By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch should be more than happy right now. He’s twice won the WBC 168 pound title and he recently beat the talented IBF champion Lucian Bute, who many boxing fans had previously thought was the best fighter in the division. But for some reason Froch doesn’t think he’s received the recognition that he feels that he deserves for the things he’s accomplished.

Froch told the Standard.co.uk “I haven’t had the recognition I deserve. You can go back to anybody’s career – Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, David Haye, Amir Khan, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Steve Collins, Naseem Hamed. My record is better than all of theirs. I’ve won against more unbeaten fighters than any of them, had more exciting fights…For whatever reason I’ve not had the exposure.”

Froch, put a sock in it already. You got lucky to get a gift against Andre Dirrell in 2009, and right there eliminates you from being mentioned with those guys in my view. If you’d stop losing the important fights like against Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler, maybe fans would be all over you showering you with praise.

I’m not so high on most of those fighters that Froch mentioned, but Benn was a good one and had some really exciting fights. As far as Hatton, Calzaghe and Hamed go, you can make an argument that they received more recognition because they had something that stood out in their game. Hamed had all those knockout victories before he got exposed by Marco Antonio Barrera.

Hatton was popular because of his fan friendly personality and his attacking style of fighting. Granted, I think Hatton was highly overrated and would have been spanked badly by Kostya Tszyu had the referee not allowed Hatton to wrestle all night, but Hatton did have an interesting style of fighting before he got whipped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. With Calzaghe, he had the looks and the unbeaten record. Those things were enough for him to get a ton of recognition. He got all those wins on his record without getting beaten. Like a lot of people, I think most of Calzaghe’s wins were against weak opposition, but it didn’t matter because the Brit fans didn’t seem to care as long as he kept winning. Steve Collins made it big because of his fights with Benn.

Froch hasn’t had the career defining fights as of yet, unless you count the unproven Bute. Each time Froch stepped up against really quality opposition, he lost or should have lost. Mikkel Kessler beat him, Andre Ward beat him, and Dirrell should have beat him. So, Froch obviously hasn’t received the recognition he thinks he deserves because he’s been vulnerable. You can’t get around. It’s hard to get behind a fighter that is unpredictable and loses the big fights.