Froch wants DeGale at Wembley next spring

By Boxing News - 11/10/2015 - Comments

froch95By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) says he’s interested in staging a comeback potentially next spring to face IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (21-, 14 KOs) in a fight at Wembley in London, UK.

DeGale, 29, will have to beat his next opponent former IBF 168lb champion Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) in their fight on November 28th at the Centre Videotron, in Quebec City, Quebec. Froch’s plan is to make a comeback, if he’s given permission from his family, beat DeGale to win back his old IBF strap, and then go back into retirement.

Just how many boxing fans would be on board with seeing a Froch-DeGale fight is unclear. If Froch is interested in staging the fight at Wembley Stadium, then I can see a lot of vacant seats in a huge stadium like that. But if Froch is interested in having the fight take place at the much smaller Wembley Arena, then, yeah, I can see that happening.

It’s not the fight that boxing fans want to see though. They want to see Froch fight unbeaten Gennady Golovkin, not DeGale. Given the choice between the two, I’d say the fans would pick Golovkin over DeGale seven days a week, 365 days a year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Froch is too interested in the Golovkin fight for some reason.

I’m not sure why. I mean, if Froch can’t get himself motivated to fight the best guy in the 160lb division, then what does that tell you about Froch? DeGale isn’t considered to be the best fighter at 168, so why is Froch excited about fighting him rather than the best fighter in Andre Ward or the best fighter at 160 in Golovkin?

Why is Froch looking for the easy thing rather than the tougher contests? If this was a branch of the military that Froch was trying to make or a great college that he wanted to get into, why would he look for the easier task?

“James DeGale is fighting my old opponent for my old belt so why not give him a pasting at Wembley next spring!” Froch said to talksport.co.uk. “I look at the people like DeGale who is fighting Bute and I think to myself, ‘you know what, I can still have him’. It does make me think, ‘should I fight’?”

YouTube video

I guess what it comes down to is that Froch sees DeGale as low hanging fruit that he can reach without having to put much effort into climbing up and scaling the tree to pick it. If Froch had to fight someone like Golovkin or Ward, Froch would have to scale a tall tree, and at his age, he might fall and wind up looking bad in the eyes of the viewing boxing public.

So instead of climbing the tree to get the ripest fruit at the top of the tree, Froch is looking to simply reach up and grab a still green low hanging fruit that he’s capable of grabbing with his mitts and then eat. The problem is that fruit will likely be bitter sweet and not nearly as tasty as if Froch were to take on the likes of Golovkin or Ward.

I really don’t think Froch will get a whole heck of a lot of credit if he beats DeGale than he would if he were to beat Ward or Golovkin. Heck, DeGale would have lost his last fight against Andre Dirrell if he hadn’t scored a flash knockdown in the 2nd round and then shoved Dirrell down for the 2nd knockdown in the round.

“I will speak to my missus and speak to my mum. I enjoy the sport. I love boxing,” Froch said. “I have always said from the day I retired ‘never say never’ and I am at the point now where I am thinking, ‘one more, why not’?”

As a fan, I wouldn’t bother paying to see Froch vs. DeGale, because I see it as a money grab at this point. If Froch were to come back and prove that he can beat a talent like Golovkin or Ward, then I’d be interested, but definitely not DeGale. That’s not interesting to me. That just looks like Froch is shooting for a final payday to help feather his retirement nest rather than him looking to face a real challenge in Golovkin or Ward.



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