Right let's get things straight here. Back in 08 when Froch was talking trash trying to get the fight he wasn't well known at all in the US, even in the UK he was only someone the hardcore boxing fans knew of. Straight away it's not a fight that's going to capture the publics imaginations.
Secondly back in 08 no one would have EVER predicted that Froch would have had the career he has done so far, and fair play to the guy for that, he's proved everyone wrong, including Calzaghe no doubt. In 08 Froch was a bit of a laughing stock, nobody really rated him, everyone was tipping him to get beat against the better guys and Calzaghe would have absolutely wiped the floor with Froch back then.
You've got to look at this from Calzaghe's point of view for a minute, his last two fights he's fought Hopkins and RJJ in America and made huge money, why would he fight Froch who AT THE TIME was ridiculed by the boxing public for not being very good? Had Calzaghe knew the career Froch would go on to have he would've took that fight probably, but he didnt, nobody did.
Froch has fought the better opposition, no doubt about it. But prime for prime Calzaghe would have beaten Froch by a very wide points margin.
Rewatched this again last night for the first time since being there live. First of all, the English commentary, wow Jim Watt can be bad, but Jesus Christ almighty he was laughable. He didn't recognise anything Groves was doing at all, was pretty shocking to say the least. His scoring of the fight was hilarious.
As for the fight, being there I felt it was fairly close, nip and tuck with Groves just edging it. But after watching it I was surprised at how wide it actually was, Groves was out boxing Carl for large proportions of the fight, his jab was quicker and sharper and his right hand was finding a home more frequently than I thought. Froch didn't have any success at all in the fight until the 5th round, the first 4 rounds Groves won without really forcing the fight. I gave Froch the 5th and 6th and Groves the 7th and was winning the 8th before being hit by an absolute Hail Mary of a punch.
Good fight, better boxing match than the first. Groves ovbiously has bags of ability but he is chinny which will stop him from becoming as good as he could be. He"ll win a world title, but I don't think he"ll be a great champion. Froch fair play to the guy he keeps on proving me wrong, but I do maintain that if he carries on fighting, he will get brutally knocked out by someone before his career is over.
Froch always looks uncomfortable and Nervous around Groves, genuinely looks like he's going to cry when he talks. He contradicts himself in nearly every interview he does. I've heard him say in one interview he wanted to fight Groves again immediately after the first fight, then a few days after he said he didn't really want to fight Groves again as he doesn't want to go over old ground. He's also said he thinks the stoppage was fair and a good one, but now he's taking up the mantra that the ref stopped it too early.
Groves is clearly in Froch's head, he's seeing a psychologist ffs.
Froch's voice broke a couple of times like he was going to burst into tears or chuck that glass of water over Groves.
Has no bearing on the fight whatsoever. Froch does lie though, a lot.
Thing with Golovkin it's not who he's beat, it's the way he has beat decent opposition. Khan has the more recognisable names on his resume but GGG is the all round superior fighter P4P. Khan v the top 5 at WW is a pickem fight (other than v Floyd).
GGG v anyone between 154-168 = a GGG win by stoppage. GGG is the goods.
It's actually gg vs anyone from 160-164
Gg at 155=L
Gg at 168=L
Tell me who beats him at these weights, please.
He would literally punch Canelo's head off. The only person I give a slight chance of beating him is Andrade on pure talent.
At 155 Canelo beats him there's a reason Loeffler isn't respecting Canelo's terms
At 168 gg beats most title holders except degale
Look I'm British and I like Degale, a lot. The guy has insane skill but he takes rounds off, if he takes rounds off v GGG what happens? DeGale v GGG is actually a good fight and one id like to see, very interesting style match up but GGG would get him late.
As for Canelo, GGG wins that fight easy at what weight Canelo and Golden boy dictates, I actually think Golovkin would make 155 easier than Canelo.
I thought it was going to be a shutout after 4. Gamboa looked brilliant. But he tired and once Crawford gradually got into the fight Gamboa ran out of steam and what was working before wasn't. As Dan_Cov says, two great fighters produced a great fight.
His chin isn't great but it also isn't glass. His problem is he neglects his defences when he gets hurt, he fights fire with fire and leaves himself badly open.
116-112 Lara. He outboxed Canelo for the majority. Canelo pressured well but landed nothing meaningful all night. Canelo shown no real skill in what he done. Lara was the one snapping Canelo's head back with sharp counters all night. I didn't think Lara would get the decision, but was still disappointed. The guy who gave it 117-111 makes me think Lara would never have got the decision.
IMO
Number 1 - Wladimir
---- Big gap ------
Number 2 - Haye/Vitali - I think Haye would beat Vitali, speed would kill him judging from the Chisora fight.
------- Huge Gap --------
3 - The rest.
Does Froch even have any Power? When was the last time he put a decent fighter over? Apart from a energy drained Taylor, a decent puncher would have stopped Abraham with the amount of times he hit him cleanly.
This Froch power is a myth IMO.
Wladimir is massively underrated for me, I think he would have held his own in the 90's era and got a title.
Vitali has never impressed me, he's cumbersome, leggy, overrated power and slow. He's definately there for the taking.
The heavyweight scene is in bad shape, Fury and Price are being talked about as potential Klitschko challengers within the next year, neither of them are ready, both would be brutally knocked out. A fully fit Chisora would beat them both IMO.
Price looks like he has the skillset but he's yet to have a chin check, he was down more than once in the amateurs apparently.
I liked the look of Richard Towers too but apparently he has a chin that compares to Allan Green.
Froch has fought the tougher opposition, but only because they were around. I'm sorry but you don't unify a division by ducking people. Prime for prime Calzaghe beats Froch 120-108, A 37 year old Calzaghe against a prime Froch wins quite comfortably too, I'm sorry but Calzaghe was in a different league. The only fight Calzaghe would have struggled with was Ward, but I think he still beats him.
If it's close, Froch will get it.
I think it's going to be a lot closer than what people think, the thing I'm worried about for Froch is that he's going to be hit simply too much and it will have an accumlative effect in the later rounds. Froch can win this fight, he's going to be super motivated after the Ward fight, Bute is better than Froch, but the gulf is not as big as people are making out.
No chance, Froch isn't even big outside of Nottingham, he wouldn't sell out the o2 or the MEN. It will be a decent atmosphere, but nothing like the Hatton one.
The BoxNation commentators were nuthugging Chisora all fight. Haye boxed the head off him for 5 rounds then viciously knocked out someone with a great chin and someone Vitali struggled with.
That was a great performance from Haye, especially considering he's been out for a year. I'd say that's by far the best he's looked at Heavyweight.
Prizefighter is ****e. Hamer was right in what he said, just came across as a bit of a dickhead. I wanted to hear what he wanted to say but the reporter took the microphone away from him.
Johnson was talking some ****e.