Froch Gambles on Taking Fight for Recognition to America
Carl Froch, the World Boxing Council super-middleweight champion, will travel to Connecticut to fight Jermain Taylor in a bid for greater fame
Carl Froch, who has labored anonymously in his own vineyard for too many of his seven years as a professional, reminded Jermain Taylor yesterday he was bringing his World Boxing Council super-middleweight title to the United States next month to use as a calling card in his quest for boxing superstardom.
Taylor, who refused to travel to Froch's home town of Nottingham even though he would have earned more, takes on the unbeaten Froch at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on 25 April. It is an appropriate venue for Froch to take a calculated gamble — as was the setting of a London casino yesterday for a largely amicable transatlantic exchange between the two fighters.
"He should come to me," Taylor said, "if he wants recognition. This is where you have to make your name." Froch did not disagree, but he claimed the stylist from Little Rock, Arkansas, had not wanted to fight him at all, even though he is the mandatory challenger. "That's why we are going over there," he said.
"I could have stayed in Nottingham, and had four or five easy defenses, with the occasional mandatory. I don't want to do that. I want to go to America, toto show them what I've got, to have four or five years yet to do all I want to do. This is just the start."
Froch, 31, turned pro later than most amateur stars, but did not go with the established, big-time promoters, choosing to stay loyal to the Londoner Mick Hennessy. They have worked away quietly and, even this late, are still looking for British TV coverage for a fight that Showtime have flagged as one of their major April attractions.
Froch finally caught the public imagination when he won the title in front of his home crowd in December, giving and taking in a rousing fight with the then-unbeaten Canadian Jean Pascal. It was widely regarded as the British fight of the year.
Yesterday, however, Taylor professed to know little about Froch. "I'd never heard of him," he said, contradicting Froch's story that they had met at ringside during a major fight in America a few years ago.
"I can understand what he is saying," Froch conceded. "There are a lot of people in America who have not heard of me. I am about to change all that, though. I am going to smoke his boots."
Taylor was roused to respond: "He says he's going to smoke my boots. I hope he likes Prada, because that's all I wear."
Froch, not one to downplay his gifts, said: "I am 31 and at my peak. I am too big, too strong, too good for him. Yes, he is very quick, but speed can be nullified by the jab. I have no doubt I will knock him out. He is a middleweight who could not be bothered to make the weight — that's how he ended up at super-middleweight."
Taylor, a bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics, has had a career marked by notable highs and lows: beating Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins twice, but twice losing to the young middleweight pretender Kelly Pavlik.
Froch sees in that résumé telltale signs of inconsistency — observations that Taylor dismissed with the explanation that the defeats came at a time in his life when "I wasn't doing the right things". "What sort of an excuse is that?" Froch said.
Robert McCracken, Froch's trainer, said: "Jermain's obviously a very good fighter. But Carl will be fresher, he's got a better reach, a higher work rate. He's an extremely skillful fighter at making you miss and making you pay, and he's very heavy-handed. That will be the difference: the reach, the power and the work rate.
"Early on, we had doubters, now everyone is onside over here. What we've got to do is let the American audience see him fight a great fighter like Jermain Taylor, be victorious — then Carl will get the rewards he deserves out of this game."
Taylor, who refused to travel to Froch's home town of Nottingham even though he would have earned more, takes on the unbeaten Froch at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on 25 April. It is an appropriate venue for Froch to take a calculated gamble — as was the setting of a London casino yesterday for a largely amicable transatlantic exchange between the two fighters.
"He should come to me," Taylor said, "if he wants recognition. This is where you have to make your name." Froch did not disagree, but he claimed the stylist from Little Rock, Arkansas, had not wanted to fight him at all, even though he is the mandatory challenger. "That's why we are going over there," he said.
"I could have stayed in Nottingham, and had four or five easy defenses, with the occasional mandatory. I don't want to do that. I want to go to America, toto show them what I've got, to have four or five years yet to do all I want to do. This is just the start."
Froch, 31, turned pro later than most amateur stars, but did not go with the established, big-time promoters, choosing to stay loyal to the Londoner Mick Hennessy. They have worked away quietly and, even this late, are still looking for British TV coverage for a fight that Showtime have flagged as one of their major April attractions.
Froch finally caught the public imagination when he won the title in front of his home crowd in December, giving and taking in a rousing fight with the then-unbeaten Canadian Jean Pascal. It was widely regarded as the British fight of the year.
Yesterday, however, Taylor professed to know little about Froch. "I'd never heard of him," he said, contradicting Froch's story that they had met at ringside during a major fight in America a few years ago.
"I can understand what he is saying," Froch conceded. "There are a lot of people in America who have not heard of me. I am about to change all that, though. I am going to smoke his boots."
Taylor was roused to respond: "He says he's going to smoke my boots. I hope he likes Prada, because that's all I wear."
Froch, not one to downplay his gifts, said: "I am 31 and at my peak. I am too big, too strong, too good for him. Yes, he is very quick, but speed can be nullified by the jab. I have no doubt I will knock him out. He is a middleweight who could not be bothered to make the weight — that's how he ended up at super-middleweight."
Taylor, a bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics, has had a career marked by notable highs and lows: beating Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins twice, but twice losing to the young middleweight pretender Kelly Pavlik.
Froch sees in that résumé telltale signs of inconsistency — observations that Taylor dismissed with the explanation that the defeats came at a time in his life when "I wasn't doing the right things". "What sort of an excuse is that?" Froch said.
Robert McCracken, Froch's trainer, said: "Jermain's obviously a very good fighter. But Carl will be fresher, he's got a better reach, a higher work rate. He's an extremely skillful fighter at making you miss and making you pay, and he's very heavy-handed. That will be the difference: the reach, the power and the work rate.
"Early on, we had doubters, now everyone is onside over here. What we've got to do is let the American audience see him fight a great fighter like Jermain Taylor, be victorious — then Carl will get the rewards he deserves out of this game."
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