Carl Froch: Time To Give Respect Where It’s Due

By Ricky Hale: (Photo Tom Casino / Showtime:) Now it may surprise some people who visit this site, but as a British writer I never rated Carl Froch. I felt he was good, but would come unstuck against genuine world class opposition. I never asserted publicly that he would lose to Abraham, I just couldn’t see how he could win. In recent fights against Dirrell and Taylor he was made to look slow. A plodding fighter who had seemed to reach the upper limit of how far he could go. I never doubted the man’s toughness or willingness to take on the best, but if the truth be known I wasn’t too sure that I liked him.

I supported him as a British fighter, but he repeatedly showed disrespect to a retired fighter in Joe Calzaghe (almost to the point of obsession) and seemed incapable of assessing his abilities or develop himself as a fighter. In short he was mouthy, tough, immature and naive. This was a guy who waded in with his hands down taking wild swings and sure it could entertain at times (just look at the Pascal fight) but this is a guy who would surely be found out.

Signs of a change in Froch were there in the build up to the Abraham fight, where his comments seemed to imply a little humility. He acknowledged it is foolish to trade with Abraham and a tactical approach may be required. He accepted he wasn’t quite fit enough or busy enough against Kessler (although he still maintains he won the fight.) In videos of training sessions he seemed to show signs of genuine improvement. He looked fast, fluid and focused. However, I saw those things and disregarded them ‘knowing’ that once he got in the ring we would see the same old Carl Froch. That delusional, naive brawler would revert to type and walk into the firing line of the biggest puncher in the Super Six tournament.

He was clearly going to get knocked out within 3 rounds! And this was going to be one of those career-ending brutal KO.s. The likes of which Jermaine Taylor received. Carl Froch would finally come down to Earth.

Stepping into the ring Froch looked understandably nervous, his legs visibly shaking. (I say understandably – I thought he was one of those guys so deluded his brain was incapable of such feeble notions as fear!) However, here was a man who had clearly deliberated the task at hand, who was under no illusions about the challenge at hand or the ferocity of Arthur Abraham. This was a man who knew he had to have a game-plan and boy did he nail that game-plan. He fought the first round legs still shaking, feeling his way into the fight smartly keeping his opponent at range. He’d clearly identified his jab as being a key weapon in unlocking AA’s peek-a-boo defence and began using it effectively. Then from the second round, once he started to relax, he unveiled the next part of his master-plan. AA always protects his head leaving the body exposed so attacking the body is surely a no-brainer, right? What became evident pretty early on is that AA does not enjoy getting hit in the body (in fairness which fighter does!)

Froch is not the quickest with his hands or feet but compared to AA he’s lightning. AA likes to plod forward like an impregnable tank ready to decapitate his opponent with one monstrous shot. The solution to this is good movement. If you have any sort of speed advantage it would be foolish not to use it (it doesn’t matter that you’re not the quickest yourself.) Froch moved reasonably well throughout the fight doing just enough to keep out of of range. On those rare occasions where he did get tagged with those heavy hands his solid chin held him in good stead. Combining his movement and mixing up his sharp, effective jabs with combinations to the body enabled Froch to continuously create angles. And he won the fight at a canter….

I had Froch winning every round apart from the last where AA rallied well. For the first 11 rounds AA was made to look almost as lifeless as Audley Harrison. And AA is no Audley Harrison! Arthur Abraham is a guy with an effective defence, solid chin and collossal power. However Froch proved the old adage that styles make fights and he happened to have perfect style to defeat AA.

The reason for this victory was not the brainless sort of machismo previously displayed so effectively against Pascal. It was because he studied his opponent, he was patient, he was prepared to understand his own weaknesses and respect his opponents strengths. When his corner warned him that if he gets careless that AA could hurt him he understood this. He listened, he realized this was a fight he could lose in an instant and he put on a perfect performance. A performance which now leaves him on the verge of genuine world class. And yet in the post fight interviews he again displayed his new found humility…

Going back to how styles make fights, the remainder of the Super Six Tournament could be uninteresting. Ward beat Kessler who beat Froch, so Ward to beat Abraham would appear to be a dead-cert. However Ward does not have the reach of Froch and will not have the luxury of keeping the fight at range. Ward likes to fight in close and dirty. This is the type of fight AA will be comfortable fighting. We could potentially see AA knocking Ward out and the tournament could descend further into farce with a pointless rematch between Froch and Abraham in the final.

I would like to see the tournament set up scrapped. Let’s get Froch fighting Ward next and Johnson and Abaraham could face each other on the under card. Froch/ Ward is the one we all want to see next. I once felt that Ward would prevail in a match up between these two, however if Froch can display his new found maturity he has a real shot. And the winner can then face Lucian Bute!

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