Carl Froch: I would have beaten Golovkin

By Boxing News - 09/12/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) thinks that he would have defeated unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) last Saturday night if he had been inside the ring with him instead of Kell Brook and if the two of them were fighting in the 168lb division.

The 39-year-old Froch claims that he would have been “Too big, too strong” for Triple G. Of course, Froch had his chance to fight Golovkin in 2014 when the fight was offered to him by Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler, but instead he retired rather than fight him. You can take that and see it anyway you want.

Golovkin wanted the fight and Froch didn’t. Now that Froch is yapping, it kind of seems meaningless, because he didn’t fancy the fight despite the fact that he would have made HUGE money. When you’ve got a fighter like Froch that is willing to retire rather than take a big payday against Golovkin, it tells you that the interest just wasn’t there.

“I’m going to upset the boxing world now and say that if that was me in there tonight with Golovkin, I would have beat him,” Froch said to IFL TV. “I’m telling you now, I’m not even joking, [at] super-middleweight, the amount of people that’s told me that tonight – I would have had height, reach, size, weight, strength. I said it aged ago, didn’t I? Too big, too strong. I don’t think he’d go up, Golovkin. I don’t think he’ll fight at super middleweight. I don’t think he wants to jump up and take on any strong super middleweights based on that performance. He’s a middleweight.”

For the sake of argument, the 6’2” Froch would have had a nearly a three inch height and a five inch reach advantage over Golovkin. Froch figures that his reach would have kept Golovkin from getting to him. I don’t think so. Golovkin would have went after Froch the same way that Mikkel Kessler did in his win over Froch in the Super Six tournament in 2010, and the same way that the talented Andre Dirrell went after Froch in the same tourney. Both guys beat Froch in my view, but only Kessler got credit for the win.

Froch retired rather than fighting Golovkin. That’s kind of sad, isn’t it? Froch’s last fight was against George Groves in May 2014 in stopping him in the 8th round. Froch had already beaten Groves in his previous fight in November 2013 in stopping him in the 9th round. Why Froch decided to fight Groves for a second time rather than facing Golovkin is something only he knows.

When Froch had the chance to change things up by taking on GGG, he chose to fight the guy he had already knocked out in Groves. Some boxing fans think Froch took the second fight against Groves because he would rather than a sure thing win rather than fight Golovkin and get knocked out. Again, only Froch knows why he chose to fight Groves again rather than Golovkin. If you’re looking at it from a legacy standpoint, Froch shortchanged himself by fighting Groves a second time rather than moving forward with his career to take on the top lion in the sport in Golovkin.

What Froch did was the equivalent of someone getting an ‘A’ in a math class ins school by beating Groves the first time, and then turning around and taking the same math class a second time so he could get another ‘A’ by fighting Groves a second time. Froch should have moved on to a tougher class by taking on Golovkin, but he didn’t. Now why didn’t Froch take the Golokvin fight? I don’t know. That’s Froch. When he had the chance to take a tough test in Golovkin, he chose the Groves fight and then retires rather than facing GGG.

Froch was really impressed with what he saw of Brook last Saturday in his 5th round knockout loss to Golovkin. Froch thinks it came down to Golovkin being the bigger fighter. What’s interesting is that Golovkin wasn’t the bigger fighter. Brook was the heavier guy. Golovkin was just the stronger puncher, and his face held together from the shots better than Brook’s did. Froch says he had Brook ahead at the time of the stoppage. That’s interesting, because which rounds besides round two could Froch have given Brook? If he gave Brook the 1st round, it would look bad because Brook was staggered. If Froch gave Brook the 3rd or 4th rounds, it would look equally bad, because Golovkin out-landed him in both rounds. Golovkin not only landed more shots in those rounds, but also the harder shots. The only round you can really give Brook was the 2nd, as far as I’m concerned.

“He was ahead on my card. You could see that he couldn’t win the fight because of the weight advantage,” said Froch to IFL TV. “He was under some serious pressure when he got stopped, and he was taking too many shots, hurtful shots. To be honest, I think it came down to the weight. That’s it. Brook matched him for skills and beat him to the punch, landed some really good combinations. It was nice to see Golovkin in a bit of trouble. Brook had some good moments. He was ahead on my scorecards. Ultimately, he was outweighed tonight. Kell can walk out of the arena with his head held high. His stock has risen from that. Light middleweight, he could do well at that weight. You’d be looking at Canelo-Liam Smith. That’s potentially a fight for him at that weight, because he showed that he was not big enough for middleweight, but I don’t think he’s a welterweight anymore. He looked very gaunt, drawn and very slim at his old weight. I’d like to see him go to light middleweight,” said Froch.

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I don’t see how Brook’s stock has risen from his loss to Golovkin. How do you come out ahead when you lose and get stopped? I think what we learned from the Golovkin-Brook fight was the fact that Brook doesn’t hit hard enough to compete with the best middleweights, and he likely doesn’t hit hard enough to compete with the best junior middleweights. This means that unless Brook moves back down to 147 again, he’s pretty much going to be stuck as a contender for the remainder of his career and no longer a championship level fighter.

Froch thinks Brook might get a crack at the winner of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Liam Smith fight. I kind of doubt it. I do think Brook will get a fight against Liam Smith in the near future, but I don’t think he’s going to beat Canelo this Saturday night. As such, Brook would be getting the loser of the Canelo-Smith fight rather than the winner. Canelo isn’t going to fight Brook, because he just lost. It would make Canelo look like he’s stooping to the level of fighting Golovkin’s leftovers if he elects to fight Brook with him coming off a loss.

You have to remember that Canelo is image conscious, because he’s trying to become a bigger star in the United States. It wouldn’t look good if he follows after Golovkin picking up after him by scrapping up his leftovers to fight. How would Golovkin look if he followed after Canelo, fighting easy marks like Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland? Like I said, I think Brook will get a fight against Liam Smith after he loses to Canelo, but it won’t be a big deal at that point. It’s only a big deal of Smith beats Canelo.