Carl Froch received quite a bit of criticism for his recent calling out of the long since retired Joe Calzaghe. Froch said he would “flatten” Calzaghe, aged 48 if he did agree to come back (he hasn’t, and he won’t; Joe content in retirement). And now, in speaking with Talk Sport on the Calzaghe fight, Froch says he would have knocked Joe out had they fought way back when.
Froch points to the fact that both Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones decked Calzaghe, and how Egyptian fighter Kabary Salem also manged to put Calzaghe down. “The Cobra” is adamant that he would have knocked Calzaghe out if the two had fought.
“I’ve said many times; I think I’d have knocked him out. I think I’d have been too much for him,” Froch said of Calzaghe. “Let’s not forget what Robin Reid did – split decision – I thought he [Reid] won the fight. And then Hopkins was close to beating him, the old Roy Jones was well finished but came close and took him the distance.
“He’s been dropped a couple of times – he’s been dropped by a guy called Kabary Salem, an Egyptian guy I was training within New York. He told me that Calzaghe doesn’t punch hard. If someone doesn’t punch hard against me, I close the distance and then try and land that uppercut, that big uppercut or that big right hand. We’ll never know, but I back myself to beat Joe Calzaghe, and I’d back myself to beat Canelo.”
While Calzaghe’s feud with Froch is old news (Calzaghe has let it go, but Froch seemingly cannot do so), it’s unclear why Froch brought up Canelo’s name. Recently Froch said he’d have been too much for Gennady Golovkin (yet he turned down the fight because he says the 166-pound catch-weight offered to him would have left him too drained) and now he says he’d have beaten Canelo. Is there anyone Froch doesn’t back himself to defeat!
“If I’d boxed Canelo, I don’t think I can be knocked out, but you never know he might have knocked me out,” Froch said. “I might’ve outboxed him; I think I’m too big for him. I just think height and reach is a big advantage in boxing and I had that over GGG, I had it over Canelo as well.”
Froch’s strong and unshakable self-belief is no doubt one of the reasons he was so successful in the ring. Not too many fans like hearing what the 42-year-old has to say these days, but it must be understood why Froch is the way he is. That’s how he had to be in order to beat all the fine fighters he defeated when he was fighting. Froch, it seems, cannot “turn it off.”
Carl Froch’s career record is 33-2 with 24 knockouts.
