by James Slater – Carl Froch, the unbeaten WBC super-middleweight champion, was a studio guest on today’s edition of The Steve Bunce Boxing Hour on Setanta Sports. Speaking about a number of potential fights for the near future, “The Cobra” gave his opinion on the men that have been or – are being mentioned as challengers for his 168-pound crown.
Making it clear he wants big fights and nothing less, the 31-year-old Nottingham man said he would be willing to travel to a rival’s backyard once more (as he did against Jermain Taylor last time out, of course), but that he would really like to put on a big fight in Nottingham for his fans.
Froch was asked who he thinks he may be fighting next, possibly in September..
“Mick Hennessey is out in Germany at the minute, and he’s talking to Mikkel Kessler’s people,” Froch said. “Also – although nothing’s been made official or been announced – we are making ground with Lucian Bute’s people. Bute’s a fight I am definitely interested in. I’m the WBC champion and he he’s the IBF, and I want to unify the belts. He’s a tough champion, but I don’t want to sit around and fight nobodies.”
Asked if he expected Bute to come across to the UK instead of him going over to the IBF champ’s base of Canada, Froch said he would do the fight either way.
“I don’t expect anything in boxing to be honest with you,” Froch said. “If I have to go to Canada to box Lucian Bute, I’ll do it. But ideally, I’d like to have a fight in Nottingham, just for my fans. I’ve already travelled abroad and done my thing. I’ve had the jetlag and the hostile crowd. So it’d be nice to fight at home and that’s what I’m going to be pushing for.”
Froch spoke about the possibility of a voluntary defence, but said he does not really want one – so interested is he in the big fights only.
“I can’t get up for a voluntary fight,” Carl stated. “I’m 32 if July and have probably three or four years left and I want big fights. Everyone is saying Mikkel Kessler is the hardest fight out there for me, they’re saying don’t fight him. I’ll fight him and I’ll prove everyone wrong.”
Two more big names brought up today were Bernard Hopkins and Kelly Pavlik. “The Cobra” said he’d prefer a fight against the exciting Pavlik.
“The problem with Hopkins is, he’s sort of the main man and he tends to price himself out of fights,” Froch said. “He offers you peanuts to fight him. If it was realistic and we could do it, we could maybe do it at 172 pounds. I could comfortably do that and that’d be a lot fairer. But it’s not a major fight I’m interested in. He prices himself out.”
“The Ghost” from Youngstown is a fighter Froch certainly wants to one day clash with, though.
“Kelly Pavlik’s a big name, he’s the only man aside from myself to have defeated Jermain Taylor. It does interest me, yeah,” Carl said. “He’s very tough and very strong. He’s definitely someone I’d like to fight. He obviously punches hard. I don’t think he’s as strong at super-middleweight, but I didn’t think Jermain Taylor was going to be as strong at super-middleweight. You can’t underestimate anybody.”
Either one of the possibilities Froch mentioned today would almost certainly be great fights. Now in the big leagues due to his excellent wins over Jean Pascal and Taylor, Froch is in a position to be able to call some shots.