By Scott Gilfoid: I bet IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) is kicking himself right about now for not having agreed to fight former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly when he called him out for the past year.
Froch wouldn’t accept the challenge for whatever reason. We heard excuses from Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn about Cleverly being too heavy, because he’s in a weight division that’s 7 pounds heavier than Froch’s, but I never really bought into that excuse.
I just thought Froch didn’t fancy his chances in a fight with the younger, and much busier Cleverly, so he didn’t take the fight. But with Sergey Kovalev obliterating Cleverly in 4 rounds last Saturday night and showing it’s done, I’m wondering if Froch regretting not having accepted the challenge to fight Cleverly.
Now it’s obviously too late for Froch. If he were to suddenly stand up and finally agree to fight Cleverly, it would be almost comical. I mean, it would be like taking advantage of someone at their low point instead of facing him when Cleverly was riding high with his 26-figting winning streak that was wiped out by the Russian Kovalev.
I just wonder why Froch didn’t face Cleverly. By not agreeing to fight him, it just looked bad. Kovalev and did a number on Cleverly, and took all the glory. A Froch vs. Cleverly fight would have been huge in the UK. It would have been at least as big as Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler, yet Froch wouldn’t agree to face Cleverly. Now it’s too late.
All that good cash that Froch could have gotten for the Cleverly fight is now up in smoke. It’ll take ages for Cleverly to get back to where he was before Kovalev dusted him off, and I seriously doubt Froch will be still around by then.
It’s terrible when fighters don’t take advantage of opportunities that are presented to them, isn’t it? Froch could have had the Cleverly fight, but instead we saw Froch fight Yusaf Mack. Cleverly wasn’t big enough name, but I guess Yusaf Mack was.
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