15 years ago today, British warrior, Hall of Famer Carl Froch pulled off one of the most stunning last round wins ever seen. “The Cobra,” who was making the first defence of the WBC super middleweight title he had won in a thrilling war with Jean Pascal, met former middleweight king Jermain Taylor in a fight dubbed “Continents Collide.”
The fight took place in Connecticut, and Froch scored a desperate, late comeback of a win that instantly had fans thinking and comparing it with the likes of Jake LaMotta-Laurent Dauthuille and Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor.
Froch was unbeaten at 24-0, while challenger Taylor was 28-2-1. “Bad Intentions” was the betting favourite to win. Froch, however, proved he was a real, never say die warrior. Taylor, the better, more polished boxer of the two, also showed accurate punching power. In the third round, Froch was dropped for the first time in his career, and he did look shocked.
Taylor was bagging the rounds, he was being the boss as well as the superior boxer. It really did look for all the world that Froch would lose the world title he had fought so hard to win, this in his maiden defence. The fight – shown on terrestrial TV here in the UK – was proving to be an uphill battle for the slow-starting Froch.
Taylor’s right hand, the punch that had scored the knockdown, continued to serve him well, Froch looking somewhat easy to hit. But as would prove to be a continuing theme in Taylor’s career, he began to fade in the later rounds. And Froch, behind by quite a margin on two of the three official cards, managed to dig deep and do what his trainer, Rob McCracken instructed him to do: “something special.”
Going into the 12th round, Taylor had merely to stay on his feet to the final bell and the belt would be his. Froch, though, sensing how Taylor was close to gassing out, reached deep inside and produced an astonishing rescue job. Froch landed his own right hand and Taylor was badly hurt. Froch poured it on, his heavy, desperate shots coming thick and fast. Taylor was doing all he could to hang in there, but finally a big right sent him to the canvas. Showing heart, Taylor got back up, but Froch was not about to let his wounded prey off the hook.
Taylor was shipping more damaging shots as he was beaten up on the ropes, and finally referee Mike Ortega dived in. There were just 14 clicks left on the clock. Both men showed mutual respect during the aftermath. Froch called out Joe Calzaghe.
Sadly for the fans, a Froch-Calzaghe showdown failed to come off. What a great fight that one would have been. But after the comeback sensation he has scored in catching up with Taylor, Froch was a big attraction, his next fight much looked forward to. And as we know, Froch would engage in a quite impressive number of world title fights, 12 in total.
Froch scored 24 KO’s during his fight-the-best career, yet no knockout “The Cobra” scored was as dramatic as the one he pulled out of the bag 15 years ago today.
