Carl Froch Biography

Carl Froch (born 2 July 1977) is the current WBC Super Middleweight champion, since defeating Jean Pascal on points for the vacant title on 6 December 2008. After a split decision win over Andre Dirrell in the second defence of his belt on 17 October 2009, his record stands at 26-0 (20KO).

He is a tall, rangy fighter who adopts a very low guard, however, he uses his left shoulder to protect his chin from a right-handed attack and his right arm from a left, rather than both his forearms.

He previously held the British title at Super Middleweight level, as well as the English title and also the Commonwealth belt.

Amateur Career - Froch began boxing at home at 9 years old. He later joined the Phoenix ABC in Gedling, near Nottingham. As an amateur he won two ABA middleweight titles in 1999 and 2001 and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships before turning pro and having his first pro fight in March 2002.

During his amateur career, he lost a fight to Denis Inkin, who he was scheduled to fight in a title eliminator in 2008, but Inkin pulled out on two occasions.

Professional Career - Standing 6′1″, Froch is unbeaten in 26 professional fights, with 20 knockouts. He turned professional late on at the age of 25. He stated on ITV that despite his age he is a fresh 30-year-old, that he can go on for many more years to come and that he has not yet hit his peak, after presenter Jim Rosenthal asked if he was a little old to be challenging for a world title.

Froch, who is trained by Robert McCracken and managed by Mick Hennessy, is the reigning WBC World super-middleweight champion. Having been rated the number 1 challenger at super-middleweight by the WBC previously and then demoted to second, he has recently regained his position as number 1 challenger and defeated Jean Pascal to take the title that Joe Calzaghe vacated when he moved up to light-heavyweight to fight Bernard Hopkins.

In 2004, Froch won the vacant British Championship. He has defended it against Brian Magee, Damon Hague, and a number of other contenders, earning him a Lonsdale Belt outright in the process and fulfilling a long-held ambition.

On the 9 November 2007 at the Nottingham arena he stopped veteran ex-world champion Robin Reid, after which Reid retired. He is a supporter of Nottingham Forest and has a season ticket, making him a popular figure amongst Forest fans. He occasionally trains at Forest’s training ground when a fight is upcoming. He has also appeared on the popular Sky Sports Saturday Morning Football show Soccer AM the week before a fight. He has been a special guest at the City Ground on a number of occasions and received a warm welcome from the Forest faithful.

On 10 May 2008, at the Trent Fm Arena in Nottingham Carl Froch stopped unbeaten Polish Albert Rybacki in the 4th round of a scheduled 12. Rybacki was drafted in as a last-minute replacement after initial opponent Denis Inkin pulled out on two occasions and no Top 30 fighter was willing to take the fight at two weeks’ notice.
On 6 December 2008, Froch fought Canadian Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC super middleweight title and won after a hard-fought 12-round brawl.

On 25 April 2009, Froch fought Jermain Taylor in his first defence of his WBC super middleweight title, at the Foxwoods Resort in Foxwoods, Connecticut. Froch survived a third-round knockdown – the first of his entire career, amateur and professional – and, behind on two of the three judges’ cards coming into the final round, he managed to stop his opponent with a stunning twelfth round knockout. After the fight, Froch was quoted as saying “Kessler, Pavlik, Hopkins, I want them all to feel the force.”

Super Six - On 13 July, Froch agreed to take part in the Super Six World Boxing Classic super middleweight tournament devised by American giant Showtime. The tournament features 6 boxers including Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward and Froch himself. Froch’s first opponent in the Super Six was Andre Dirrell.

The bout took place in Nottingham on 18 October and Froch’s WBC world title was on the line. Froch won the fight and retained his title with a split decision victory over the previously undefeated Andre Dirrell. Two of the judges scored the bout 115-112 in favour of Froch, with the other scoring the bout 114-113 in favour of Dirrell. His next bout will be against Mikkel Kessler, who lost the WBA Super Middleweight Championship to Andre Ward.