Carl Martin Froch, (born 2 July 1977) is a British former
professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple
super-middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...
world championships, including the
WBC title twice between 2008 and 2011, the
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
title from 2012 to 2015, and the
WBA (Unified)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
title from 2013 to 2015. At regional level he held the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
,
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
super-middleweight titles, and won the
Lonsdale Belt
The Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt, commonly known as the Lonsdale Belt, is the oldest championship belt in British professional boxing. Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, introduced the prize on behalf of the National Sporting Club (NSC), inten ...
in 2006. As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist.
History
Hist ...
in the
middleweight division, Froch won a bronze medal at the
2001 World Championships, and the
ABA title twice.
Froch was voted Fighter of the Year for 2012 by
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profes ...
. In 2013, the UK edition of ''
GQ'' magazine voted him Sportsman of the Year. He reached a peak
pound for pound
Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...
ranking of sixth by BoxRec and
''The Ring'' magazine, and in 2013 was listed by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
as the best active British boxer, pound for pound.
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profes ...
ranks Froch as the third greatest British fighter of all time, pound for pound. Froch will be inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.
Early and personal life
Carl Martin Froch was born in
Colwick
Colwick ( ) is a village, civil parish, and suburb of the city of Nottingham, in the English ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire. It is situated to the east of Nottingham's city boundary, and forms the Colwick ward within the local governmen ...
,
Nottingham, in 1977, the son of Carol (Douglas) and Frank Froch. His paternal grandparents were Polish (his paternal grandfather also had German ancestry), while Carl's mother's family is English. Froch is a fan of
Johnny Cash. His wife Rachael Froch with whom he married in May 2019, is a British glamour model, with whom he has a son, Rocco, and a daughter, Natalia.
On 11 September 2015, the couple welcomed a second daughter, Penelope. Early in his life Froch wanted to become a
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...
and play for
Nottingham Forest, his local football team, and has stated that he would love to fight at the City Ground. He is a supporter of the club and occasionally trained at its training ground before fights.
He has also appeared on the Sky Sports Saturday morning football show ''
Soccer AM
''Soccer AM'' is a British football-based comedy/ talk show, produced by Sky Sports.
First broadcast in 1995, the programme currently airs on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football at 10.30am on Saturdays during the ...
'' the week before a fight. Froch has publicly stated his belief in a
flat Earth
The flat-Earth model is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (5th century BC), th ...
on numerous occasions.
Amateur career
Froch began boxing at the Phoenix ABC in
Gedling, 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
The Men's 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from June 3 to June 10. The competition was organised by the world governing body for amateur boxing International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Medal winn ...
before turning pro and having his first pro fight in March 2002. As an amateur, Froch lost to American
Peter Manfredo Jr.
Professional career
Coach and promoter
Froch was trained by
Robert McCracken throughout his professional career. He was managed and promoted by
Mick Hennessy
Mick Hennessy is a British boxing manager and promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Hennessy Sports. He was known for promoting Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world he ...
until 2011, and from thereon by
Eddie Hearn
Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter who is chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn is the son of promoter Barry Hearn, the founder of Matchroom Sport.
Education
Hearn was a student a ...
.
Early career
Froch made his debut at the age of 24 in March 2002. He fought at the
York Hall
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...
in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By t ...
,
London against veteran 36 year old
journeyman Michael Pinnock (4–52–8, 2 KOs), who weighed 10 pounds more than Froch, in a scheduled six-round bout. Froch won the fight via a fourth-round
technical knockout. Froch fought a further four times that year, winning them all with three coming by first-round
knockout against Ojay Abrahams, Darren Covill and Mike Duffield and one victory coming by a
points decision
A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges that agree on whi ...
win against
Paul Bonson.
Froch started 2003 with a knockout win against Valery Odin, fighting for the first time at the
Nottingham Arena, the same arena he would win his first world title five years later. Froch would next fight in March, April and October of that year defeating Varujan Davtyan and
Michael Monaghan
Michael Monaghan (born 13 May 1980) is the current pathways and specialist coach for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League and an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canberra Raider ...
by knockout and Vage Kocharyan via points decision, respectively. At this point in his career, Froch racked up nine wins in as many fights, with seven coming by way of knockout.
Domestic success
In November 2003, Froch fought fellow unbeaten British contender Alan Page (8–0, 4 KOs) at the Derby Storm Arena in
Derby for the vacant
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
super-middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...
title. In round seven, Froch landed a hard right followed by an uppercut, although Page didn't go down, referee John Keane stepped in to call an end to the fight. In 2004, Froch won the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
and vacant British super-middleweight titles by defeating
Charles Adamu and
Damon Hague respectively. He has defended both against
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...
,
Brian Magee
Brian Magee (born 9 June 1975) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2012.. Retrieved 19 June 2016. He held the WBA (Regular) super-middleweight title in 2012, and the IBO title from 2001 to 2004. At region ...
and
Tony Dodson
Tony Dodson (born 2 July 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2016. He held the British super middleweight title in 2003, and challenged for the Commonwealth super middleweight title in 2006 and the light heavyw ...
and the Commonwealth belt alone against Ruben Groenewald and Dale Westerman.
