By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) turned 39-years-old two days ago on July 2, and he sees there being no reason for him to make a comeback to resume his boxing career at this point.
Froch hasn’t fought in two years since 2014, and he sees the 168lb division being a poor one at this time. He thinks if he came back right now, he would easily defeat the current IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs), who Froch chose not to fight last year in February 2015.
Froch vacated his IBF title rather than face DeGale, who was his mandatory challenger at the time. That move led many boxing fans to regard Froch as being scared of DeGale due to the ducking type of move he had made. Froch subsequently retired soon after without fighting anyone.
“The sport of boxing is about timing and at the minute the timing is right. We’ve got some great champions like Lee Selby who’s a great little fighter, James DeGale is world champion but I think at the minute the super-middleweight division is poor,” said Froch to the Dailymail.co.uk.
Well, I can’t argue with Froch about the super middleweight not being a good one at the moment. With the talented Dirrell brothers now getting older and not looking as good as they had in their early 20s, there is an absent of talent in the division. Former world champion Andre Ward has moved up to light heavyweight in search of bigger fights.
Former world champion Mikkel Kessler has retired from the sport. Joe Calzaghe has been gone for many years after retiring while still in his prime. George Groves hasn’t looked the same since his back to back knockout losses to Froch. There were some who pinned their hopes to Groves for being the guy that would take over the super middleweight division after Froch and Ward retired, but that’s clearly not going to happen.
Groves looks now like a flawed fighter and not the same guy that fought Froch in their first fight in 2013. Whether it’s a confidence issue, a chin issue or simply Groves getting older is unknown. Whatever it is, Groves not look like the same fighter he once was. Top super middleweight talent Edwin Rodriguez is now fighting at light heavyweight, as is Adonis Stevenson. If those guys had stayed at 168, the division would be a heck of a lot stronger now. Sakio Bika doesn’t look like the same fighter he once was, as he’s getting older now. It’s the same with former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. He’s not the fighter he was six years ago. He’s aged, and he’s now just one of the tougher contenders but not someone capable of getting to the next level unfortunately.
“James DeGale, let’s be honest, I’d walk through him in five or six rounds. When he sits on the ropes, I’d absolutely smash his ribs to bits and knock him over,” said Froch. “As much as I think I can beat DeGale and annihilate anyone in the division, I wouldn’t fight him now because I’ve got nothing left to prove.”
Well, there it is. Froch says he can beat the younger 30-year-old DeGale, and yet he chooses not to come back to show the boxing world that he CAN beat him. Talk is cheap, Froch. If you can’t come back and prove that you actually can defeat guts like DeGale, then it makes no sense for you to be flapping your gums about thinking you can beat him. I personally think you can’t. You’re graying now, looking older like someone in their 40s, and you’ve put on a lot of muscle weight that could hurt you if you were to come back to the sport and needed to take that useless muscle off. My guess is by the time you got that muscle weight off, you would be weaker and not the better fighter because of it. Froch, you haven’t fought in two years, and you’re probably as rusty as heck. I can’t see you being a better fighter than you were in the past. My guess is you probably lost 50% of your game from your inactivity and aging. I don’t think you’ll get that part of your game back at all at this point. As such, I think you can yap all you want about how you believe you can beat DeGale, but I’m not buying it, Froch. I think DeGale whips you and whips you bad, and I don’t think you want that experience.
“I’m 40 years old next year and I’ve been out of the ring for two years,” said Froch. “Why would I give someone like DeGale a chance to beat me while I’m past my best and tarnish my legacy, for pound notes, it’s not worth it.”
So there it is. Froch admitting that he doesn’t even want to give DeGale a chance of sending him scurrying back into retirement off the back of a big fat loss.