By Scott Gilfoid: Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch thinks that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko may have been rattled by British challenger Tyson Fury’s recent behavior last week in their London, England press conference, and Froch thinks that it’s possible that Klitschko’s subsequent left calf injury may be a move for him to regain control of the situation somehow.
Froch finds it rather odd that Wladimir’s past injuries, including this latest one, are injuries that are difficult to prove. Wladimir has postponed fights due to bicep and abdominal injuries, and now he’s got a calf muscle/tendon injury.
“I think Klitschko was either a bit rattled by Fury’s antics or he just thinks ‘I don’t need this,” Froch said to skysports.com. “When he does pull out – and he’s done it a few times now – why is it never a visible or provable injury?”
The problem with Froch’s theory is that Wladimir usually winds up still fighting his scheduled opponent after his injuries heal. The only time he didn’t was when he suffered two abdominal injuries while getting ready for a fight against Dereck Chisora four years ago. Wladimir moved on after the second injury and instead fought David Haye. Chisora obviously wasn’t pleased with this move by Wladimir, but the money was obviously much better for Wladimir to fight Haye then to fight Chisora.
It was a much better fight for Wladimir money-wise for him to fight Haye. In this case, Wladimir doesn’t have an opponent that will bring him more money that Fury, so it makes little sense for him to pull out of the fight or run from it. Wladimir is better off fighting the likes of Fury right now than to have to deal with a much faster, stronger and dare I say more talented Deontay Wilder. Fury has no chance of beating Wladimir by knockout. Wilder would have very good chance with his punching power.
A very proud moment for me and my career, winning the Irish heavyweigh title! pic.twitter.com/br8g9bUQIc
— Gypsy King (@Tyson_Fury) September 30, 2015
“I do think Fury has got a chance when this fight happens, but I don’t think for a minute Klitschko thinks that is the case,” Froch said. “The people around him will have told him Tyson isn’t a big puncher and can go down if you hit him, so I don’t suddenly think Klitschko is worried.”
Well, if Wladimir isn’t worried about losing to Fury, then why in the heck would he get rattled by him dressing up as Batman and wrestling The Joker at his press conference last week? It doesn’t make sense for Wladimir to postpone a fight with Fury if he’s not worried.
The reality is that Fury is fighting a guy that is almost 40-years-old in Wladimir Klitschko, and when you get a fighter that old working hard in training camp, they’re going to suffer injuries from time to time.
I know it’s hard for the 27-year-old Fury digest all of this because he’s still in the prime of his career and young. Fury hasn’t had to deal with an aging body, and it’s possible that he’ll retire before he gets to Wladimir’s age. But if Fury is still fighting at 40, my guess is he’s going to have injuries like Wladimir, and will need to postpone fights occasionally. But it doesn’t make sense for Fury to be surprised by Wladimir suffering an injury during training camp when he already knows that Wladimir is basically 40-years-old and whom he considers an “old man.”
As far as Fury having a chance against Klitschko, I’d say he doesn’t have much of a chance. Wladimir is faster, a bigger puncher, and technically a much better fighter. Fury’s game is badly flawed everywhere you look. He doesn’t have a great chin, and he’s a known slapper. You can’t take a flawed fighter like Fury, who depends on his superior size to win his fights, to beat a much better fighter that is almost the same size as him.
Fury normally has a huge size advantage over his smaller opponents, and this in turn enables him to dominate them. In the case of Wladimir, Fury is just a two to three inches taller than him, depending if you believe that Fury is 6’9” like they say he is. Wladimir has already said that he doesn’t think Fury is 6’9”. Wladimir fought the 6’8” Mariusz Wach in 2012, and Fury looks no taller than Wach. Wladimir had zero problems with Wach’s height and reach.
In a side note, I wonder if Froch is finally ready to come back and face Gennady Golovkin at 168. There would be no shame in Froch getting knocked out by Golovkin. I think the boxing world would see it as a brave move by Froch to come back and fight Golovkin right about now. Froch could get a huge payday, go out on his shield in being likely knocked out by the Kazakhstan fighter, and he could then go back into retirement with a lot of cash to feather his retirement nest.
I don’t think it would hurt Froch’s legacy him getting obliterated by Golovkin. Froch ending his career in a weak way by defeating George Groves is a much worse thing for his legacy than coming back to fight Golovkin and getting knocked out by him. I mean, I see Froch’s last two fights against Groves as the equivalent of Floyd Mayweather Jr. ending his career in a fight against Andre Berto rather than someone good like Keith Thurman or Golovkin. It’s going out on a whimper instead of a bang. I think Froch can do much better than Groves for a career ender.
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