Following a victory over the Russian
Sergey Tatevosyan
Sergey Tatevosyan (born 4 January 1973) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2007.
Professional career
Tatevosyan made his professional debut on 29 January 2000, when he beat countryman Alexander Komarov on technica ...
, on 9 November 2007 at Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, he stopped the veteran former world champion
Robin Reid, after which Reid retired from the sport for four years.
WBC super-middleweight champion
Froch vs. Pascal
On 6 December 2008, Froch fought Canadian
Jean Pascal
Jean-Thenistor Pascal (born 28 October 1982) is a Haitian-born Canadian professional boxer. He held the WBA (Regular) light-heavyweight title from 2019 to 2021, and previously the WBC, IBO, '' Ring'' magazine and lineal light-heavyweight ti ...
for the vacant
WBC super-middleweight title and won by unanimous decision a hard-fought twelve-round brawl. Both combatants showed enormous grit and determination, landing and taking huge shots from one another without even flinching. After the fight, it was revealed that Froch had sustained a perforated eardrum and a cracked rib in his final sparring session before the fight. Froch's promoter Mick Hennessy gave Froch the opportunity to withdraw from the fight, but Froch refused.
Since the fight, Froch and Pascal (who has since become a
light-heavyweight champion) have become friends on a personal level and have made a promise to face each other again in the future, though this seems unlikely given Froch's retirement.
Froch vs. Taylor
On 25 April 2009, Froch fought
Jermain Taylor
Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, ...
in his first defence of his WBC super-middleweight title, at the
Foxwoods Resort
Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more ...
in
Mashantucket, Connecticut
Mashantucket is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northeast part of the town of Ledyard, New London County, Connecticut, United States. It consists of land held by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is a fe ...
. Froch survived a third-round knockdown – the first of his entire career, amateur and professional – and, behind on two of the three judges' scorecards coming into the final round, he managed to stop his opponent with 14 seconds remaining in the twelfth round to retain his WBC super-middleweight title.
After the fight, Froch was quick to send out a verbal challenge to unbeaten Welsh boxer
Joe Calzaghe and was also quoted as saying "Kessler, Pavlik, Hopkins, I want them all to feel the force."
Super Six World Boxing Classic
On 13 July 2009, Froch agreed to take part in the
Super Six World Boxing Classic
The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a professional boxing tournament organized by the Showtime television network in co-operation with Sauerland Event. The tournament was held from 2009 to 2011, with all fights being contested in the super mi ...
super-middleweight tournament devised by
Showtime, with the winner of the tournament winning the
WBA, and WBC super-middleweight titles. The tournament featured six boxers including
Andre Dirrell
Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger bro ...
,
Mikkel Kessler
Mikkel Kessler (born 1 March 1979) is a Danish former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the WBA title three times between 2004 and 2013, and the WBC title twi ...
,
Arthur Abraham
Avetik Abrahamyan ( hy, Ավետիք Աբրահամյան; born 20 February 1980), best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight ...
,
Jermain Taylor
Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, ...
,
Andre Ward
Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), ...
and Froch. Froch's first opponent in the Super Six was
Andre Dirrell
Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger bro ...
.
Froch vs. Dirrell
The bout took place in Nottingham on 17 October and Froch's WBC title was on the line. Froch won the fight and retained his title with a
split decision
A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor.
A split dec ...
victory over the previously undefeated 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.
[.]
Froch vs. Kessler
Froch's next fight was against Mikkel Kessler, who lost the WBA
super-middleweight title to Andre Ward. Froch's WBC title was again on the line. In a closely fought contest in Kessler's home country of Denmark where both men had great moments throughout the fight, Kessler took Froch's title and inflicted Froch's first professional defeat via
unanimous decision
A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...
, the judges scoring the contest by margins of 116–112, 115–113, and 117–111. The scoring was somewhat controversial, as some boxing announcers had scored the fight much closer, with some awarding Froch the win and others scoring it a draw. Froch later stated that the fight was close and that he believes the decision would have gone his way if the event had been held in Nottingham. The fight was a contender for the 2010 Fight of the Year.
Froch vs. Abraham
Froch faced former
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
middleweight champion Arthur Abraham in the third stage in
Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Finland. Froch feared that if he fought in Abraham's adoptive home country there was a possibility of receiving a bad decision. However, since an eye injury forced Mikkel Kessler to relinquish his WBC title and resign from the tournament, Froch-Abraham was for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title. Both Froch and Abraham came off of a loss in stage two of the Super Six. Abraham lost after a disqualification against former Froch victim Andre Dirrell.
Froch regained the WBC super-middleweight title by gaining a unanimous decision victory over Abraham, with the judges' scorecards reading the 120–108 twice, and 119–109, reflecting the one-sided nature of the bout.
