By Mark Vester
WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch has advised Joe Calzaghe to stay retired and avoid any ring returns. Froch had been calling Calzaghe out for the last few years. The road to Calzaghe came to a halt when the Welsh fighter announced his retirement at the start of 2009. Froch wants to focus on building his own legacy in the super middleweight division. He returns on October 17 against Andre Dirrell, a first round bout in the Super Six tournament.
"He (Calzaghe) is finished and he needs to stay retired, he’s been out for too long now,’’ Froch said to the Northern Echo. ‘‘He’s probably walking around at 14 and a half stone, drinking and eating properly and he’s got a family. I want him to enjoy his retirement, good luck to him. He had a fabulous career and I have a lot of respect for him.
‘‘I’m not going to give him any stick or try and lure him out of retirement because I don’t think it would be the right thing for him to do. ‘As the proud warrior that he is and a strong, determined man retiring undefeated, I’m going to give the man the respect he deserves."
The one man that really wants to collide with Froch in the Super Six tournament is WBA champion Mikkel Kessler. The two of them are scheduled to fight in the first quarter of 2010 in the Super Six schedule.
"Mikkel Kessler is a good fighter and undefeated other than the Calzaghe loss,’’ Froch said. He has won over 40 fights and he has won in style – he is a strong, dominant super-middleweight and he means business. To fight him – well, I would be a very proud man to beat him. It would be magnificent."
‘‘Joe Calzaghe beat him on points over 12 rounds and if I can do a better job than that it will go a long way to showing where I am. But I think people already know. I beat (Jean) Pascal (to win the WBC title) and he has since gone on to win the world title at light-heavyweight so people know he can fight. The Taylor win has cemented my status as a world class boxer, so I’ve got nothing to prove to anybody and I am in no way trying to emulate what Joe Calzaghe has done."
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