It seems every time I write a piece on Nottingham’s Cobra, Carl Froch, there is a downbeat tone to proceedings these days. And that’s not for want of trying. If I were to be writing about one of his past glories then maybe I could inject some enthusiasm, well – I definitely could, because contrary to popular belief, I’m a big Froch fan – and followed his career throughout his domestic days, through the legendary world title winning fight with Jean Pascal, into the Super Six and beyond.
Right up until now.
And since “knocking out George Groves in front of 80k at Wembley” – by virtue of that phrase alone – Carl Froch has become a parody of himself, a cartoon character – and, thanks to his past reality TV turns – a bit of a “celebrity” over here in England.
He has obviously been growing comfortable away from the ring, basking in whatever limelight that brings via twitter wars with Joe Calzaghe and Sky TV punditry duties, and has been very publicly contemplating retirement – and the deadline for his promised announcement over his future, has now (predictably) passed.
I’ve been saying for ages that Carl should just make the announcement already and bow out on a proud career – he is a very rich man – but he keeps getting tempted by talk of “one last super fight” – the latest being against GGG.
A fight they keep saying “could be at Wembley” just like Groves.
Golovkin actually will take that fight. I think that’s part of the problem for Froch at this stage of his career. You can’t just TALK about these things. Once upon a time I would have believed him – he is indeed a proud warrior. But not at 38 after a year’s worth of ring rust, even if Golovkin isn’t a big middleweight.
Froch used to say the dream end for him was the “Vegas” headliner but that went wrong with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s career – his proposed opponent – and no other suitable fight could really be found for him/the occasion.
So after all the talk from his trainer, Rob McCracken, promoter Eddie Hearn and everyone else close to Froch who said the decision is his and his only – we still await the ego of the man himself flipping that coin and being bothered to tell us all about it.
After being stripped of his WBA title through inactivity and vacating the IBF because of the man that won it – what else is really out there for Carl Froch?
A fighter picking a send-off ?
The answer is nothing. Not really.
Froch will retire, in fact he already has – he’s just got to decide when to tell us all about it. But when I hear him tell us the next time he’s making an announcement over his career, I’ll be sure to remember the children’s tale – “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
