By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn has reportedly run into a sticking point in his negotiations with Top Rank for a fight between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
Top Rank wants to make the Chavez Jr-Froch fight in October, whereas Hearn wants the fight to take place in November or December. If the two promotional companies are unable to work it out, then we’re likely to see Froch defend his IBF title against his IBF mandatory challenger James DeGale (19-1, 13 KO’s) for November or December, says Hearn.
Froch doesn’t want to vacate his IBF title, and he only has until February to defend the strap against DeGale or the title will be stripped from him by the IBF for failing to defend the title in time.
In looking at how much weight that Froch has put on since his 8th round stoppage win over George Groves from last May, I can totally understand why it might not be possible for Froch to get back in the ring in October. Froch is looking kind of fleshy around the jowls and he appears to have put on a little bit of a paunch as well.
It’s pretty startling to see Froch put on weight so quickly, because I’ve never seen him that heavy before. The question you have to ask is this latest weight gain from Froch a sign that he’s about to step away from the sport in the near future or has he simply let off to celebrate his second victory over Groves. Either way, Froch is going to need to burn off that blubber soon if he wants to be ready to fight by November or December.
Froch looks like he’s put on at least 20 pounds since the Groves fight, possibly more. That weight isn’t going to be easy for Froch to lose in a short period of time to get ready for a talent like Chavez Jr, if that fight does take place. Losing a of weight will make it difficult for Froch to be a mover like DeGale as well.
“I think DeGale would be a huge fight. It is a domestic fight between a legend of the sport and an Olympic champion,” Hearn said via the Dailymail.co.uk. “I think that a fight with Carl and James could be made either this winter, in November or December, or possibly in the spring. It is all in Carl’s court but what I do know about him is that he will not willingly vacate a title.”
DeGale is already scheduled to fight on October 11th at the O2 Arena in London, UK. That date might change if a fight between him and Froch could get made for November or December. It would be far too risky for DeGale to take a fight in October with him facing Froch later in the year, even if it’s a fodder opponent.
If the DeGale-Froch fight takes place in the spring, then it’s quite possible that Froch may be done for the year unless Hearn can somehow get Top Rank to put Chavez Jr in with Froch for November or December. I kind of doubt that’ll happen, because Chavez Jr has already been out of the ring since March of this year. If he were to wait until November, for example, it will have been 8 months since he last fought.
You don’t want to be taking big fights with that much time off, so we may see Froch not getting the Chavez Jr fight unless he budges on the time and gets in the ring in October. But like I said, with the weight that Froch has put on recently, I don’t see how he’s going to be able to take that kind of blubber off by October.
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