By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch recently was given bad news by the promoter of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr when he said in an interview that there won’t be a fight between Froch and Chavez Jr in early 2015.
Chavez Jr’s promoter, Bob Arum, isn’t against the fight taking place, but it would be a fight that would be promoted by Arum’s company Top Rank, as it would be the last fight on Chavez Jr’s contract with the company.
Chavez Jr is embroiled in a promotional standoff with Arum, as he thinks that his promotional contract is up. This could drag out for ages. As it is, Chavez Jr hasn’t fought in 10 months and it’s quite possible he could miss a lot more time.
Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn are very eager to fight Chavez Jr because they’re under the impression that a Chavez Jr vs. Froch fight would be a pay-per-view worthy fight in the United States. I don’t agree with that at all. If Brian Vera vs. Chavez Jr wasn’t pay-per-view worthy, then a fight between Froch and Chavez Jr surely won’t be a pay-per-view worthy fight in the U.S.
The casual fans don’t know who Froch is in the U.S and Chavez Jr hasn’t fought in ages. Even if Chavez Jr was available to fight Froch in early 2015, it’s a fight that would likely do very, very low numbers on pay-per-view. They could stick it on pay-per-view, but if the pay-per-view buys are only around 100,000 or less, it would likely be a huge disappointment to Hearn and Froch. It’s not a fight that really sells unfortunately.
The question is will Hearn and Froch agree to face Golovkin instead if they can’t get a fight against Chavez Jr in 2015? It would be a fight that would do well. Yeah, it probably wouldn’t be a PPV fight because of the casual fans not knowing who Froch is, but there’s really no one in the U.S that you match against Froch that would be a PPV fight other than Miguel Cotto or maybe Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Those guys aren’t about to fight a super middleweight from Britain because it’s a fight that wouldn’t bring in a lot of PPV buys.
Golovkin is really Froch’s only option if he wants to fight under the bright lights in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Chavez Jr isn’t going to be available until later in 2015 or maybe not at all, Golovkin is got to be the guy. If Hearn tries to setup a fight between Froch and James DeGale in Vegas, it’s not going to be a PPV fight, and I’d be willing to bet that the attendance for the fight would be under 2,000 fans.
The same thing if Froch were to drag Mikkel Kessler to Vegas for a rubber match. It wouldn’t be a PPV worthy fight in the U.S because neither guy has done enough to establish themselves in the U.S market. As such, the ticket sales would likely be very poor for that fight.
Hearn and Froch may not be excited about a fight against Golovkin because of the high risk involved, but it’s the only option I see for Froch if he really wants to fight in Vegas.
If Froch is willing to sacrifice his dream of fighting in Vegas, then he can stay in the UK and fight Kessler again. I don’t think it would bring in big numbers, but it’s a safer fight for Froch than him facing Golovkin or DeGale. Froch can also fight George Groves again, but I don’t see fans wanting to see a third fight between them.
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