Is Froch the Weak Link In the Super Middleweight Tourney?
July 10th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: Showtime’s six-man tourney starts in October and will consist of Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell who participate in a series of bouts that will string out through 2010 until June when a winner is eventually decided. Of the fighters participating, most of them have superb hand speed, and boxing ability.
Had it not been for the knockout, Froch would have lost the fight. I don’t see that happening again, because Taylor, a superb boxer/puncher, won’t make the mistake of trying to slug it out with Froch again like last time. This leaves Froch in a bad position, because he doesn’t match up well with the speedier, better skilled fighters in the tourney like Dirrell, Ward and especially Kessler.
Those fights look like one-sided mismatches with Froch taking a beating. The tourney has been said to be being finalized. The tourney will be a big chance for Froch to show his skills to American audiences. But it also there’s a good chance that the American audiences will see Froch fall on his face, because he’s facing highly skilled fighters with speed and power above his own.
Froch may not be happy with having been skipped over all these years by Joe Calzaghe, but by taking part in this tourney, Froch might be the weak link in the chain. That’s nothing for Froch to be ashamed of, because it least he was thought well enough to be one of the six fighters invited to the tourney. That says something about where he stands. He’s at least one of the six or seven best fighters in the super middleweight division. The problem here is that I see Froch as being the bottom feeder in the bunch.
That’s still nothing to be ashamed of, because of Calzaghe was participating in the tourney, my guess is that Calzaghe would be beaten by most of these fighters with the possible exception of Kessler and Froch. It doesn’t matter if Froch losses badly against all the fighters. He still will be a household name by the end of the tourney, well known to many boxing fans and that’s not half bad, is it?
Froch has a chance to make history should he beat all these guys and come out the winner of the tourney. I can’t see it happening, but if Froch somehow does get by all these guys, he will have done more in his career than most super middleweights have accomplished, even Calzaghe himself.
The winner of this tourney will be considered the top guy in the division and will likely be able to command big paydays. I just can’t see that being Froch, because of his lack of speed and boxing ability.
Tags: 43 Responses to “Is Froch the Weak Link In the Super Middleweight Tourney?”
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Spot on jonny, has everyone gone mad or is the smw division gettin shit cos carl froch is proper shit and even painful to watch sometimes, better defence on my nan..
im british i h8 froch hes an overated fighter who won a vacated belt and in dis tournament he will get found out he will beat taylor and no 1 else he has no power keeps his hans down low and throws 1 punch nearly all da tym with hardly ever throwin a combo kessler will destroy him and n he will retire bcoz of da beatin he ill recieve
What a load of rubbish, he’s making on kessler is one of the worst too when he’s obviously the best one going in to this tournament. I would say Froch is the next favourite behind him. Also underratting his victory against Pascall who just stepped up weight and became a world champion!!!
Haha if it wasn’t for the knockout Froch would have lost to Taylor. Guess we should scratch off nearly all of Tyson’s wins then as… if it wasn’t for the knockout he would have lost. Ha another braindead posting from Gilfoid.
it’ll just be the same as that night when all the yanks were takin the p5s out of Carl and then he slaughtered Taylor with 30 seconds of agression. I thought Froch was fighting in November but this tournie sounds good and i think he will remain undefeated.
weakest link my arse froch will knock the lot of em out n win the tournament no probs go on the cobra true warrior
Right, the Europeans have titles and the yanks have none. Also, they are all stay at home fighters two of whom havn’t fought superior Europeans for titles. The other has lost twice to pavlic and made froch go to the states to defend his own title. And there is three of them in the tornament!….
The Yanks are getting desperate for a title. This tournament is a joke.
im looking forward too see froch knock dirrel out in 5 rounds and seeing your face
how is froch the weak link i would say he is second favorite after kessler
show me a man with just a heart and ill show u a man ready to take a heart sized beating.
