The Carl Froch Myth - Legacy, Greatness and 'Elite' Opposition

[removed]

'Lol' at the stock 'Froch fan' reply...

Clearly you're a Froch fan, as opposed to a 'boxing' fan. 'lmao'..

I have better things to do than argue with a butthurt Calzaghe fanboy. I don't recall anyone labeling Froch a 'great'. A tough mother****er yes, but not a great.

[Ray*]

As a Joe Calzaghe fan it hurts me to see other Calzaghe fan post rubbish about Froch, Calzaghe is retired so shut it!!! This is Froch time and he deserve all the accolade showered on him at the moment, so instead of looking to pick wholes in him please know that everybody else can do the same thing to Joe Calzaghe.

[P4P_No1]

The reference to Holmes and Louis was made in terms of number of successful title defenses. Calzaghe has 21.

Put very simply, 21 successful title defenses is a tougher run. It's a legendary run. Cleaning up at 168 is a tougher run.

Are Abraham, Taylor (middleweights) or Johnson (42 year old Light Heavyweight) really 'the best' at 168? Dirrell has never won a belt, so what is his reason for being included in 'the best at 168'? Do you believe Calzaghe wouldnt have beat Abraham, a 42 year old Johnson, Dirrell or a shot Jermain Taylor? He beat Kessler, who would smash all of them.

The only two fighters in that who can be considered 'best' in the division are Ward and Kessler, who beat him.

Focus on the facts, my friend, not the hype.

On paper Calzaghe should beat them but boxing don't work like that. Who knows what would have happened.

Yes 21 successful defences is superb but is beating those guys really deserving of legendary status? Who on that list (at the time JC fought them) was really a threat? A serious threat.

I'm not calling Froch a great by any means but in this day and age when boxers tend to find any excuse to dodge their opponent, it's refreshing to see someone like Froch who is willing and ready to fight his divisions best wherever and whenever.

[1g5a22]

Great boxers don't get 'Jeff Lacy'd' like Froch did at the hands of Ward. Simple as that.

Froch was not 'lacy'd' nor was he beat down! He was beaten but it was far from a beatdown! (Ward is boring as hell to watch, He couldn't finish a fighter to save his life and always looks to hold in the last rounds!) Not many elite fighters (with the exception of mayweather, marciano, calzaghe etc) go unbeaten, stop hating!

I made a thread about this recently having only recently got round to watching the fight, after reading about it i was expecting some sensational schooling like a i.e hopkins vs pavlik or calzaghe vs lacy type fight going on what i have read in forum's etc however i was suprised to see it was far from it!

A clear UD for ward no doubt but it certainly was no whitewash, all i saw was the younger/faster man content to rack up another points win (what struck me was that froch actually proved to be the fitter man as ward was f***ed towards the latter part of the fight) ward was clock watching and holding to buy time, froch is a man of steel, crazy stamina!

Ward started well, carl began to get back into the fight midway and the latter half was fairly even with froch going for broke and ward sitting back on his laurels..froch even finished the stronger man!

Don't forget carl is 35 next time out...ward is a young man.

[Shimon]

I don't need to read I skimmed through parts and its the same drivel i have read multiple times before.

Talking of reading you obviously didn't read my question.

Who in boxing has had a better "RUN" of opponents than Froch and no Pac and Mayweather have not.

oh and you didn't answer the other question either who has a better resume than Froch throughout the history of the 168 division?

If you cant be arsed to read then I cant be arsed to answer your dumb questions.

I will say though, because you're full of ****, Calzaghe has the better resume because he cleaned up the division and won all the titles. Plus, Abraham, Taylor and Johnson are not natural 168 fighters, nor the best at 168. Calzaghe would have wiped the floor with them, emphatically.

[Shimon]

Froch was not 'lacy'd' nor was he beat down! He was beaten but it was far from a beatdown! (Ward is boring as hell to watch, He couldn't finish a fighter to save his life and always looks to hold in the last rounds!) Not many elite fighters (with the exception of mayweather, marciano, calzaghe etc) go unbeaten, stop hating!

I made a thread about this recently having only recently got round to watching the fight, after reading about it i was expecting some sensational schooling like a i.e hopkins vs pavlik or calzaghe vs lacy type fight going on what i have read in forum's etc however i was suprised to see it was far from it!