Froch vs. Johnson
Following his victory over Abraham, Froch entered the semi-final stage of the tournament. His opponent on 4 June 2011 in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. was
Glen Johnson. Froch retained his title with a
majority decision
A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. In a majority decision, two of the three judges agree on wh ...
victory, with the judges' scorecards reading 117–111, 116–112, and 114–114.
Froch vs. Ward
Carl Froch lost in the final of the Super Six tournament in a bout against undefeated WBA super-middleweight champion Andre Ward. The vacant ''
Ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
'' magazine super-middleweight title was on the line in the fight, as well as Froch's and Ward's super-middleweight titles. In the first seven rounds, Ward outboxed Froch, successfully using his jab to neutralise Froch and beating him to the punch from a distance and at close range. In the later rounds, Ward seemed to take his foot off the gas, leaving Froch to win a couple of rounds near the end of the fight, though they were close and competitive rounds. The judges' scorecards were 115–113, 115–113, and 118–110, all in favour of Ward. Ward won the vacant ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight title and is also regarded as becoming
lineal champion with the win, despite some independent sources rating undefeated IBF title holder
Lucian Bute
Lucian Bute (born February 28, 1980) is a Romanian-Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the IBF super-middleweight title from 2007 to 2012, successfully making nine consecutive defenses and reaching a peak ...
#1 or 2. The fight peaked at 580,000 viewers on Showtime.
IBF super middleweight champion
Froch vs. Bute
The IBF officially enforced Carl Froch as Lucian Bute's number one
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
. The fight, billed as "No Easy Way Out", took place on 26 May 2012 in Froch's hometown of Nottingham. Despite being the underdog with bookmakers, critics and fans around the world, Froch dominated Bute throughout the fight to become the new IBF super-middleweight champion via TKO in round five, making Froch a three-time world champion.
After the Bute fight and acquiring the IBF title, Froch defeated
Yusaf Mack
Yusaf Mack (born January 20, 1980) is an American former professional boxer.
Professional boxing career
On November 17, 2000, in his professional boxing debut, Mack defeated Willie Lee via TKO in the second round.
He has held regional titles fr ...
via knockout. The British website
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profes ...
named Froch the "Fighter of the Year" in the end of 2012.
Unified super middleweight champion
Froch vs. Kessler II
On 26 May 2013 (the match was scheduled for 25 May, but started after midnight
BST), Froch faced WBA champion Kessler in a rematch of their fight in 2010. This time it was Froch that was victorious via unanimous decision at
The O2 Arena in London, with the judges scoring the bout 118–110, 116–112, and 115–113.
Froch vs. Groves
The IBF installed
George Groves as Froch's mandatory challenger, their bout taking place on 23 November at the
Phones4u Arena in Manchester, with Froch's WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles on the line. Despite being floored for only the second time in his career by a left hook right hand from Groves in the first round, Froch retained his titles with a TKO victory in round nine. There was significant controversy as many observers felt that referee Howard Foster stepped in to end the contest prematurely. The three scoring judges had scored Groves ahead of Froch before Groves was shaken by some powerful Froch blows in the ninth. The controversial ending prompted a widespread demand for a rematch to be fought between the two.
On 24 January 2014, the IBF ordered a rematch between Froch and Groves, giving Froch 90 days to fight Groves or relinquish his IBF title.
Froch vs. Groves II
On 13 February 2014, it was announced by
Eddie Hearn
Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter who is chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn is the son of promoter Barry Hearn, the founder of Matchroom Sport.
Education
Hearn was a student a ...
and
Matchroom Boxing
Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
that Froch v Groves II would take place on 31 May 2014 at
Wembley Stadium in London. Froch was quoted that the fight was what the "British public want to see" and that was his reason for taking the option to give Groves a rematch while defending his WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles. As soon as tickets went on sale, 60,000 tickets were sold in under an hour and a further 20,000 tickets were made available, making this the biggest ever attendance for a boxing match in Britain since the
Second World War.
The fight was a more cagey affair than the first match, with both fighters initially looking to outbox each other. Froch was stronger in the earlier rounds, with
Jim Watt unofficially scoring the earlier rounds in favour of the champion on his Sky Sports scorecard. By the end of the seventh round, both
Richie Woodhall and
Steve Bunce
Steve Bunce (born 3 December 1962 in Camden Town, London), nicknamed "Buncey", is a British freelance television and radio sport pundit and newspaper columnist.
Career
He has regularly appeared as a pundit on the BBC sports programme '' Insi ...
had the fight scored four rounds to three for Froch on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
scorecards. Groves came out fighting in the eighth round before Froch got him pinned against the ropes and delivered a right hand blow which knocked Groves out. It was later named
Knockout of the Year by ''
The Ring'' for 2014.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
* (archived)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Froch, Carl
1977 births
Living people
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
Boxers from Nottingham
Boxing commentators
British Boxing Board of Control champions
Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
England Boxing champions
English male boxers
English people of Polish descent
Flat Earth proponents
International Boxing Federation champions
Members of the Order of the British Empire
People from Colwick
World Boxing Association champions
World Boxing Council champions
World super-middleweight boxing champions
Middleweight boxers