By Terence Dooley
Carl "The Cobra" Froch has joined an elite group of British fighters after breaking into the Pound-For-Pound Top Ten in The Ring 100: Ranking The World's Best Fighters list for 2013. Froch defended his WBA and IBF Super middleweight titles with a ninth-round stoppage of domestic rival George Groves in November to close out the year and The Ring's ranking boost is an early Christmas present for the Nottingham-based boxer.
Froch, 32-2 (23), is sitting pretty at number nine after an impressive couple of years, not to mention strong results, since his December 2011 decision defeat to America's Andre Ward, his last loss. It will give the fighter yet another goal for the coming year, as he will no doubt want to consolidate and build on his current position.
Froch joins Lennox Lewis, Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe in the small group of modern-day British annual pound-for-pound entrants; the 36-year-old earned his spurs by reeling off wins over Lucian Bute (TKO 5), Yusaf Mack (KO 3), Mikkel Kessler (W12 to avenge his April 2010 narrow points loss to the Danish boxer) and Groves. The victories over Kessler and Groves ensured he remained unbeaten during 2013 and built on his impressive form from the previous year.
Froch's options for 2014 include Groves II, although the champion has distanced himself from that one, Julio Cesar Chavez Junior and possibly a rematch with Ward, which is the fight he has been chasing for the past few years. Whatever path he takes in 2014, Froch can spend the next few months enjoying his Pound-For-Pound elevation and, in Lewis, Hamed, Hatton and Calzaghe, he has joined a glittering, exclusive list of recent British fighters.
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