It’s a debate that never seems to get old among the fans. Had 2014 Hall of Fame inductee Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch ended up fighting back in the day, who would have won?
Most – me included – feel that Joe would have had too much for a solid – yet basic – fighter like Froch.
Too smart, too fast and too busy – he would have run rings around Carl for 12 hard rounds – yet the Nottingham man would have stood a punchers chance.
He always does depending who he’s fighting – and had they fought in their primes, we could have definitely seen a Calzaghe/Robin Reid type of fight, given Carl’s style.
That, for those who’ve seen it – was a close one!
Over the years Froch has delighted in accusing the modest Welshman of ‘ducking’ him, which is a laughable assertion when you consider Carl Froch only won his first world title at the ass end of 2008 in his electrifying war against Canada’s Jean Pascal.
Joe Calzaghe boxed his last fight – against modern great Roy Jones Jr – the month before, up at 175lb. He was an established world champion who didn’t need Carl Froch at that stage of his career and the truth of the matter for me is that they simply missed each other – as we saw a changing of the super middleweight guard in this country.
That fight made no sense whatsoever at that time for Joe Calzaghe.
Regardless of all that, following James DeGale’s brilliant world title win against Andre Dirrell, Joe Calzaghe took to twitter to congratulate ‘Chunky’ and state his belief that the gold medal winning Olympian would ‘whoop’ Froch.
“Congrats to @jamesdegale1 I think he’d whoop Froch! Predictions???”
This kicked off a reply and a series of exchanges with Froch – who incidentally vacated the IBF belt DeGale won rather than fight the Harlesden man himself.
He replied;
“You didn’t fancy the job!” followed by two emoticons. One of a steaming turd, the other a smiley face!
Calzaghe, then felt the need to remind those who compare the resumes of the two men – that he beat a better version of Mikkel Kessler than Froch lost to – before avenging the defeat.
He replied;
“Lucky for you (in Nov 07) I fought the best @MikkelKessler at his peak! Remember then you couldn’t fill a phone box!” – he also returned the emoticon gesture!
Foch said back;
“Disappointed in @RealJoeCalzaghe Engages me in twitter battle then blocks me! How’s he even relevant….unless he wants a straightner.”
Joe then tweeted;
“@Carl_Froch Funny how you’ve never been brave enough to say shit to my face! Yet brave on twitter! PATHETIC”
And it didn’t end there for Froch, who hit back with;
“@RealJoeCalzaghe Yet you’ve crumbled in my company on many occasions & you know when! You’re always talking about me!! #Jealous #obsessed ”
Joe then signed off with a picture of a group of trees – referencing Froch’s sycophantic and widely mocked “chat” with Floyd Mayweather at the Pacquiao weigh in, where he told the P4P king that he too incorporates “chopping down a few trees” in his training regime!
He tweeted;
“Enough twitter fun for today!! gardening time! First things first! which tree shall I chop down first??”
Following the exchanges, unbeaten WBO 160lb mandatory Billy Joe Saunders came to the defence of Calzaghe, tweeting;
“For me @RealJoeCalzaghe is the best we have produced in our error! (sic) Unbeaten and beat them all and would have done the same to Froch”
Joe’s father and son, also both chipped in.
Joe Jnr said;
@CarlFroch if you apologise now I’ll let you hold my dad’s Ring magazine belt for a day….sadly you’ve always been number two!”
Enzo, who trained Calzaghe for the entirety of his career, said;
“I’m so tired of hearing Froch blabbing his mouth off about himself on tv. I really believe he’s the most diss liked boxer in briton ciao enzo” (sic)
What do you think?
Calzaghe or Froch?
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
