By Mark Vester

UK rivals Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch continue to trade insults in the press. Froch recently picked up Calzaghe's old WBC super middleweight title after Joe vacated the belt earlier in the year to move up to light heavyweight. Calzaghe had to make a defense against Froch at the time, but looked for bigger game in fights with Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. Froch has chased Calzaghe for at least two years.

Joe wasn't impressed with Froch recent workhorse win over Jean Pascal and he doesn't think a win over Froch would prove anything. He doesn't even think Froch would last more than three rounds if they fought.

"To be honest, he's like a boy. He's a limited fighter. He has no defence, he throws single shots and he would make me look great. People keep saying 'just fight the guy, you'd knock him out in three rounds.' I probably would knock the guy out in three rounds. But it doesn't mean anything," Calzaghe told talkSPORT.

"I need to fight guys who are going to improve my legacy. I need to fight guys I can be motivated to fight as a champion. He only won a belt that I'd given up and the guy he beat wasn't any good. I'm fed up with people just mouthing me off and saying disrespectful things. I don't like the guy so why would I want to give him a payday?"

Froch fired back while speaking with Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour, laughing at Calzaghe and picking apart his comments.

“It sounds like a man whose realizing that I am world class and he's even more worried than he was when he turned down the fight 18 months ago,” Froch said. ”He has been offered good money to fight. He has been offered five million. For him to say he would stop me in three or four rounds in laughable. He doesn't stop anybody.

”He says I couldn't put Pascal away. What happened with Roy Jones Jr the other week? That was a four-round fight really and the least he could have dones was get him out of there. From the outset I've gone for the WBC not the Warren Boxing Organisation title which I've got no interest in. When Joe Calzaghe was WBC champion, that's when I went overboard on calling him out. Since he vacated I've left him alone.

”He vacated the WBC which he vacated rather than fight me I might point out and after that I wasn't interested. Then I had the problems with the pull outs with Denis Inkin, but it was a happy ending in beating Pascal who was a good amateur, an unbeaten professional and hungry to win the world title like myself. I am disappointed in Joe's comments. I think they're fuelled by jealousy at me winning the title. I really do.

”A couple of interesting points I'd put forward: he says he can't get motivated to fight me but what was the motivation for fighting [Peter] Manfredo? It maybe is starting to get personal. It's tit for tat. He says something then I come back with something. I might not want to fight Joe Calzaghe. Kelly Pavlik is interested and that's a bigger and more exciting fight than Joe Calzaghe."

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