ya for sure. froch was slow but there were some skills there. a good stiff sharp jab, and aside from the dirrell fight he never really had too much trouble finding the target (groves I was more of him taking several rounds to recover and start his attack than him missing ).
watching george foreman in his prime the other day it was a similar thing. slow hands and crude technique, could give the impression there was little skill there. but his jab was actually really stabbing and he was excellent at mixing up the range and timing. he would throw short tapping shots , then a big winging one, then something in between. it was hard to tell what was coming even though he lacked hand speed
like froch, foreman really didnt have too many troubles landing on much faster, slicker opponents (with some exceptions of course
)
IIRC Foreman learned a lot of his style close up from Sandy Saddler, who'd mastered the art of being a rough tough imposing fighter thirty years before. Lots of old-school stuff like the long guard, occupying space with feints and hand movement, pushing on opponents' shoulders, etc., mixed up with massive power shots. They don't look a million miles apart style-wise.