LHW champ

Froch actually looked very messy in this fight. The entire fight was a slug fest with little defense shown by either fighter.


For me these are Carl's best performances:

1. Abraham. Abraham was overmatched in the division, but is still a dangerous opponent and Froch looked fast and confident the entire fight.

2. Kessler. Froch looked unusually fast and confident most of the fight. Kessler just fought very differently to what was expected and won fairly. Carl actually fought really well here and the fight was a strong candidate for FOTY. Still because Froch lost I'll put it behind the Abraham fight.

3. Taylor. Sure Froch was behind on the scorecards, but he shouldn't have been. Even the American TV commentators had the fight even or one for Taylor after 11. So with a KD Froch should have won the fight even without a stoppage. Froch came back very strongly here and this was a very great finish too. Could be even higher on the list.

4. Pascal. Good win for Froch but the fight was actually very messy. Still the way it went suited Froch more than Pascal and Froch won fairly.

Johnson was not an impressive win for me. Johnson was old and slow, but Carl seemed to have no energy even at the presentation. Usually he is fired up, but here he seemed like in a daze.

 

Froch clearly lost to Kessler.

Froch got a borderline decision over Dirrell, and would lose a rematch decisively.

Froch was lucky to beat Taylor, and was 14 seconds away from a clear loss.

Froch will lose clealy against Ward. He is going to get Lacy'd.

Froch would have been humiliated against Calzaghe.

But.....

Froch did better against Kessler than expected. Showing he could box as well as brawl.

Froch dug deep to beat Taylor, and while his flaws got exposed, so did his strengths.

Froch beat the **** out of Abraham.

Froch has a great jaw, good physical attributes like speed, power, stamina. He is also constantly improving his skills. He also has balls and the mental strength to win.

He is in the top 5 of the division, which isn't bad considering how deep the division is. I don't think he will ever be #1 in the division, not with guys like Ward around.

 

Not that good.

 

I think Froch is very good.

I'm a big fan and thus it's hard for me to shed an objective opinion on him. You'd think he could do better defensively but his style is his style. If he keeps his left down naturally then to try and change that at this stage could serve as a hinderence to everything else he does well.

I think he has the best resume in recent years, and as of now, should be ranked as the no.2 SMW in the world (Ward being no.1). Bute hasn't fought good enough competition to establish himself as ranked higher than Carl (thats not to say he's better/worse), but Carl's loss to Kessler in my mind ranks him 1 step below Ward.

We will see exactly how good he is when he steps in the ring with Ward. I expect him to lose by decision, but I don't expect it'll be an easy nights work by any means for Ward.