Froch retirement was the right decision

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Carl FrochSky pundit and former World cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson thinks Carl Froch has called time on his career at the right time.

In an article posted on Sky Sports.com, Nelson hailed Froch’s achievements and considers him as one of the finest boxers ever produced on the British Isles; a conclusion that is difficult to dismiss.

“I think he has made the right decision.”

“It’s hard for people to accept but we are talking about one of the best British fighters of all time. People will shoot me down and go way back into history but we’ve just got to embrace the fact Froch is in our era, and he is one of the best.”

“His record says it all. He boxed the best around at the time so yes, he’s one of the best British fighters. Regardless of how much you wrestle with the idea, it’s fact. The amount of fighters he’s faced who were at the top and the results he produced.”

It is a list opt-repeated, but the occasion warrants another run through.

Froch won the first of four world titles in the super-middleweight division by beating Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC belt in December ’08 before going through a hellacious collection of opponents: Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler(twice), Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward, Lucian Bute and George Groves(twice).

He traded wins with Kessler, was clearly beaten on points by Ward, and it is still a wonder how the Dirrell result went in his favour. But look at that list. Only Glen Johnson and Yusaf Mack provided brief respites from world level competition, and even they are no pushovers.

Perhaps Taylor was past his peak and Abraham rather limited (and if that is the case he has only declined over time, but still wears the WBO belt as of this writing), but there is not a single modern day pro whose schedule even remotely resembles Froch’s.

His last two appearances were against a heavy-handed, confident young man in George Groves who battered Froch from pillar to post before he was controversially halted in the ninth round. The return was one of the biggest sporting events in British history, and a more focused, disciplined Froch came out in front of 80,000 people at Wembley (an obscure fact) and flattened Groves with a single, crushing right hand.

There could be no better way to sign off on such an illustrious career, and Nelson feels Froch has made the correct move by making an exit on the top floor.

“It’s the perfect move for Carl and he’s going out right at the top. He sets an example for young fighters coming through. Lennox Lewis is another fighter who went out at the top. All respect to him.”

Ever since his final appearance last May there had been constant talks of a farewell bout in America against the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and more recently, middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. It seems fate kept a constant supply of blockades on each road to ensure Froch a blissful ending to a twelve-year campaign.

Froch will now join the ever-growing Sky punditry team and comment on the work of mostly inferior fighters. Hopefully, he doesn’t get the itch back in a few years time as his is a legacy rarely reached.