Former four-time world champion, Carl Froch, has revealed who he believes to be the greatest fighter that the United Kingdom has produced over the last twenty years.
‘The Cobra’ competed in twelve consecutive title fights before calling time on his career.
Not only were victories over the likes of George Groves, Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham big enough to earn him a place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but the manner in which be beat them – showing phenomenal grit, heart and a never-say-die attitude – made him a fan favourite in the country that has produced many standout fighters.
On his YouTube channel, Froch named Joe Calzaghe as the UK’s greatest boxer in recent times, despite a feud with the Welshman after a fight between the two never came to fruition.
“If I’m excluding myself, who have we got. We have got Lennox Lewis, Prince Naseem Hamed – I’m a massive fan, massively talented – Barry McGuigan, Ricky Hatton, at the end of his career he got decked a couple of times, but he still had a great career, Joe Calzaghe.
Out of all those names, I’ve got to be totally honest and the die-hard Cobra fans are not going to like this, but I’ve got to say Joe Calzaghe. Over the last twenty years, he is the best fighter to come out of Britain.”
“He beat Mikkel Kessler, he took Jeff Lacy’s unbeaten record, who was a big, strong American. He didn’t do much before that, but he was unbeaten and everyone was saying that he was like the super-middleweight Mike Tyson, Joe Calzaghe absolutely obliterated him.”
To this day, Froch continues to call out the ‘Pride of Wales’ – albeit with a smirk – remaining confident that he would have beaten him if they’d have met. Fans will never know how a fight would have played out in their primes.