By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch is going to need to make a decision about whether he values his IBF title enough to defend it, because he has until the end of February to face James DeGale (19-1, 13 KOs), his mandatory, or else he’ll risk having the title stripped from him.
DeGale sees the 37-year-old Froch as being at the end of the road with nowhere else to go but retirement. He expects to either get Froch’s IBF strap by beating him or by picking it up once the title is vacated by him or stripped by the IBF.
DeGale defeated Brandon Gonzales on May 31st in an IBF super middleweight eliminator bout to become Froch’s mandatory. DeGale initially was hopeful that Froch would turn around and fight him, but it’s now looking like Froch may choose to go in another direction by facing someone else like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr or possibly Mikkel Kessler.
“It’s time for me to take over now, to get those titles [IBF and WBA],” DeGale said to Skysports.com. “I’m all wrong for Carl Froch and I’m confident of beating him. Carl Froch is bit of a throwback, he’s a bit of a caveman…His hands are down low. He’s slow.”
So there it is. DeGale sees Froch as a slow, caveman, and throwback type. It’s too bad that DeGale likely will never get a fight against Froch. I see DeGale as being in the same position that Froch was in when he tried to get a fight against Joe Calzaghe at the end of his career.
Calzaghe had absolutely no interest in fighting Froch, who didn’t have a huge following at the time, in order to help his career out. Instead of fighting Froch, Calzaghe ignored him and went ahead and fought a Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr in cash out fights. Calzaghe was maximizing his income by fighting the guys that brought the most money at the end of his career.
Now it’s Froch’s turn to look for opponents that bring the most money. Froch’s fight against Kessler last year, and his two recent fights against George Groves brought him big paydays. The next big fight could be against Chavez Jr, and if not him, then likely a third fight against Kessler.
DeGale will be fighting on October 11th against an opponent still to be determined at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
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