Carl Froch says Andre Ward’s style of fighting is “borderline cheating”

By Boxing News - 09/05/2019 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Retired former super middleweights Andre Ward and Carl Froch are still at it despite both of them having been out of the ring for ages. Unfortunately, there still seems to be some hurt feelings on Froch’s part about his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) in Showtime’s Super Series tournament on December 17, 2011. After all these years, Froch still hasn’t forgotten about the loss, even though the fans have.

Froch had no answers for Ward’s inside game

It was a fight filled with a lot of spoiling by Ward, who nullified Froch’s offense by mauling him with wrestling. Froch looked at the referee for help throughout the fight to see he would intervene to pry Ward off of him, but it was no use.  Froch attempted to get a rematch with Ward not long after, but nothing came of it. Carl says Ward only wanted to fight him at Wembley Stadium, and he felt their rematch wasn’t big enough to take place there. In hindsight, Froch may have been wrong, because his match with George Groves filled the stadium in May 2014.

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Ward disappointed Froch wasn’t in UK last weekend

“I’m so disappointed. I come to the UK, and I don’t come over very often, and he goes on holiday,” said Ward to skysports.com about Froch. “Carl, that wasn’t right. I want you to be there next time. I want to see you face to face. All that banter and back and forth on social media, we’ve got to have a face to face. It’s been awhile,” said Ward.

Ward was in London, England last Saturday night to work Vasiliy Lomachhenko’s fight against Luke Campbell at the O2 Arena. Froch wasn’t there. Ward says he wanted to talk to Froch “face to face” for some reason It’s unclear why Ward wanted to meet Froch, but perhaps he’s still thinking of a rematch. Froch likely wouldn’t take the fight though, because he’s been out of the ring for five years. He got a nose job, and he might not want it to get messed up by Ward or the sparring partners. His nose is perfect now.

Fans would still love to see Froch and Ward fight again

A rematch between Froch and Ward would likely still make a lot of money for both fighters. When you see casual boxing fans showing interest in seeing two unknown Youtubers fight each other, it makes sense for Froch to face Ward in a rematch. There would be a heck of a lot more interest from boxing fans in seeing those two face each other than some obscure Youtube guys that no one has ever heard of. If money is something that Froch and Ward are interested in, they should face each other again in the UK. Take it to Wembley Stadium. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn could fill the card with his prospects, and it would do well.

Froch: Ward’s fighting style is “borderline cheating”

“I think his style is borderline cheating…it was one of the worst fights I’ve been involved in since Matthew Barney, who nobody will know,’ said Froch to skysports.com in talking about his loss to Ward in 2011. “That’s when somebody smothers you, puts their head on your chest, and basically holds you at any given moment they can, and ducks low. Andre Ward’s style is effective, but it’s boring.  He fought Sergey Kovalev twice. He beat him with low blows in the end. If the truth hurts, you don’t like it, then do something about it,” said Froch.

Froch sounds like he’s spoiling for a rematch with Ward

Where Froch dares Ward to “do something about it,” seems to suggest that he’s spoiling for a rematch. They might as well fight each other again. If the fans are willing to watch unknown Youtube guys fight, then a rematch between Ward and Froch would make for great television. Ward has only been away from the game for 2 years since his win over Sergey Kovalev in 2017. That’s not that long ago, and he still looks to be in fighting shape. Ward hasn’t let himself balloon to near 400 pounds like Tyson Fury did when he was away from the sport.