Boxing fans are used to the biggest fights not getting made and in Britain Carl Froch never facing Joe Calzaghe sticks out as one of the country’s biggest ‘what-if’s in the sport.
Froch has now spoken about why the fight never materialised and how it would have played out.
At the time Froch was seen as the lesser name compared to the undefeated Calzaghe, who is regarded by many as one of the greatest fighters that the United Kingdom has ever produced.
With just a British title to his name at the time, ‘The Cobra’ simply needed more than a domestic rivalry to match the allure of fights against legends such as Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr, who Calzaghe instead faced and defeated.
On his YouTube channel, Froch explained that the clash could only have gone one of two ways.
“It [the fight] should have happened for the fans, and it didn’t unfortunately. Regardless of the promotional divide, if the fighters want the fight to happen, it will happen, so I am totally blaming Joe Calzaghe on that, because I think he knows he would have got ‘Cobra’d’.”
“Calzaghe would have either beaten me on points, he is very fit, very strong, he’s a very good fighter, or I’d have chinned him. I would have knocked him ‘El Sparko’. I would have backed myself to knock him out. Robin Reid hurt him, Robin Reid put him down, he lost a split-decision, never got that rematch by the way but he rematched Mario Veit. This isn’t a ‘beat Joe Calzaghe up session’, this is just me telling you the facts.”
Unfortunately fans will never know if Froch’s aggressive style would have been enough to defeat the slick and classy Calzaghe, dubbed the ‘Pride of Wales’.