Carl Froch: “Manny Pacquiao is past his best. He’s had long career, he’s got few ring wars out there, maybe you’ve seen the best of him”
Carl Froch: “Manny Pacquiao is past his best. He’s had long career, he’s got few ring wars out there, maybe you’ve seen the best of him” By Jenna Jay, OnTheRopes Boxing Radio, Doghouse Boxing (Sept 17, 2012) Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
Click to listen to the Carl Froch interview in its entirety now!
By
Jenna Jay (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J, Doghouse Boxing). In a recent edition of my boxing
radio show “On The Ropes”, I had a
chance to catch up with reigning IBF super middleweight champion Carl “The
Cobra” Froch. He is considered by many to be one of the best p4p fighters in
the world due to his success in the ring and his willingness to take on the
very best every time he enters the ring. Carl gave me his thoughts on a variety
of topics, including his views on his upset victory over Lucian Bute, how it
felt to once again be a world champion, thoughts in his former opponent Arthur
Abraham winning a title, his prospective on former boxing great JoeCalazghe, and his views on a Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao super fight. Here is what he
had to say in part 1 of my 2 part interview. You can also click the audio button on the right hand side of this page and listen to the full interview now.
Jenna: Carl,
before I talk about what’s next for you, let’s take a minute to
discuss the last time we saw you in the ring, that being your impressive TKO5 victory over Lucian
Bute. Having had a few months to reflect on that it, what are your thoughts today?
Froch: It was a very good
performance by myself obviously, it was one sided, it was
very dominating by myself, I dominated from round 2 to round 5 to the
stoppage,
basically brute force power and work rate. Basically he wasn’t tough
enough to
withstand the onslaught I gave him. I really sort of broke him down and
hurt him early and he was never ever able to recover from the
first big few shots and then I capitalized on it and closed the show. I
mean what
can I say the performance speak for itself. A quite devastating loss by
Lucian
Bute that’s for sure.
Jenna: People
were counting you out going into that fight, and the critics and odds makers
had you as the underdog. How did it feel prove all those people wrong?
Froch: You know,
people always have there critics. The sport wouldn’t be the same without them.
I was coming off a back of a loss with Andrew Ward, so maybe they were looking
into that fight and thinking that was the end of Carl Froch and people there
entitled to there opinion. Bute was undefeated 30 fights 24 Knockouts, everyone
had him rated very highly and had him ranked #1 world by a lot of governing bodies. They looked and looked at
that Carl Froch just lost to Andre Ward and maybe his getting old and maybe his
ambitions are gone, I don’t know what people are thinking it's hard for me to
try to know what’s going through critics mind but he was the bookies
favorite and he was the most boxing pundits favorite so, but it shows how wrong
people can be, but I am not going gloat about it I am not going to say it I
told you so. I am just happy I did what I could do. And sometimes this sport
surprises a lot of people and I think a lot of people were surprised and
shocked by the way in which I dominated Bute in the fight. I always knew I was
going to beat him and beat him in style, but I didn’t do too much talking in
about it before hand. Just got in there and did my business in the night.
Jenna: Well Carl,
I actually picked you to stop Bute, but you still impressed me with how quickly
you did it, as I picked you to end things in the 9th, and you did it
in only 5.
Froch: You were
one of the very few that thought I could win than.
Jenna: Carl, how did it feel to win a title belt one fight after you lost the one you previously held?
Froch: I’ve done
that before. I lost to Mikkel Kessler in a very close decision in Denmark so in
my next fight I boxed Arthur Abraham and a lot of people thought I would lose
that fight and I was the underdog, what did I do. I went in there and dominated
for 12 rounds, did the business, so it felt great but nothing new for me to be
honest.
Jenna: Speaking of Arthur Abraham, he recently returned to the ring and won a super middleweight title belt. Were you are at all surprised he was able to Robert Stieglitz and become a world champion again?
Froch: No, I
think Abraham did well actually in beating Stieglitz.
I didn’t see the fight, but from what I’ve heard it was quite close, and that Abraham
deserved to win, and he’s done well. I’m proud of him to win that fight and
become WBO super middleweight champion, he’s done himself proud. We will see
how long he holds on to that tile for, but it’s not massive a title the WBO,
it’s not sort of belt I regard very highly personally, the 3 main belts for me
are the WBC, IBF, and WBA. It’s a belt, a world title, you know one of them
ones that sometimes stay in one place for too long. Top fighters don’t always
challenge for it. But he is WBO super middleweight champ, he’s done well, I am
not surprised he is a good fighter.
Jenna: You
mention that you don’t regard the WBO belt very highly. Is that at all a shot
at Joe Calazghe who held that belt for a long time?
Froch: No, no Joe
Calazghe is a good friend of mine. He is a gentlemen and he has retired
graciously. He retired undefeated and he was one of the best super middleweights
or he was the best super middleweight in the world when he retired, so there
was nothing intended at all. But it’s a good example he had the belt for 10
years and defended the tile 90% of the time in Wales, so it down values the
belt little bet when that happens especially when you’re not defending it in
next in line, the 1, 2 and 3 in the world, your defending against mandatory
opponents, or I am sorry, not mandatory opponents you have voluntary defenses
against people who are not ranked top 10 in the world, so it down values the
belt, so when Floyd Mayweather has the belt and he defends the belt against the
next best opponent in the division, it becomes a good belt and a good title to
win, so it always different and it depends on which weight and the fighters
name make the belt become more prestigious, it’s my personal opinion of the WBO
it’s not something I strive to become a WBO champion, but that’s just my
personal opinion, a lot people might disagree or have something to say, if they
want a number to ring, just give them my number and will have a talk about it.
Jenna: Speaking
of Mayweather, recently there has been talks for a fight between him and
Pacquiao, and again it seems that fight will not be happening. I’m just
wondering Carl, do you think boxing fans still even want to see that fight
being that it’s already been 3 years and those to still have not met in the
ring?
Froch: Of course the fans want to. Shame, because Pacquiao got that loss on him, obviously lot of people think he won, which is fare enough, it was one of those you could call a bad decision, but Mayweather is p4p best in the world, he is the best fighter in the world, he seems to be untouchable, but pacquiao might be on the slide, he’s past his best, he’s had long career, he’s got few ring wars out there, he’s ageing himself, maybe you’ve seen the best of him. Floyd Mayweather might be getting towards his later years, his twilight years, you never know, but of course the fans will want to see, where it will take place, it will sell out, and it will net million it’s a big fight. Will it happens who knows.
Jenna: Carl, since you mention age, you are 35 years old now. Do you think the
fans have seen the best of "The Cobra" or do you believe the best is
still yet to come?
Froch: It’s always hard to say isn’t it. I am 35 years old but I
feel like a young man depends a lot on my fights, too see how good performance
you going to see, I’ve had some performances at 25 years old, and had some
fantastic performances at 34 and 35 years old, so you know age is in the prime,
age doesn’t really mean anything until a certain point, and I feel very much in
my prime and you know I am peaking at the minute, so I am not really thinking
of age you know or if I am over the hill or if I’ve pass my best and nobody else
should really at age 35 year, the stage I feel at the minute, the moves that I
am doing physically, I feel in my peak. Age has nothing to do with it as far as
I am concerned.
Stay tuned to Doghouse boxing for part 2 of my Exclusive interview with Carl Froch
Special thanks to Tim for helping bring this interview to boxing readers.
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