Perhaps Carl Froch is, like many of us, bored due to the ongoing coronavirus lock down. Maybe Froch is just bored in general. For whatever reason or reasons, “The Cobra” has called out Joe Calzaghe. 42 year old Froch recenty told us all he would have beaten up Gennady Golovkin had he accepted the catch-weight fight when it was offered to him a few years back, and now – once again speaking on his podcast: Froch On Fighting – Froch tells us all he would “iron out” Calzaghe should he and the 48 year old get it on this year.
Froch said how promoter Eddie Hearn asked him to do a “virtual press conference” with Calzaghe, the intention to relieve some of the lock down dullness, but Froch wants a real fight with Joe. It was back in 2008 when “The Pride of Wales” vacated his super-middleweight title as he moved up to conquer the world at light-heavyweight, thus denying Froch his mandatory shot at him.
It’s apparent Froch, who took over as the most dominant British super-middleweight at that time, still holds a grudge.
“I’ve always said I’ll come out of retirement for the right dance partner,” Froch said. “Obviously I’m not gonna jump in there with a current world champion who’s been active, but someone like Joe Calzaghe, I mean, I’m not being funny. I don’t wanna be horrible or disrespectful in any way, but it’s gonna sound like I am, even though I’m not. But have you seen the state of him? Have you seen the size of his head? I don’t know why it’s swollen up so badly. He looks like he’s got high blood pressure. He looks a bit of a mess. So if he agreed to give me a fight, to come out of retirement, because of my cheek, and because of the way I’m speaking about him, then I’d definitely fancy a bit of that. But he ain’t gonna wanna come out because he knows he’d get absolutely flattened, because I’m in good shape.”
It is indeed extremely unlikely Calzaghe – who retired in late 2008, Froch retiring in 2014 – will take the bait and agree to fight Froch. And even if he did, what kind of a fight would it be? An embarrassing one, most likely. As Froch says, he has kept himself in good physical condition, whereas Calzaghe, who is more than entitled to do so, has perhaps “been partying.”
Back in 2008, this match-up would almost certainly have resulted in a truly great fight. Today, however, Froch should know better than to be so disrespectful. Even if he is bored silly.
For the record, Froch is currently 33-2(24). Calzaghe is a perfect 46-0(32).