Carl Froch: The most limited champion in the current era?

By Gavin Duthie - 06/03/2014 - Comments

froch#11By Gav Duthie: I keep waiting for it and it never happens. Every opponent Carl Froch 33-2 (24) faces, I’m confident they are going to expose him. I think to myself he’s too slow, has poor footwork, his jab is often short, you could sip a cup of coffee, boil an egg and still have time to avoid most of his right hands, he also gets hit hard and often in almost every contest.

His two fights against George ‘Saint’ Groves 19-2 (15) reminded me on last nights game of thrones (spoiler alert) contest between The Red Viper and The Mountain. The Viper is faster, classier, has better movement and more variety. The Mountain plods forward, one dimensionally, missing badly and getting countered. Just when you think the Vipers in control, he lets his guard down and its over, another kill for The Mountain. 

Froch is a throwback to fighters of the past. He is a Spartan warrior, he never knows when he’s beaten, he never gives up or loses heart. He might miss with four punches in a row and take a couple on the way in but at some point he will land. Its like watching a Jack Dempsey or Max Baer. They are a dying breed but Carl has proved time and time again that it works. 

Carl has been the inferior boxing stylist  in many of his fights. Jean Pascal, Jermaine Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward and George Groves. Despite his technical deficiencies he has managed to best most of them.  Apart from Andre Ward and an arguable win against Andre Dirrell, his foes have struggled to keep him quiet for 12 rounds. He pretty much ended the top class career of Jermaine Taylor knocking him out with 14 seconds to go in the final round. 

In the interest of balance he did box well on the back foot against dangerous puncher Arthur Abraham and won the Kessler rematch due to his solid jab in the first three rounds but generally I feel he has been punching well above his weight. But who am I to criticize, he gets the job done. 

I think Eddie Hearn will steer him away from Andre Ward to finish his career. He says he wants a fight in Las Vegas to tick off the boxing bucket list. Enter either Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr or Gennady Golovkin. I’ve given up on backing against Froch. These guys are good but they won’t be able to knock Carl out and I think his size and strength will see him victorious against either. 



Comments are closed.