(Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig) By Scott Gilfoid: Recently, IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch was up in arms just because WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly and super middleweight contender George Groves, neither which are friends with him, chose to spar with WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler upon receiving an invitation from him to help him get ready for the Froch fight this Saturday night.
Froch took it as a sign of Groves and Cleverly being disloyal to him because he’s from the UK like they are, so they shouldn’t help a fighter from another country.
Cleverly remembers how Froch helped out Kessler last December in giving him pointers in how to beat Ireland’s Brian Magee, and his advice helped Kessler stop Magee in the 3rd round by series of hard body shots.
Cleverly said to walesonline.co.uk “If anything, Froch is being hypocritical because he was advising Kessler how to beat Brian Magee last year. Kessler asked me to go out and spar in Copenhagen. I decided it would be a great experience to go and work with someone of Mikkel’s caliber…I don’t owe Carl Froch anything. In fact, we are rivals.”
Ouch, that hurts. Cleverly hitting Froch with some truths that he’s somehow forgotten over time. I’m surprised that Froch had the nerve to climb all over Groves and Cleverly about them sparring with Kessler, because it’s not as if he hangs out with those guys, and he’s done them no favors by choosing to ignore their attempts to get him in the ring. Instead of saying yes to a fight against them, Froch has said that they’re not on his level, so he’s not going to bother fighting them.
Groves said that Froch didn’t bother offering him a chance to spar, so when Kessler offered it to him, he took it to get the experience. I imagine if Froch had given Groves a chance, he would have gladly have said yes to get the opportunity to get some experience while at the same time gauging Froch’s talent. I think Froch probably doesn’t want Groves to see what he’s got because he could use what he learned in possible future fight with Froch.
I think Froch needs to fight Groves soon before he gets much older. It’s better to take these fights while Froch still has something left otherwise he’s going to get beaten up when he turns into an old lion.
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