Former super-middleweight world champion, Carl Froch, has claimed that current unified heavyweight king, Oleksandr Usyk, is ‘past his best’ and admitted that he would ‘fancy his chances’ against the Ukrainian in a street fight.
Froch participated in twelve consecutive title fights at 168lbs before hanging up the gloves in 2014, of which he won ten, including two victories over British rival, George Groves, after defeating the likes of Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler.
In an interview with talkSPORT, ‘The Cobra’ revealed that, whilst he thinks Usyk is an incredible fighter, he believes that, at 36-years-old, the former undisputed cruiserweight titlist is on the decline.
“I think that Usyk has been unbelievable, he’s been brilliant, one of the best. I compare him with Lomachenko, but Lomachenko got beat, anybody can get beat. I think that Usyk is, and people will argue with this and say ‘what is Froch on about? He is chatting nonsense’, but I think that he is past his best.
So he is past his best because he has to be, physically, I know heavyweights can go into their late thirties, but he’s a cruiserweight.”
“I stand next to Usyk and he’s like six-foot-two, six-foot-three, I look at him and think ‘yeah, I would fancy my chances’, not in a boxing ring but in a street fight.”
Usyk is undefeated in a campaign that includes his undisputed cruiserweight run and, now, being unified heavyweight champion.
He has 20 pro bouts under his belt, and will fight on until he gets a shot at his clear goal of becoming four-belt champion for a second time.
He’s next in against Daniel Dubois, whom he faces on August 26 in Poland in an event that can be watched live on TNT Sports, formerly BT Sport, pay-per-view in the UK and on ESPN+ in the US.