Froch won’t be ready for Chavez Jr fight until November or December, says Hearn

By Boxing News - 06/25/2014 - Comments

froch0034552By Scott Gilfoid: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank wants the fight against IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KO’s) by October of this year, but Froch won’t be ready to fight again until the end of the year in November or December, says his promoter Eddie Hearn. As such, unless Chavez Jr is willing to wait until possibly December at the latest, then the Froch-Chavez Jr won’t take place until next year some time.

It’s hard to say what the holdup is with Froch, because it’s not as if he was hit all that much in his recent 8th round knockout victory over George Groves last May. It was a painfully boring fight to watch due to the lack of action until Froch knocked Groves out cold in the 8th round from a simple right hand.

With an easy fight like that, I’m surprised Froch isn’t talking about being back in the ring in July, because he’d be able to slip in another payday fight.

I think Chavez Jr will have far too much talent, size and power for Froch to deal with. Chavez Jr come into the fight likely weighing close to 200 pounds, and he’ll then walk Froch down, taking what shots that Froch throws, and then batter him to the midsection until Froch collapses on the canvas. Chavez Jr is an outstanding body puncher, and Froch hasn’t faced any fighters that can punch to the body the way that Chavez Jr can.

In Froch’s background, he’s always faced head hunters, and he’s always been quite good at taking huge shots to the head. But what we don’t know is whether Froch can take shots to the body. I think not. You don’t just all of a sudden face the best body puncher in the sport and handle his body shots like they’re feathers when you’ve never faced an opponent that throws to the body before.

“That’s a fight that we’re very keen to make,” Hearn said to RingTV.com. “I’ve had some chats with Bob Arum and Top Rank over the last few weeks. They’d like that fight for October, but Carl Froch is not going to be ready for that fight until the end of November or December, which would probably put that fight out for this year, so we’re looking at our options.”

What Hearn means by saying “we’re looking at our options” is that he’s likely going to go ahead and start negotiating a third fight between Froch and Mikkel Kessler. It’s a fight that really shouldn’t be made because Kessler has been out of the ring since his loss to Froch last year in May. I could understand Hearn putting together a fight between Froch and Kessler if he’d stayed busy and knocked off a big name like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Sakio Bika or Arthur Abraham, but Kessler hasn’t done anything other than hang around.

James DeGale, who thought he was putting himself in line for a title shot against Froch when he stopped Brandon Gonzales last May at Wembley Stadium, is likely going to be ignored by Froch and Hearn until possibly next year. I actually think he’ll never get a crack at Froch. I just hope DeGale doesn’t mind waiting around for a while, because I see Froch holding onto his two titles until he faces Chavez Jr.



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