When we go by the Modern Category only, thus excluding the Old Timer category and the Pioneer category, there are seven British boxers currently enshrined in The International Boxing Hall of Fame at Canastota. Before this past weekend there were only six British fighters laying claim to the honour. On Sunday (June 11) Carl Froch entered The Hall of Fame, “The Cobra” joining Lennox Lewis, Ken Buchanan (RIP), Barry McGuigan, Randy Turpin (RIP), Naseem Hamed and Joe Calzaghe.
Fans can and do make the argument for other British fighters deserving the honour (Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Lloyd Honeyghan being just three Brits a good many fans feel should be in the Modern category), but there is no denying Froch deserves his spot. Froch, who has a resume that is littered with big names and excellent fighters, all of which Froch managed to defeat bar one, is a three-time super middleweight champion who ducked no man.
Wins over Jean Pascal, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Lucian Bute, Glen Johnson, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell and George Groves (twice) shine on Froch’s record, and the Nottingham man had to work hard to get these wins. Always in great shape when entering the ring, Froch did it the hard way, the honest way. The admirable way.
And though it took time, Froch did become a star, here in the UK especially.
Froch recalled the vast difference in fans who attended his first world title fight and his final world title fight, this when speaking after being enshrined over the weekend.
“My first world title fight against the superb Jean Pascal was in Nottingham, in my hometown, in front of 8,000 fans,” Froch said. “And I used this line yesterday and I didn’t get a good enough response, so you all better listen up. 8,000 fans in Nottingham for my first world title fight, now that’s not the punchline, that’s not the big one. And my last fight was in the national stadium, Wembley Stadium, in front of 80,000 fans! I don’t mention it much!”
Froch has of course laughed at himself for coming out with the “80,000 fans at Wembley” line so many times, as he has been laughed at by plenty of fans. But it’s true Froch went out of the sport with one big bang. That return fight with Groves captured the interest and attention of an entire nation, so controversial was the stoppage win Froch got in the first fight. The bad blood was real, yet today both warriors are friends.
It was in many ways the perfect ending for Froch, his unfinished business attended to in style. The only man Froch couldn’t defeat was Andre Ward, and it is a shame the two didn’t box a rematch. The only other loss on Froch’s record came against Kessler, and “The Cobra” avenged that defeat in another thriller.
Froch, 33-2(24) says he never dreamt he’d ever go into The Hall of Fame, but his sheer hard work, desire and very real willingness to fight the best did it for him.
