Did Froch Win Any New Fans With His Victory Over Taylor?
April 29th, 2009
By Chris Williams: In looking back at World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s performance against Jermain Taylor last Saturday night, I’d have to say that Froch probably failed miserably in gaining any new American or British boxing fans despite his come from behind 12th round TKO win over Taylor. The performance was fatally flawed due to Froch being knocked down in the 3rd round, dominated for the first half of the fight, and his lack of any real defensive skills.
In contrast, Froch fought much more cautiously than Pavlik and looked even slower than him, and that’s not easy to do. After the fight, Froch gave a longwinded interview with Showtime in which Froch came across as a little defensive when questioned about his knockdown in the 3rd.
It wasn’t the type of interview that would likely won Froch any new fans, because besides his slight defensiveness, he then called out Joe Calzaghe, who’s retired and not interested in fighting Froch.
Froch’s seemed rather crude in comparison to the quicker, more technically oriented Taylor. Even when things were going right for Froch in the later rounds when Taylor was totally gassed out, Froch still looked barely able to win the rounds despite going all out. Taylor had nothing left by this point in the fight and was only fighting at about 50% of what he was in the early rounds.
Taylor was no longer throwing power shots and seemed limited to jabbing only. This should have been easy for Froch to dominate, but he couldn’t, because he seemed awkward and uncoordinated as he missed over and over again in trying to land his shots. In judging by the negative comments by American boxing fans on various internet sites, it seems that Froch’s poor performance didn’t escape the attention of the American fans, who were none too impressed with Froch.
Maybe things might have been different had Froch pressured Taylor more in the earlier rounds, when Taylor was at his strongest point. But, what happened was that Taylor, who had severe stamina issues going into this fight, tired out and only then was Froch able to get into the fight.
In watching how badly Taylor faded after the 4th, it’s hard to give Froch any credit whatsoever for it, because he wasn’t the reason why Taylor tired out. Froch wasn’t applying much pressure at all, and was fighting rather timidly.
It was Taylor’s own body that gave out on him, just as it had in the second half of his fights with Bernard Hopkins, Pavlik and to a certain extent against Cory Spinks and Jeff Lacy. It wasn’t so much what Froch did in the fight but rather Taylor running out of gas and then Froch taking advantage of the situation.
Tags: 11 Responses to “Did Froch Win Any New Fans With His Victory Over Taylor?”
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Froch is a nonce
Froch has limited skill and less potential than most people think, he will not last long as champion.
Taylor exposed the weaknesses that better punchers will exploit.
Froch had the fight lost up until 14 seconds from the end he got sat down by a smaller man not really noted for punching power, so no he did not win me over and will only be around long enough to be a footnote in the divisions history.
Calzaghe on the other hand would represent the only thing on Froch’s mind, a big payday before the inevitable happens.
Froch will not get rich from boxing and boxing will not be enriched by him constantly be-littling a retired Calzaghe.
Froch won me as a Fan,
I wasnt too impressed with Froch. I enjoy watching him fight and respect his attitude and heart.
But he lacks charisma. I dislike his promoter… and I think he has no defensive skills at all.
He appears awkward… geeky, abit nerdy and weird. Not very smooth. I dont like that.
I wish him well and i hope he keeps chasing the big tough fights. It doesnt matter if he loses.
Im not a Calzaghe fan either… But i thought i would end this with a comment saying Joe would beat Froch, on points.
The only way froch could beat joe is by catching joe with some huge power shots which he didnt see coming.
He lost all of wales when he called out joe, we all know he wont beat joe and even he does he just wants the attention
Imagine if taylor had gone to nottingham and won like that, he’d be hailed as a hero.Taylor was class on the night, but faded badly. froch took full advantage. it was a great, great fight. I think both fighters should be applauded and not knocked – this is what top class boxing is about, close fights. froch has to have new respect from the fans, very few fighters come from behind to win in world title fights like that. like him or lothe him, froch’s fights are good tv, unlike a lot of champions today who come to win and survive, not to fight and entertain.
Froch has definatley won more fans, more respect and more recognition, a lot of people respect the fact that to prove he is up there with the big boys, he travelled the pond and fought for a small purse, if he hasnt won fans he’s at least caught there eyes, theres been more Froch articles than anything else this week and they are all choco on the forums
“It wasn’t so much what Froch did in the fight but rather Taylor running out of gas and then Froch taking advantage of the situation.”- what froch did in the fight was take advantage, which was why he won.
but i partly agree with you, for a pleasant change. froch wouldn’t have won any fans over really, apart from the odd few who would have been impressed with the way he finished the fight. otherwise, he was pretty damn bad.
his defense was no-existant and what speed he has was thrown away with his low left hand. this i think he did because he wanted to appear confident and put on an exciting show, just like he did with pascal. however, taylor is a clear step up from pascal and nerves + a hostile atmosphere didn’t help. you could even hear him saying at times in his corner that he thought he would just put on a show at the end of some of the rounds, which was a big reason why he was so far behind on points.
froch was a very good amature and has partically good boxing skills and decent speed. this mixed with good power, a granite chin and great determination and heart makes him a very good fighter indeed, but unfortunatley he showed very few of these virtues. however, you can’t say that he was lucky to win because of taylors stamina though, it just can’t be accepted or justified. if it was the other way around, nobody would have given froch that excuse and championed it, so you can’t give it to taylor because he’s a decent bloke or because he’s american or whatever.
personally, i wouldn’t mind seeing the rematch froch offered (although i know this would make little different to anything) and for him to stop calling out calzaghe.
You know what Christine, I didnt like his postfight interview either.
I think he accepted the crackin shots that put him down but he tried to come across like he was in full control and was just biding his time waitin for Taylor to tire, rubbish, he was never in control. He gave Taylor the niceties but never gave any evidence that the big time is guna be tougher than he thought, he even went to the extreme that he thought he was winnin the fight.
Then i heard the word “CALZAGHE” and anything after that was just BLA BLA BLA coward BLA BLA BLA face me BLA BLA BLA.
But as for not winnin any fans over, i go on a few other forums, i read American based websites. It sounds like he has, they may of been dissapointed in his level of skill after all the hype but they like the fact he went there, faced Taylor, got knocked down and got up and even though he was gettin a kickin kept the faith, kept heart and kept goin and knocked the guy out. Americans appreciate a victorious underdog even if they cant appreciate the skill level.
To KO Jermain Taylor is a good achievment for anybody, half the world got hardons when Pavlik did it. And people can give praise to that.
Froch as a world champion facing the top players at super middle isnt goin to be a masterclass of excellence and boxin skillls but its guna be full on exciting stuff and who doesnt enjoy fights like that. Americans want to be entertained and he can do that.
I don,t know so much, at the end of the day, it was pray for the taking, they have all done it from Louis, more so Marcianno , Ali, i,m not saying he is in that league, short career likely, but for now job done, thats all he can do, in bringing the bacon home as they say
I think he will have won fans over. For what he lacked in defensive skills made it interesting, he showed he has a chin made of stone despite going down. He also showed he has the heart of a warrior and didn’t give up up his title and pressured taylor down the final straight into submission. when he sensed he had taylor hurt in the last, he jumped on him, kept enough distance between himself n taylor to fire shots. taylor threw some desperate shots which froch took one clean and side stepped the rest before stalking his opponents n hittin him with clean hard shots. he showed he can carry his power into the 12 round. ok so sure, he lacks defensive, leaves himself open, he needs to train on that because despite his impressive chin, it will lose him points and rounds. but no-one can doubt his heart determination and power and jermain taylor is a big scalp for someone america hadnt heard of a week ago.