Former super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch has named one fighter from the past who he found tough to face in sparring, admitting that his fellow Brit was ‘too much for him’ at one point.
‘The Cobra’ reigned at 168lb on four different occasions, holding each of the WBC, IBF and WBA titles over the course of 12 consecutive world title bouts, before retiring following back-to-back wins over George Groves in one of Britain’s most famous rivalries.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Froch discussed how Conor Benn shouldn’t overlook Gervonta Davis ahead of their potential clash, despite the two weight class disparity, warning that he felt power against smaller opponents when he sparred two former British champions.
“When I started sparring at the Lennox Lewis College in Clapton, I jumped in with a guy called Wayne Alexander, who won at the ABA’s and was British champion. I was still learning my craft and he was too much for me, I’ll be honest.
“He was the light-middleweight British champion with heavy hands, pushing me around the ring and hitting me with shots, and I’m thinking ‘bloody hell, is that what it is like?’
“Then you spar for two or three months, you get used to it and you see him in the gym, you accustom yourself to that. Then it was Howard Eastman, ‘The Battersea Bomber’, who fought William Joppy and Bernard Hopkins but fell short.
“He chucked the William Joppy fight away did Howard Eastman, but I started sparring with him and I’m thinking ‘bloody hell, welcome to the pros, big right-hand on my chin,’. I wasn’t wobbled but I felt the shots and then you get used to it.”
Reports suggest that Gervonta Davis has now been offered an eight-figure deal to face Benn, in what would be one of 2024’s most unexpected yet eye-catching affairs.