The guy who wrote this is clearly American, Calzaghe to loose against these guys???? Maybe if he didnt train and put on 5 stone!! Carl Froch WILL do well in this comp and Froch Vs Kessler should be a great fight!! Im so bored of reading stupid American opinions on this site! (there ARE other countries outside the USA dickheads) Basically whoever wrote this should be shot as its not journalism just boring fat american biased bullshit!!
Froch probably not the best or the complete article.Talking of articles-did the “journalist” seriously get paid for this?No Calzaghe fan despite being a proud Welshman but try to be an impartial pundit-Joe would win this hands down.You should quit “Scribe” and go write “Mills and Boon” romance fiction!Pathetic Boy!
weakest link? are u for real scott, dirrell and ward will get smashed by Froch, I think he will be too strong for abraham, i dont think he will make the same slow start with taylor, really its all about froch and kessler
Scott “i hate Brits” Gilfoid strikes again.In the parthenon of clueless contributers you are the Daddy Scotty boy.
wheres lucian bute in this then guess he is a fag.
and btw ur articles is shit i think every1 forgets tht calzaghe nearly knocked kessler out and he dont even hit as hard as froch does due to his hand problems.
i see froch knocking out most of these guys and exsposing there lack of heart
ill tell all of you now, we dont get paid and im as fed up like everyone else, scott gilfoid is clearly michael liebermann, if we got paid then liebermann, gilfoid and perez would be mercenaries. perez was actually once a pretty good writer a while back to give him some credit but hes jus hurt by pacquiao beating his countrymen, gilfoid is just a pre-pubescent boy with no knowledge and is borderline racist. the editors wont do anything because his articles are read and commented on the most and thats because they provoke. if you want to read decent articles and non biased, check out the other guys who contribute every other day with real pieces. if you want gilfoid off just dont give him the views or comments
any1 help ?? was watching the fights last night on skysports 1 and wandering what the name of 1 of the guys was…. think it was crewz?
Truth hurts does it anon? Chris Pole and Rolf are spot on, Americans are no longer the dominant force in boxing and this is the reason they attmept to tarnish and dismiss the acheievements of non-american boxers with articles such as this one. Its a lame attempt to convince us that america is superior (not all american fans by the way, just the racist jerks). Grow up please and accept there is a world outside of the not so mighty USA.
“Maybe in europe, where promoters pad records with bums and zombies.”
Yes, if only those horrid Europeans were like the noble Americans who fight only the big fights. Take Pavlik for example, no small names for him. He lines up the mighty Sergio Mora, Rubio and Felix Sturm. Or Roy Jones, who would never think of fighting the lowly likes of Reggie Johnson or Tony Thornto- oh wait.
Did Scott Gilfoid get dropped on hes head as a baby???
hey scott if froch was american what would you be saying? You are a racist brit hater who uses this sight to prevoke boxing fans especially british fans. your articles are a joke they are inacurate and full of racism. You dont have a good thing to say about any british fighter. unfortunatly this site is run by americans so looks like we are going to have to put up with you racist articles.
Guys if you dont like what you read email the editor.
One more thing. Calzaghe would enter as the favorite against every single member of the abovementioned group both here and in the US.
Are you fck insane, Froch is the real hard hitting deal, he smashes Taylor out of there the way he did and with his previous performances you rate him a bottom feeder?
Are you insane.
Listen no offense but your post is WAY of mark, Froch is not perfect but you forget to mention his qualitys and strenghts, POWER, RUTHLESS, RING CRAFT, he is with out question a great great boxer a WINNER, and is unrelenting.
I think your post is silly mate, a silly post by some one that does not know boxing nor is a proper boxing fan and what you talking about calazghi would get beaten by all of them, your nuts and I dont like calazghi to be honest but he is a bit special.
No offense but this is a rediculas post on an other wise great site.
Lol ‘…more european fighters begin to dominate the rankings.’ Maybe in europe, where promoters pad records with bums and zombies.
