Terence wrote:I have nothing against Froch personally, he reminds me of Robbie savage, can come across as a bit of a tool but when he sits down to give an interview he can actually be alright.
As a Blues fan I can tell you that Savage is a class A w@nker. And a publicity wh0re to boot.
Having said that, we havent been the same team since he abandoned ship..
He did a Prem match once in the studio and I though "Jesus wept!" then he opened his mouth and actually spoke some sense! I would say you wouldn't want him on your team but playing against you he can be a right little arsehole and influence a game.
He did the business for us time and again and was a real engine in midfield. His on field persona got people fired up and he won us nore games then he lost us..
Hence the bitterness when he gave us a load of old bolloxs excuse, saying he was going to Blackburn to be nearer his aged parents..(despite Balckburn being further away in terms of miles.)
Back to the topic - Dodson is a live dog who can make it uncomfortable for Froch, but I fancy the Nottingham man's seasoning and power to see him home.
Is it really a mismatch? Froch has struggled to look impressive against worse fighters than Dodson. Personally I think Froch is massively overrated by a lot of people most of all himself.
Someone is going to catch Froch spark-out sooner or later. His chin looks solid enough but why the rush to keep on testing it?
The Magee win was a good one, the performance left a little to be desired.
That's a very accurate and succinct summary of Froch for me. Seems almost cavalier in his desire to take chances, and when he gets hit he just leaves his chin hanging out there.
As you say, Magee win was good, but the way he loaded up looking for that one big shot all night showed a lack of the kind of tools you expect from a world class fighter, the ability to break an opponent down systematically, something I don't think Carl really has. His precision punchinig and his speed of hand and timing are all good assets, but he has yet to convince that he's got the full tools to take apart someone who can stand with him in the pocket and apply pressure, or fire at Carl consistently whilst blocking Carl's own work.
Quotes from British super middleweight Carl Froch, telling a local paper in Nottingham (UK)...
"Once I get Dodson out the way and get that Lonsdale belt on my mantlepiece, I want three fights in 2007: the winner of Mkrtchian and Gogiya, the winner of Kessler and Beyer, and the winner of Calzaghe and Bika."
"2007 won't be the year of Ricky Hatton or Joe Calzaghe, it's going to be the year of the Cobra! I'll emerge as Europe's number one boxer since the war, winning the European (title) in style then putting Kessler and Calzaghe to sleep. I already hit atleast as hard as any super middleweight in history and I'm getting stronger by the week. I can lure them in and counter their heads off or I can lead off from out of range with the fastest delivery and the silliest of angles."
"I always said that as soon as I win the WBC, WBA and IBF titles I'll hang up my gloves and I will. I'm bowing out as one of the best pound-for-pound in boxing."
"But first things first I have to bounce Dodson's head off the canvas, it's going to be chilling and I do genuinely feel sorry for the guy. There's no way out for him (Dodson), once I get him in the ring."
Since when he has he said he'd retire once he's won the big 3?
And Calzaghe would batter him as bad as he did with Lacy.
Fastest delivery? Froch's handspeed is nothing to write home about, Calzaghe is way faster. He really has an overinflated opinion of his abilities. Calzaghe or Kessler would beat him easily.
Calzaghe did himself a big favour licking Lacy. But that whole fight probably came about through Lacy's desire to beat the best rather than Calzaghe hunting him down.
Before this Calzaghe had not really earned the right to be that cocky considering the quality of most of his challengers and in some cases (Pudwill, McIntyre etc) he should be utterly ashamed.
During his reign as British champion and leading up to his WBO title shot against a short noticed and weight drained Eubank he was a total dick head. He beat no one to talk home about for the British title and bragged his arse off at every opportunity and got his WBO crack on the strength of beating a Brazilian that even allegedly claimed he could have beaten.
Froch has beaten two mandatory's and is Dodson a third (?) which is exceeding the BBBofC's requirements. I can identify why Froch is confident (some of the mud slinging, I agree we could all do without), but if it was good enough for Joe......
At least Calzaghe was winning impressively on the way up. Froch has struggled to look good in his last few fights. Granted he KO'd Magee and it was a great knockout but he looked awful up until that point. And against Westerman again he looked terrible. By all means talk the talk if you can back it up in the ring but shouting your mouth off and then putting in an at best average performance is going to get peoples backs up.
Yes quite right, these flashy types never seem to have the sound fundamentals which allow you to stand in front of your opponent and put him under the hammer of a sustained and varied attack. It's always a single big shot, or at most a three punch combination, then either a clinch or scooting around the ring again. Compare that to a proper technical fighter like Barrera, Morales, Mayweather, etc, and you can see the gulf in class.
For all his faults, Calzaghe can really sustain an attack, and has the speed to keep people off balance and chasing shadows at his best. Froch would get one almighty ass whupping fighting that plodding potshotting style of his against someone like Joe. Unless he has something more to offer, I think there's little chance of him prevailing against that sort of fighter, of which there are admittedly not many.
Look at Calzaghe's first 19 and compare with Froch's. Of course Joe is going to look impressive against that list of no hopers. Until Eubank they were practically all knockover jobs. At least Froch has had tougher oppoments so far and is following a legitimate route. When he has had a knock over job put in front of him (e.g. Damon Hague) Froch did the business in style.
You put Joe's first 19 in front of Froch and i strongly suspect a lot them would have been beaten just as quickly by Carl. Quick wins are not the measure, surely it's the quality the counts? Exactly the reason Joe gets such a hiding from the UK and abroad.
You can't seriously be telling me Froch has anything like the potential Calzaghe showed on the way up. Put it the other way put an early career Calzaghe in with anyone Froch has faced and he'd have beaten them all without looking average. Froch isn't fit to clean Calzaghe's jockstrap.
Perhaps so (that Calzaghe would have beaten them all without looking average) but he DIDN'T. He boxed that derisory list and there's no changing that fact.
You can't seriously tell me that their first 19 compare favourably with each other ?
Not wishing to get hung up with the number 19 but you stick 19 lower tier numbers in front of Froch like Joe had, and I'm sure Froch would be turning a lot of heads and getting more Calzaghe-like back slaps (no pun intended).
BUT..... then he would also be getting ripped to pieces over the opposition just like Joe did and who still suffers from the same problem to this day.
I used to be a big froch fan, there is a lot of ability there without doubt... but he has the wrong style and it will be his ruin... he will be found out soon much like Lee Haskins was recently....
