INTERVIEW: Froch feels Klitschko's desires for redemption

Alam Khan - Reporter 19:04 26/04/2017
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  • Joshua was on the undercard when Froch beat Groves at Wembley in 2014.

    As Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko get set for Saturday’s huge heavyweight showdown at Wembley, you can forgive Carl Froch a moment of nostalgia. Three years ago this week he was the boxer in the sporting spotlight, the centre of attention at the very same stadium as he took on George Groves in a rematch for his IBF and WBA super-middleweight titles.

    A British record 80,000 fans witnessed Froch erase the bitter memory of their first meeting in Manchester, where he endured abuse and anger after triumphing with a controversial ninth-round stoppage. Then exciting up-and-comer Joshua was on the undercard.

    It took one round less to settle this bout – and there was no debate, no doubt about the victor. A left to the cheek opened the way for a booming right to the face of Groves – and he was never getting up from what Froch called the “best punch I’ve thrown in my life”.

    It was to be his final fight too, “the perfect ending” to a 12-year career laden with tests against the best. Names like Andre Ward, Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell and Jermain Taylor. Froch, now 39, can relate to Klitschko’s plight as he tries to claim the IBF and WBA (super) titles – two years after losing his belts, and honour, to Tyson Fury. The 41-year-old Ukrainian was humiliated and deeply hurt.

    “Klitschko’s pride has got the better of him in taking this fight,” Froch tells Sport360. “He lost to Fury and can’t believe he lost such a disgusting fight against someone who was horrible in the build-up.

    “I like Fury but imagine losing to him, goading you, being horrible. So you have to fight again. Klitschko’s got to redeem himself before he retires. For all his two years out and his age, he’s going to be coming into that ring thinking this is it for me, this is my last fight.

    “Klitschko is going to be motivated beyond belief, like I was for my rematch with Groves.

    “Although I didn’t lose the first fight, it felt like a loss, especially the way I got treated by the crowd on the night and those calling for the rematch. I did think before the fight that this was it for me even when the other options were available. There was talk of Julio Chavez Jr and Gennady Golovkin wouldn’t come up to my weight.

    “Walking into that ring I’d never been more relaxed, calm or happy and just soaked it all in and did the job. I had no pressure, Wembley made no difference.

    “I just enjoyed the size of the crowd, the atmosphere, and thinking now I’ve got to go into the ring and knock him out.

    “That’s why I think you are going to get the best of Klitschko in this fight. I think he will turn up and it will be the best, the last we will see of him. I think he’s going to give Joshua trouble and I can see an upset.”

    This will be Joshua’s 19th professional fight and he has been accused of having easier opponents. Klitschko, meanwhile, has had 68 bouts, remarkably tasting defeat just four times and was undefeated for 11 years.

    “His experience and his ring craft is everything that Joshua lacks,” cites Froch as factors for a possible shock.

    “Klitschko will jab, move, use his feet, box and make it really difficult and awkward. And when Josh is not landing the punches that he’s used to having, then he has to adapt.

    “Possibly he might jump on him at the start and try to get it done early, but the chances are Klitschko will be fresher early and fade later if Joshua uses correct pressure with his feet, puts him against the ropes and makes him work and move without exerting too much energy himself. Joshua will be thinking this is my acid test, a proper fighter. It’s an educated gamble by his team. It is too soon, but who else can he fight? If Joshua’s as good as we all think he is, he should win.”

    With a 90,000 crowd expected, topping the record for the Froch-Groves bout, there is massive interest as well as intrigue.

    Joshua is considered the future, Klitschko the past, and Fury’s struggles with depression and drugs, forcing him to relinquish his titles, have left heavyweight boxing in need of a lift.

    “No one’s more interested in a fight other than a heavyweight fight, that’s just how it is,” adds Froch. “It’s almost unfair to all the other weight divisions how they get treated.”

    The man they called ‘The Cobra’ recalls how the explosive efforts of former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson – along with brilliant Brit Naseem Hamed – helped reignite his passion for boxing and spark a career shaped by Rob McCracken, now Joshua’s coach.

    To get the rematch with Groves and settle it how I did, it’s why I retired. I thought money in the bank, brain cells intact, 37, desire’s going, a young family, see ya later.

    He says: “I didn’t box from the age of 15 until 19 because I fell out of love with the sport. I moved to Newark, mum got a pub there and I never laced up for four years. It wasn’t until I came back to Nottingham after finishing school that I started college and wanted to get myself back in shape.

    “When I got back in the gym I realised I loved sparring, loved hitting people and not getting hit, being elusive and throwing that Naseem Hamed uppercut. I was never ever going to turn professional. Rob McCracken convinced me and made me box properly.

    “I owe him for everything he did for me. Then to achieve what I have, the highlights and memories I have had, the legacy, to become a multi-millionaire and be totally financially secure for the rest of my life, I have absolutely no regrets at all.

    “After retiring, someone dangled £10 million (Dh47m) in front of me, said why don’t you fight again, fight Golovkin? And I couldn’t be bothered.

    “This has been going on since I retired. But the more time went by I was getting heavier and putting on muscle and 12 stone seemed a long way away. I started running and thought I can’t even be arsed, I’ve got no desire left at all. People talk rubbish about Golovkin this and Golovkin that, but look at what Daniel Jacobs did to him last month. I scored Daniel beating him by a round. Golovkin’s a small man and I am twice the size, punching harder with a longer reach.

    “Look at me against Arthur Abraham and it was a mismatch. Joe Calzaghe never happened, he didn’t want to fight me. People talk to me about a comeback, Mikkel Kessler’s doing it, and how rich I could be, how I can have one more. But if I came back I’d be stupid and greedy and I’m neither of them. To get the rematch with Groves and settle it how I did, it’s why I retired. I thought money in the bank, brain cells intact, 37, desire’s going, a young family, see ya later.”

    While others have struggled to adapt to life out of the ring, Froch has benefitted through property investment “making me more money than when I was boxing”, commercial tie-ups and being an analyst for Sky Sports, who will be screening the Joshua-Klitschko clash exclusively live in the UK on their Box Office channel.

    “I’ve got the best job with Sky, hands on the canvas, still part of boxing,” he adds. “When I look back I had many defining fights against top-level opposition, never easy. The one I’m probably going to be remembered for is that right hand that put George Groves to sleep in front of 80,000 at Wembley. It couldn’t have gone better.”

    The perfect finish, the perfect ending, and just what Joshua and Klitschko will seek on Saturday.

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