Is it even worth the rest of the world attempting boxing? Are all fighters outside of the USA useless? If you believe stuff written on this site then non-americans may aswell give up now. Or is it just that Scott Gilfoid is a bitter yank who is seeing american dominance of boxing slip away as more and more european fighters begin to dominate the rankings, just as they are doing in the yanks beloved basketball. Face it Scott, the world is catching up and begininning to overtake and you cant stand it.
you sayin it like he a legend johno,how has he exactly taken on all comers,he only fought taylor who is yesterdays man and hardly looked impressive did he
Scotty another ridiculous article, Froch is a breath of fresh air, he takes on all comers. I cant understand why Ward and Dirrell are there must be to make up the numbers.
typical gilfoid nonsense!!!froch and kessler are head and shoulders above the other 4 fighters,anybody with half a brain can see that!!just goes to show why gilfoid thinks otherwise.
To say that Calzaghe woulda lost to all of these guys is a stretch, and to call Froch the weak links isn’t entirely fair…his other qualities…toughness and stamina and strength can not be overlooked. But I tend to agree that he’s the least skilled fighter of the bunch. Personally, I think Allan Green could possibly beat everyone in the tourney.
If you cast your mind back to the Pascal encounter Scott, Froch actually captured the initiative in the sixth or seventh round by falling back on his skills (up until that point it had been a barnburner). He kept Pascal at bay for the rest of the contest with that long accurate jab. It must also be noted that if Froch is really as slow as you profess, he would have been unable to score points on Pascal (Who incidentaly is now WBC LHW champ) or catch up with Jermain Taylor in the closing staza of his first defence.
If Froch does have a weakness it is that in looking for the highlight reel finish, he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve and leave himself unneccasarily open.
You insist that Taylor would emerge victorious in a rematch but have you considered the first fight from this perspective? Jermain was forced to box to his maximum potential just to keep a gung ho Carl Froch off him and in the end, when Froch warmed to the task and (to be totally fair) Taylor ran out of puff, it was still not enough. When a boxer’s heart is broken in that fashion, it is very uncommon for a rematch to yield a different winner (Arguello/Pryor, Walcott/Marciano Morales/Pacman 2 and of course Taylor/Pavlik) although there are exceptions such as Mormeck/Bell 2 but skeptics argue that the open scoring system used that night rescued Mormeck from suffering a second knockout.
You also fail to mention the qualities that Froch DOES have over his rivals. An implacable will to win(a department in which Bute, and to a lesser extent Kessler, have both been found slightly wanting), raw physical strength and a frightening “corkscrew” uppercut (one of the best in the world IMO).
BLADE AND MATT W … LOOKS LIKE A BLOSSOMING ROMANCE
show me a man with just a heart and ill show u a man ready to take a heart sized beating.
scott your a mug , why not try writing about ten pin bowling because you know f**kall about boxing , mug !!!!
I hope Froch can pull it off. His hope his is power and could stop all of these fighters except Kessler.
No doubt Froch is the weak link. I would definitely put him behind the guy he’s already beaten and the other unproven fighters who don’t have a world title like Froch does. Yes siree.
matt w,yeah but i still don’t like you
blade 4once we are in agreement! ur still a punk tho
Most of the guys would beat calzaghe?What a load of shite,do you actually get paid for your report,be gutted if you do cos you just wrote the biggest load of shite i ever seen on here
Racism is an understatement with this man, hes made two Froch bashing articles in a few days. He is getting worse than Perez.
jjmmjgty ymj6tt6m you make me so angry i hit my ketboard you twat, I HATE YOU DUMBAS YANKS froch will smash any of your loser fighters . kessler is the only one who’d have a chance againts him and he’s only a little bit less awfull then froch himself
you might be right, froch might not be the best or the fastest, but the guys as tough as old boots with a huge heart and that counts for a lot, i think hes got as good a chance as all the other guys.
Your analysis is subjective, biased and unjustifiable. I shouldn’t think ‘The Ring’ writers are quaking in their boots. Amateur.
put another record on cos your getting to predictable.
scott u british bashing arsehole! find a new topic rather than hateing on our fighters all the time…..
god i hate u.