A clear UD for ward no doubt but it certainly was no whitewash, all i saw was the younger/faster man content to rack up another points win (what struck me was that froch actually proved to be the fitter man as ward was f***ed towards the latter part of the fight) ward was clock watching and holding to buy time, froch is a man of steel, crazy stamina!

Ward started well, carl began to get back into the fight midway and the latter half was fairly even with froch going for broke and ward sitting back on his laurels..froch even finished the stronger man!

Don't forget carl is 35 next time out...ward is a young man.

We must've watched a different fight. Froch got his face busted up and even the commentators (British) remarked at how emphatically Ward had dismissed him. It was a whitewash. I agree that Ward tired but that happens, he's still a relative novice, and Froch is a brilliant athlete.

I'm not a hater, I hold Froch in high regard, just not as high as he and his fans hold him. Just calling for a sense of perspective amongst all this hype and silly talk of greatness.

[1g5a22]

If you cant be arsed to read then I cant be arsed to answer your dumb questions.

I will say though, because you're full of ****, Calzaghe has the better resume because he cleaned up the division and won all the titles. Plus, Abraham, Taylor and Johnson are not natural 168 fighters, nor the best at 168. Calzaghe would have wiped the floor with them, emphatically.

Calzaghe does not have a better resume, he would have beaten froch yes and would be favourite over any name on carls resume imo but the consecutive fights froch has had makes his a better resume overall.

Eubank, hopkins and kessler are all GREAT fighters but froch has not even finished fighting yet and with his win over bute he will have every elite 168/175lb fighter begging for a fight!

[-Lowkey-]

If you cant be arsed to read then I cant be arsed to answer your dumb questions.

I will say though, because you're full of ****, Calzaghe has the better resume because he cleaned up the division and won all the titles. Plus, Abraham, Taylor and Johnson are not natural 168 fighters, nor the best at 168. Calzaghe would have wiped the floor with them, emphatically.

We both know you did read my questions though you simply don't have an answer (which is hilarious).

Im a fan of Cazaghe but at the end of the day Froch has fought better opposition that is irrefutable.

[Shimon]

On paper Calzaghe should beat them but boxing don't work like that. Who knows what would have happened.

Yes 21 successful defences is superb but is beating those guys really deserving of legendary status? Who on that list (at the time JC fought them) was really a threat? A serious threat.

I'm not calling Froch a great by any means but in this day and age when boxers tend to find any excuse to dodge their opponent, it's refreshing to see someone like Froch who is willing and ready to fight his divisions best wherever and whenever.

He fought loads of fighters who were a threat. Omar Sheika, Brewer, Mitchell (2x World Champ), Veit, Woodhall, Lacy, Kessler. Of course it's a legendary run. If being a champ for ten years, unifying a division and beating genuine Hall of Fame fighters (Hopkins, definitley, Kessler, maybe) is not a legendary career, I'd like to know what is.

If you read my post, you will see that a: Froch is not unique, he's one of six fighters who signed up to fight the best (Super Six, the reason behind the 'run', not something unique he's done off his own back!) and that b: of the six names included, two were middleweights, so not the 'best at 168' and Johnson was an old, tired Light Heavyweight. The only two elite names were Kessler and Ward...

He couldnt 'dodge' any fighter, none of them could because they all signed a contract to fight each other. It wasnt just 'Carl Froch' putting himself out there and making a stand.

[1g5a22]

We must've watched a different fight. Froch got his face busted up and even the commentators (British) remarked at how emphatically Ward had dismissed him.

Ward was ****ed in the latter part...the commentators are bemusing to me, i listened to it on the radio at the time and going by there commentary thought it must have been a calzaghe/ lacy type fight but on watching it i was pleasantly suprised! Far from a beatdown....

Even frochs trainer said carl was refusing to do what was told of him in the ward fight for some reason, we all saw how good he can be when he is reigned in a bit! Let's get ward over to nottingham..

It was not even close to a calzaghe/lacy or a hopkins/pavlik type beating! I can look at all this objectively too, it seems you can't, and u only see what you want to see! Froch should stay at home from now on because he's much more pumped and focused, i was impressed....