The Carl Froch-Andre Ward Rivalry Still Very Much Alive

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Just recently, with the comments Carl Froch came out with on the subject of the retirement decision made by his old adversary George Groves – Froch telling Sky Sports that “I won’t miss him and I am not sure British boxing will miss him” – it took some defensive action from Andre Ward to put “The Cobra” in his place. Ward, who defeated Froch by decision back in 2011, took to twitter and called Froch “the biggest hater,” and told Froch to “let it go.”

Froch fired back on twitter, asking Ward why he retired, before answering the question himself by stating how there was “no TV interest” in Ward. Naturally, Ward disagrees……and back and forth the argument went. Froch claimed that Ward didn’t have the “minerals” to come to the UK for a rematch, while Ward said “you didn’t want the rematch. We all know why.”

To recap:

Froch lost a 12-round decision to Ward, one that was close on two of the three cards – just 115-113 twice – yet plenty of boxing experts felt “The Cobra” had been well beaten, outclassed even. Yet all these years later when looking back on the only loss he never avenged, Froch insists he was not outclassed. Furthermore, Froch says Ward was so fatigued in the later rounds, he would have “got him out of there” had the fight been scheduled for 15 rounds.

“I think he fades late on but maybe it was because he struggled to make super-middleweight [against me]. He was starting to run away from me in the last couple of rounds, but maybe he knew he’d won it on points and was just killing the clock and staying out of trouble,” Froch said to Sky Sports some time ago, when looking back on the fight – his thoughts pretty much the same these days. “But if the fight went 15 rounds, I honestly think I could’ve got him out of there. He didn’t really hit me, I didn’t hit him and I lost 115-113 on two cards but people were saying I was outclassed. I was one round behind a draw, so how can they think that?”

It’s true that a rematch would have been very interesting. Ward was, at the time of the 2011 fight, carrying a hand injury and he was, as he said later, not at his best. Froch, who says he was not 100 percent himself, admitted at the time of the loss that Ward’s sheer strength surprised him, and he also praised Ward’s great defensive skills – “After the fifth or sixth round I said to my trainer, ‘I can’t hit him!’,” Froch said to Sky Sports. But was Froch outclassed?

It was a dull fight, as were many of Ward’s fights according to his critics, but his fans continue to argue that, yes, Ward did outclass Froch. What would have happened had the two fought again? Both great champions have their own opinion on this – but what do you guys think? Would we have seen another distance fight, largely bossed by Ward’s slick skills? Or would Froch have been able to turn the tables around in dramatic fashion; especially if the return match had gone ahead in the UK?

All these years later, and Froch and Ward still hold a grudge.