Sunday, January 23, 2011

Brawler-turned-boxer Froch wants more

Carl Froch has always been known as a gutsy guy who won his fights on toughness. He can take punch and come back with even more. This weekend, he showed off some slick boxing as he cruised by Arthur Abraham, 120-108, 119-109 and 120-108, in the final first round fight of Showtime's Super Six in Helsinki, Finland.

The smaller Abraham needed the fight to turn into a brawl. Instead, Froch used his length to make the Armenian-German king of the middleweight division look silly.

"We won this battle before I got in the ring. This fight was about showing I had boxing ability," Froch said. "I've been involved in the most exciting fights in the UK recently, so yeah, I am the most exciting fighter in Britain."

"You've only got so many of those hard fights and I have been in with the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor and Jean Pascal. They shorten your career but that fight has taken nothing out of me. I tried to minimise the damage.""

Though pleased, Froch's inner beast still felt unfulfilled.

"But I can box better. I was in second gear and could do 25 rounds at that pace," Froch said. "I'm not happy with the performance because I don't feel like I've been in a fight. I've only got a bit of a black eye and nothing else to show for it."

Froch is realistic though. At 33 years old, with 28 fights under his belt, he knows he needs to be a smart fighter if he's going to fight for a few more years.

The Nottingham, England native was a little frustrated with the exposure that he got back home in the U.K. Sure the fight was on Showtime in the U.S., but it only appeared something called Premier Sports in the U.K. Froch hasn't been seen on the much bigger Sky Sports or regular TV in a few years. 

"I should be a household name and superstar in Great Britain but I'm not because of the TV situation. I'm not going to cry about it but people are missing out because I'm not going to be here forever," said Froch.

Froch regained his WBC super middleweight belt and now faces Glen Johnson in the Super Six semifinals.

Meanwhile, Abraham has a shot at redemption against tourney favorite Andre Ward. But he's in an awkward position. The 5-foot-10 Abraham should really be fighting back down at 160 pounds and may once again look silly against a slick fighter in Ward.

Another whitewash for Abraham could actually have a detrimental effect on making what should be the best fight at middleweight against Sergio Martinez.

Bijou Phillips Marika Dominczyk Dita Von Teese Rachel Nichols Dido

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