In an exclusive interview with OLBG, Carl Froch shared his insights on Taylor vs Cameron, Eubank vs Smith and shows his P4P list.
Carl Froch: “Katie Taylor was a top amateur. In terms of who is better, I would say Claressa Shields because Taylor got lucky on a couple of close wins. Claressa Shields dominates everyone who she is in the ring with. Katie Taylor just outworks everyone. She may be more naturally gifted but I would say Claressa Shields is the better fighter.
Katie will get past Chantelle Cameron. I think Cameron is a good fighter but Katie outworks her.
Shields is in my opinion the best female boxer of all time.”
Froch: My top 6 P4P fighters in the world – with Usyk number one
Oleksandr Usyk
Naoya Inoue
Terrance Crawford
Errol Spence Jr
Artur Beterbiev
Gervonta Davis
Liam Smith wins rematch with Chris Eubank Jr
Froch: “Liam Smith is the favourite in the rematch. However, I didn’t see anything wrong with Chris Eubank Jr particularly. Maybe he crashed the weight. He was down to 157 pounds for Conor Benn and that fight didn’t happen, then went straight into the camp for Liam Smith.
He didn’t get enough rest, maybe that’s an excuse for him. Or Liam Smith is a better fighter naturally. He comes from a boxing family, and had a great career at amateur and professional level.
Everytime Eubank Jr fought a big opponent he lost. He lost to Billy Joe Saunders, and then George Groves beat him. He did beat James DeGale – but he was a shadow of himself and retired shortly after. I’m still not convinced that I will come into the fight full of energy or with the toughness to withstand Liam Smith. I know Eubank Jr is tough because I have sparred against him and he went 12 rounds with Groves and Saunders.
If he can do that, how come he can’t beat Liam Smith? He hasn’t gone through so many tests in his career to the point where he can’t take a punch like Amir Khan – who as soon as he takes a punch is completely shot to bits.
I think Eubank took too much weight off. If he has a better camp and keeps hydrated in the rematch, he may regain his punch absorption. Though, he has shown he will definitely struggle. He took a couple of bad shots in the early rounds of the fight and it could have been easily stopped way earlier than it was. Eubank Jr has seen better days, Liam wins the rematch.”
George Groves and Glen Johnson were the most surprising opponents I faced
Froch: “George Groves’ power shocked me. No-one in the 39 years of the super middleweight division would have handled what he hit me with in the first six rounds of our fights, and I’m saying this after beating him twice.
Andre Ward hugged me 97 times over 12 rounds. That is 8.1 hugs per round. That wasn’t the most talked about fight leading up to it. He was a massive spoiler. He made a massive career of holding and spoiling. He shocked me with how bad he was.
Glen ‘’Coffee’ Johnson was an old man when I fought him but he was tough as nails. I hit him with so many shots. Arthur Abraham was also a tough one who I mauled for 12 rounds. I think that’s what I would do to Canelo – hit him with combination punches to the body and head for the duration of the fight. But Johnson was a tough man.
Knowingly cheating in boxing could be borderline manslaughter
Froch: “You’re not finishing races by half a second, you’re punching someone in the head and you can kill someone. So if you’re going to drug cheat in a combat sport you’re potentially going to kill someone, so surely you’re potentially up for manslaughter. You’re not intending to kill, but it’s borderline manslaughter. It’s disgusting. I think it needs a big reboot, a wake-up in boxing. A new process in place that works.
Dwayne Chambers failed a drug test and it ruined his life, destroyed him. He said it destroyed him, his friends, family and career, everything was over. How many boxers have failed tests lately? A lot have failed and then just go on to have great careers after a small ban. Something needs to be done.
Some substances are used to mask steroids, to get your body back to where it should be after you’ve taken a cycle of drugs.
I’m not a scientist, but people doing the testing and regulating boxing, for the safety of boxers should know everything. They should have a Masters Degree in every single thing that is found traced in the blood.”
Bute was my favourite KO excluding Groves
Froch: “Favourite KO was Bute at home in Nottingham for the IBF World title. He was unbeaten and the crowd was electric that night.