By Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton
Retired super middleweight champion Carl Froch refuses to give Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) the recognition of being one of boxing's best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.
Froch believes Ward is too dirty of a fighter to receive the pound-for-pound crown over other top fighters like WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
In December of 2011, Ward won a twelve round decision over Froch in the final round of the Super Six tournament. Froch and Ward had discussed the idea of a rematch on more than one occasion, but they were never even close to being on the same page with two of the most important terms - the money and the fight location.
“I mean Andre Ward keeps winning, although very ugly. It’s difficult for me to give [Ward] any credit and not just because he beat me. He beat me fair and square. But he ducks below the waist, that’s illegal. He holds, that’s illegal. He uses his head, that’s also illegal. But he don’t get any points deducted. He don’t get disqualified, so I don’t class that kind of fighting style as pound-for-pound," Froch said when interviewed by BoxingScene and Fighthype.
Last November, Ward came off the floor in the second round to win a twelve round unanimous decision over Sergey Kovalev to capture the IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight titles.
The fight lacked any real fireworks, with Kovalev getting tired in the second half of the contest and Ward fighting in a technical manner. Froch felt Kovalev had Ward in trouble in the second round, but "failed to capitalize" on the situation.
“I thought it was a stinker and I thought Kovalev didn’t deserve to lose - and I don’t think either of them really deserved to win. Kovalev wasn’t busy enough the last six rounds. Andre Ward was too dirty as he always is when he’s in a hard fight, so maybe that fight should’ve been a draw.... that might have been a fair decision," Froch said.
There is a rematch clause, which Kovalev exercised. But Froch stated in response to that situation - "I don’t think Andre Ward is gonna want the rematch if I’m totally honest."
