By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch recently ruled out a fight against 50-year-old boxing legend Bernard Hopkins for the summer, even though the fight would likely bring both fighters boatloads of sweet cash.
It’s really a win-win fight for both guys, because it would give the two aging fighters a chance to display their wares before the boxing public before they sail off into the sunset for a permanent retirement.
Unfortunately, Froch doesn’t see it as a win-win fight. Instead, he sees it as a “lose-lose” type of situation where he could be putting his legacy on the line if he gets clowned by the 5-year-old Hopkins.
The logical question that you have to put to Froch is what is he afraid of? I mean, it’s not as if Froch doesn’t stand to lose something with every fight he takes. If he faces Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, a guy that was already exposed by Sergio Martinez and Brian Vera, Froch’s legacy will be in shambles if he loses to him. Chavez Jr was arguably beaten by middleweight journeyman Vera in their first fight, and Chavez Jr had to struggle to beat him in their second fight.
“Because he is 50 and a legend I don’t want to fight him because it is almost a lose-lose situation,” Froch told BBC Sport. “I am expected to beat him. If I win people will say ‘he beat a 50-year-old man’. If I lose people would say ‘what’s going on? You’ve ruined your legacy. You finished your career on a loss against an old man.”
This is really sad the way Froch is seemingly worrying about a loss to Hopkins. Shouldn’t Froch be seeing things in a more positive manner? If Froch is the best fighter in the 168 pound division like some of his boxing fans think he is, then why is he talking about his legacy being ruined if he loses to Hopkins?
Hopkins has the same Andre Ward inside game that he could use to totally smother Froch’s offense. Hopkins doesn’t use his smothering style too much nowadays like he did in the past, but he’s quite capable of pulling this part of his game out of his toolbox to completely shut Froch down.
If you look at how Ward fights now, it’s vintage Hopkins. It’s easy for Hopkins to go back to his old style of fighting to smother a guy like Froch. It’s probably easier for Hopkins to smother one of his opponents like Froch on the inside than it would be for him to move around on the outside and look to set traps.
I think Hopkins would do a number on Froch if the two of them were to fight, and take his last remaining world title from him. I mean, it is very, very interesting that Froch doesn’t want to tangle with the old fox and test his skills against him. That tells me that there’s some worry there for Froch.
If he didn’t think there was a chance that he could lose the fight then he wouldn’t be talking about what people would say if he loses the fight. Froch has betrayed himself by mentioning the potential of him losing to Hopkins, because if he truly believed that he had the talent to beat the aging American, then he wouldn’t even be bringing up a scenario where he could possibly lose to him.
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