Froch says he offered Golovkin fight last year at 172

By Boxing News - 06/29/2016 - Comments

froch876

By Scott Gilfoid: Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch claims he offered a catch-weight fight against middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin at 172 pound last year, but the Kazakhstan fighter didn’t want the match due to Froch’s size and power. If there was an actual for a fight by Froch, he was a tad late, because Golovkin wanted to fight him in 2013. Instead of Froch taking the fight, he retired from the sport.

If Froch did try and face Golovkin last year at light heavyweight, it was probably too late and the wrong weight class. I mean, I could see Golovkin moving up one division to fight Froch, but definitely not two divisions. There are limits of what Golovkin will put up with in order to get a fight. It would have been a gamble for Golovkin if he’d taken the fight with Froch. I’m not talking about a game of Golovkin losing. I’m talking about a gamble of the fight potentially not doing well because of Froch having been out of the sport for so long.

Froch says he couldn’t fight Golovkin at middleweight. It’s a bit much for Froch to be asking Golovkin to move up two entire divisions in order to fight a guy who hasn’t been inside the ring for two years now. Froch’s last fight was against George Groves in May 2014.

Froch finished out his career with two soft defenses in a row against Groves rather than taking on one of the talented super middleweights like Andre Ward the Dirrell brothers. Fortunately for Froch, the British boxing public didn’t realize yet how flawed Groves was as a fighter, because they happily purchased tickets to see it life and purchased the fight on PPV in large numbers. My guess is if Froch tried to sell a fight against Groves now on PPV it would be a pure disaster, because Groves has looked horrible in many of his fights since the

“I offered Gennady Golovkin a fight at 172 but he didn’t fancy it because I’m too big and strong for him and I can’t make middleweight,” said Froch to the Dailymail. “If I did box again, it would be at 172, at a catchweight. (Sergey) Kovalev could happen but I would rather play my poker. You don’t get hit in the face. Boxing is a hurt game, it’s not like football where you lose 5-0 or tennis where you lose in three sets, in boxing you go home on a stretcher.”

Well, I guess Froch didn’t fancy the fight with Golovkin enough to meet him at a reasonable weight. If Froch wanted that cash bad enough, my guess he’d have found a way to push himself away from the dinner table and to get on the track a little more to take off the weight so he can make that fight happen. I’m not sure how much money Froch is making with poker, but my guess is he’s not making the kind of money he would have received for a fight against GGG. The question would the fans still remember Froch and want to see him fight? I think not. Once you’re gone, the boxing fans find new fighters to support. In this case, I think they’re giving their support to IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua now.

I think Kovalev would take the fight with Froch in a second unless he asked something unreasonable like asking him to melt down in weight to weaken him so he can get an advantage. Heck, even in Froch’s prime, I think Kovalev would obliterate him straightaway if Froch didn’t run from him. Kovalev would be just too strong for Froch, and it would be an easy fight.

A fight between Froch and Golovkin would have likely ended badly for Froch with him getting viciously knocked out at some point. Obviously, it would have been a bad way for Froch to end his career on a knockout. But that’s how a lot of fighters end their careers, so it wouldn’t be that big of a tragedy. Maybe that would comfort Froch somehow.

I think shortchanged himself ending his career two of three years too soon. It’s kind of like how Joe Calzaghe retired too soon and baseball player Ty Cobb ended his career too soon. Cobb hit .323 in his final season in 1928. Froch should kept fighting. They would have had to drag me out of the ring if I was still successful and makes tons of good clean cash. Believe me; I sure as heck wouldn’t end my career on a soft defense against Groves. I would want to end my career on a quality fighter like Groves.