For the longest time, there was virtually no way to stop Carl Froch from bringing up the night he knocked out George Groves in front of 80,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium.
That time, however, may be coming to an end.
It was announced earlier this month that the four-time super middleweight champion from Nottingham, England, would be joining the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, as part of the 2023 “men’s modern” class that also includes Timothy Bradley and Rafael Marquez. A crowd pleaser inside the ring, Froch fought from 2002-2014, compiling a professional record of 33 wins against two losses, and 24 knockouts.
In an interview on BBC 5 Live Boxing, Froch, who hosts the podcast in tandem with Steve Bunce and Barry Jones, described the feeling of elation when the news of his induction was initially delivered to him. Froch even insisted, half jokingly, that he would retire his oft-repeated (and much satirized) “Wembley” boast. “The Cobra” retired in 2014 on the heels of arguably the sweetest victory of his career, a sensational one-punch, eighth round knockout of bitter rival Groves in their 168-pound title unification match in front of, indeed, 80,000 people at London’s Wembley Stadium.
"It was amazing,” Froch said of hearing the news. “To find out that I’m going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside some of the legends of the game from years and years, generations of top level fighters. I’m gonna get my hand put in a concrete cast. It’ll be up there on the wall. I don’t need to talk about Wembley Stadium anymore. I’m a Hall of Famer.”
Froch was no Pernell Whitaker in the ring. His skillset was admittedly somewhat crude. But he had just about every other important attribute needed to succeed as a prizefighter, including ferocious punching power, a granite chin, and loads upon loads of grit and determination. Most of all, he won. He defeated nearly all the top 168-pounders of his era, including Jean Pascal, Lucian Bute, Glen Johnson, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, and Andre Dirrell. His only losses came at the hands of Andre Ward, another Hall of Famer, and Mikkel Kessler, which Froch would avenge in a 2013 rematch.
Froch described the day when he received the call from the IBHOF’s director Ed Brophy.
“I was literally driving home from the school — I dropped my girls off at the school … and my phone rings and it’s an American number,” Froch said. “I’ve been getting a few calls from Americans from this trading thing that I signed up to ages ago. Like an idiot, I put my phone number down … Anyway, I thought it was a prank call. Guy from America phones me up, ‘Is that Carl.’ [I said] ‘Yeah, this is Carl. What can I do for you. What do you want?’
“He was, like, he introduces himself as a guy from Canastota, the Hall of Fame. And I’m, like, hold on, that is due up. I knew I was in the shortlist. 'Have I made it?' And I start to get a bit giddy and excited. And he tells me that I’ve made the shortlist and that I’m going to be in the class of 2023.
"I had to pull up. I didn’t start bawling or anything but I was losing my signal and I couldn’t let this call go. So I pulled off [to the side of the road[ and I had a good chat with him.”
