British super middleweight champion Carl Froch (22-0, 18 KOs) stopped Robin Reid (39-6-1, 27 KOs) in the 5th round last night Ice Arena in Nottingham, England, when Reid was unable to continue due to a shoulder injury. Reid was knocked down in the 3rd and the fifth rounds, and appeared to be down in the 2nd as well. However, the referee missed it and called it a push. Following the fifth round, the fight was stopped by Reid’s corner. Afterwards, the 36 year-old Reid announced his retirement from boxing.
In the first two rounds of the fight, neither fighter distinguished themselve as both of them traded freely with hooks to the body and head. Reid received a warning for clinching, which he was doing a quite a bit of as he tried to avoid getting hit by the harder punching Froch.
By the 3rd round, Froch began taking over the fight, blasting Reid with heavy double hooks to the body and head. Though Reid was still landing an occasion shot, they were thrown with little power as he seemed more concerned with tring to keep Froch off of him. It didn’t work. Near the end of the round, Froch dropped Reid with a huge shot to the head. Lucky for Reid, the knocdkdown occured at the end of the round, because Froch looked poised to end it at that point.
In the fourth round, Reid looked desparate, knowing that he was losing the fight and trying the best he could to make a go of it. However, Froch continued blasting away at him with sharp combinations, and backing him up against the ropes where Reid was unable to escape the punishment. Reid finished strong, landing some clean shots, but none of them seemed to have much of an effect on the fresher looking Froch.
In the fifth round. Reid continued trying to fend off Froch’s attacks, mostly by hitting him with quick pitter pat shots. Indeed, Reid was landing well, however, none of the shots could match what he was getting hit by, as Frock was unloading tremendous shots to the head and body. At one point, Reid was knocked down once again, after absorbing a powerful right hand. He immediately got up, but he looked in poor shape as the round ended. It wasdn’t surprizing that the fight was stopped after the rounded ended, because Reid didn’t look like he could hold up for much longer.