Will Someone Shut Up Carl Froch?

By Kevin Pasquale: Showtime’s Super 6 Tournament, which now some are calling the “Super 5”, with the obliteration of Jermain Taylor, is the perfect tournament, for the following reason, amongst many. Some of the best super-middleweight fighters in the world will get the chance to defeat the overly arrogant, eminently beatable Carl Froch. Exhibit A:

just months ago, when facing Taylor for the Super middleweight championship, Taylor was manhandling Froch throughout the fight, flooring him in the 3rd, and generally beating him around the ring through 11 rounds. Then Jermain did what Jermain does: he fell apart, the mental machinery and belief in himself as a true champion vanished just like that, and he stood there, a pathetic target for Froch to whale away on in the 12th, ultimately stopping JT in the final frame. Not a victory Froch should boast about, but he did, going on about his will to win, his endurance, and his never giving up, etc., etc. That fight was a case of Jermain Taylor caving in, and Froch playing beneficiary to JT’s now reputation as a fighter who can’t last the full 12 rounds.

Fast forward to this fantastic tournament, with Taylor eeking his way into it somehow, as well as Froch. Froch stepped into the ring with the light-hitting, lightning-fast Andre Dirrell, boasting a youthful 18-0 record, and coming off of a poor performance in his most recent fight. As all fight fans witnessed, Andre did what Andre does: A LOT of running, aka, footwork, to get out of the way of Froch’s plodding rights and lefts, falling down when held by Froch, as if to imply he was being mugged, and generally staying off of the ropes. The fans at ringside grew restless, and the boos ensued. Still, Direll stuck to his game plan, and it gradually started to work. As opposed to simply avoiding the slow-footed Froch, Direll was very effective in ducking most of Froch’s shots, standing his ground, and counterpunched quickly and powerfully to the Englishmen’s chin. Froch did have his moments, chasing Direll around the ring, landing the occasional wild right hand, but Direll was never phased, and continued to keep the fight in the middle of the ring, and use his speed to deter Froch’s best-laid plans.

As the fight wore into the last 4 rounds, I wondered if Direll would fall victim to Froch’s constant rough-housing, wrestling tactics, punching to the back of the head, and start to tire. This never happened. And, this seemed to surprise Froch as well. As the 10th round wore down, Direll caught “The Cobra” with a phenomenally fast left hand square on Froch’s chin, and clearly hurt him. Froch wobbled toward the ropes, trying to find his bearings, as Direll chased him, throwing everything he had to try and floor Froch. The end of the round did come, and Froch, to his credit, survived it.

The 11th round was more of Direll’s superb conditioning, with him landing at will, and Froch mainly swinging at air, looking almost comically inept in doing so. Before the fight, Froch derided Direll for arriving in England only 4 days before the fight, maintaining that this would negatively affect Andre’s conditioning, and that he would pay for doing so. And, to add to Froch’s now-reknowned arrogance, he was offended by Direll’s apparent lack of professionalism by showing up so late.

Moving to the 12th, Direll largely played it safe, believing he had the victory in hand, and Froch sluggishly charged him, his punches lacking any steam or speed, and for that matter, coordination. The final bell rang, and I had given the fight to Direll, 114-113, due to some of his antics, and the point taken away from him for doing so. As we all know the fight was given to Froch in front of his hometown crowd, and during the post fight interview, he ridiculed Direll for not fighting like a man, although he, Froch, was the only man hurt in the fight, and, that he could fight Direll another 12 rounds that night, and still beat him. Unnecessary comments from a fighter who many considered defeated, and at the very least, did not look good in his victory.

So now, Froch moves on to Kessler, who is a heavy handed brawler, but has looked sluggish of late. As of now, I don’t know how the outcome of that fight will be, but I am awaiting round 3, when Froch will have to face Arthur Abraham. Then, the man they call “The Cobra” will have to devise a speech to explain how he got his head handed to him.

Every dog has his day.

As does every cobra.

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