Froch to make decision whether to fight Golovkin or retire in first week of June

By Boxing News - 05/23/2015 - Comments

froch56267By Scott Gilfoid: Despite all the fan interest in a fight between British super middleweight star Carl Froch and unbeaten IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin about a potential fight between them, Froch still hasn’t decided whether to fight on with his career by taking the Golovkin match-up, which would make him tons of money, or simply retire from the sport.

The soon to be 38-year-old Froch says he’ll make a decision about his career in the first week of June. It’s unclear what’s so magical about waiting until that time, but that’s what Froch is saying.

“I can safely say in maybe the first week of June I will be making an announcement,” Froch said via BBC.com. “I need the motivation, I need the fear factor and Golovkin brings that. If I decide to fight again, Golovkin’s an opponent I’d definitely like. But it’s a very big ‘if’ because one of my options is to retire.”

What makes Froch look bad is that he was very, very interested in fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. before his loss to Andrzej Fonfara last April. That was a fight that Froch was about to take if not for an elbow injury he suffered. Why Frock would be interested in facing Chavez Jr, who hasn’t been the same fighter since his loss to Sergio Martinez, is unclear. It gives some boxing fans the impression that Froch is just looking for an easy payday rather than a tough challenge against someone who could potentially beat him like Gennady Golovkin. If that’s the case, then Froch should take the Chavez Jr. fight anyway and get his payday and retire. I don’t’ think that Froch will make a lot of money against Chavez Jr. now, but I’m sure a fair amount of Froch’s loyal fans will happily pay their money to see Froch destroy Chavez Jr.

The problem is Froch is satisfied with what he’s accomplished in his career. He feels he’s beaten a lot of top fighters, and he sees himself as having a good legacy. However, when you look at Froch’s best wins of his career, it’s really not that impressive. I mean, Froch’s best wins were against a shot Mikkel Kessler, Lucian Bute, Jermain Taylor and a still unaccomplished George Groves. By the time Froch beat Kessler, Taylor, they were deep into their careers and clearly not the same fighters they had been earlier. Froch lost his toughest fights against Andre Ward, and an arguable defeat to Andre Dirrell. Froch’s accomplishments during his career might not even get him into the Boxing Hall of Fame. I see it as a 50-50 thing. He’s got some decent wins, but nothing great and nothing that stands out. Ward beat Kessler when he was still in his prime and he did it with ease. Froch barely beat an unmotivated-looking Kessler in 2013. Froch needs a win over someone like Golovkin to get him into the Boxing Hall of Fame in my view. I couldn’t vote Froch into the Hall without at least one big win in his career. I mean, beating Bute, Kessler, Taylor, Groves and Arthur Abraham doesn’t do it for me. Those guys aren’t big enough victories for me to vote Froch in.

I get the impression that Froch just doesn’t have the motivation to want to get inside the ring with someone that is clearly much better than the guys that Froch has beaten during his career with the exception of his controversial win over Dirrell. Froch would have to try and beat someone who is clearly better than Jermain Taylor, Bute, Groves and Kessler, and he’d have to do it at the age of 38.

I don’t think Froch is up for the challenge of facing Golovkin because it’s the biggest risk that he’s taken since his fight against Ward in 2011. You can’t call Groves a risk for Froch because Groves had done zero during his career at the time that he fought Froch. Before the Froch fight, Groves’ best win over his career was a close win over James DeGale. As such, beating Groves was no big deal because he hadn’t established himself as a good pro yet. He just a green fighter that was totally unproven.



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