Froch: “It’s pressure and I thrive on the stuff, as you know”

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (26-0, 20 KO’s) sounded his usually confident self in a recent press conference with his April 24th opponent former World Boxing Association super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler. Froch, talking about his upcoming fight against Kessler, said “It’s pressure and I thrive on the stuff, as you know,” according to Sky Sports. “I went into the lion’s den in Connecticut to fight Jermain Taylor in the middle of a big forest.” Oh brother. Froch is really making a big deal of traveling to the United States for his fight against the fading Taylor last year, but come on, Connecticut isn’t anywhere close to Arkansas, which is where Taylor comes from.

This wasn’t a fight that was attended by a huge horde of Taylor fans, because the fight was way out in the boondocks of Connecticut rather than anywhere close to Taylor’s home town of Little Rock, Arkansas. I’m not sure if Froch is aware how far away Arkansas is from Connecticut, but if he might be a little surprised at how far away it is if he was to look at a map. Arkansas is next to Texas, which is almost the midpoint of the U.S. Connecticut is all the way on the East Coast, miles and miles away.

I’m sure some of Taylor’s fans made the trip all the way to Connecticut to see him fight Froch, but probably not as many as Froch might think. My guess is this fight was filled with local people who were around the area at the Foxwoods resort. Taylor’s a fairly popular fighter, but he doesn’t have a huge fan base in the U.S. like Froch does in the UK.

Froch continues about his travels to fight Taylor in Connecticut, “It was difficult. There were 5000 fans booing me and about five fans cheering me, but when you are in that ring, it’s just you and your opponent and the referee. That’s it.”

Gosh, Froch is starting to sound really corny and melodramatic. Out of curiosity, I pulled out my DVD of the Froch-Taylor fight, and sure enough just as I remembered it, the fans at the fight were as quiet as a bunch of scared mice. This was hardly a hostile crowd that Froch was experiencing. All I can say is Froch might be confusing this fight with one of his others during his career, because the U.S. fans weren’t cheering or booing.

Sometimes there was some sporadic cheering, for example, when Taylor dropped Froch in the 3rd round with a right hand, but other than that, it was deathly quiet. Also, Froch was cheered when he dropped Taylor in the 12th round and then finished him off. Somehow, I seriously doubt that Taylor would be cheered if he ventured into Nottingham and took Froch out in a similar fashion.

Froch says “So the ring can be wherever, the result is going to be the same. I’m defending this title in the lion’s den [Herning, Denmark] and defending it in style, regardless of where it is.” Ok, we get your point, Froch.

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