Carl Froch: “I think I would have been too much for Canelo in my prime!”

By Boxing News - 11/02/2021 - Comments

Carl Froch says he would have relished a fight against Canelo Alvarez during his heyday and believes he would have had too much in his arsenal for the Mexican great.

Canelo looks to complete his super middleweight collection when he faces Caleb Plant for the undisputed title in Las Vegas on Saturday.

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The 31-year-old has already beaten Callum Smith, Avni Yildirim and Billy Joe Saunders on route to claiming three of the four belts at 168lbs with Plant holding the IBF crown.

Former unified super middleweight champion, Froch retired after knocking out George Groves at Wembley Stadium in 2014 following a decorated career in which he beat the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor, Arthur Abraham and Lucian Bute.

‘The Cobra’ admits he would have loved to have faced Canelo and believes he would have proved too good during his prime years.

“I would have loved that fight,” Froch told Pro Boxing Fans.

“If I was in prime and my prime being the back end of my career.

“I beat Lucian Bute in that obliteration and I had the rematch with [Mikkel] Kessler and then two [George] Groves fights, which I wasn’t fully motivated for the first Groves fight, but I was for the second.

“I was a mature, seasoned, professional world champion. I had suffered defeats, come back and won.

“So, me in my prime at about 34, 35-years-old against Canelo Alvarez, I think I would have been too much for him.

“I think that myself, the viewers and the listeners can think what they want, but I back myself in fights.

“Against smaller people like Arthur Abraham, who was knocking everybody over and everybody was frightened to death of getting in with him, I just totally outboxed him and battered him like he’d never been battered before.

“So, when I look at Canelo Alvarez and I’ve met him and shook his hand before the [Billy Joe] Saunders fight, because we’ve interviewed him on DAZN.

“I was looking at him and sizing him up and he’s about 5ft 8 and I shook his hand and his hands aren’t very big.

“We didn’t have a pull or a push or anything, it was amicable! But I was looking at him thinking, ‘I’m not so sure you’d get near me and if you did I’m happy to put one into you, because of the size.’

“But who knows. At the time I would have took the fight, it would have been amazing.”

Canelo is on a run of 15 fights unbeaten since a sole career defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013.

Alvarez has been praised for the improvements he made in his style since losing to Mayweather and Froch admits he would have had to have traded with him if they had ever fought.

“That’s the kind of fight where I think that would have been a proper fight,” the 44-year-old added.

“It would have been me trying to box and move and then realising I’m not good enough to box and move, because he’s a very good boxer even though he’s shorter, so I would have thought, right I’ve got to stand and have a fight with him.

“It would have been, do I get chined? Would he have been the first man to knock me out? I’m not so sure. Would he have put me over? Maybe. But would I have got up to win? Possibly. We’ll never know.”