By Keith Idec

The British super middleweight showdown between Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch never occurred before Calzaghe retired undefeated, but Calzaghe initiated a Twitter brawl between them over the weekend.

Calzaghe took a shot at Froch when he Tweeted: congratulations to @jamesdegale1 I think he’d whoop Froch! Predictions???

Froch responded: You didn’t fancy the job!

Froch referred to Calzaghe’s unwillingness to fight him before the Welsh southpaw announced his retirement in February 2009.

The 43-year-old Calzaghe took another shot at his nemesis by responding: Lucky for you I fought the best at @MikkelKessler at his peak! Remember then you couldn’t fill a phone box!!

The Calzaghe-Kessler super middleweight championship unification fight drew an enormous crowd in excess of 50,000 to Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, in November 2007. Froch remained an unknown to American fight fans then, as he was still nearly a year-and-a-half from stopping Jermain Taylor in Froch’s first world title fight on U.S. soil.

The late-blooming Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) split a pair of super middleweight title fights against Denmark’s Kessler (46-3, 35 KOs) and evolved into a huge box-office draw in Great Britain. His last fight, a rematch against London’s George Groves, drew a crowd in excess of 80,000 to London’s Wembley Stadium.

The ever-confident Froch wanted to continue engaging Calzaghe in the Twitter war of words, but claimed Calzaghe blocked him.

Froch’s final Tweet to Calzaghe stated: Disappointed in @RealJoeCalzaghe Engages in Twitter battle then blocks me! How’s he even relevant… unless he wants a straightener??

London’s DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) dropped Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) twice on his way to winning a 12-round unanimous decision in their IBF super middleweight title fight Saturday in Boston. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist is chasing Froch the way Froch chased Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) toward the end of the Calzaghe’s Hall-of-Fame career.

The 37-year-old Froch said last week that he’ll announce by the first week of June whether he’ll continue fighting. The Nottingham native hasn’t boxed since he knocked out Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) in the eighth round of their rematch last May 31.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.