Nottingham born former boxer Carl Froch who now works for Sky Sports as a pundit, has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame where he’ll be announced alongside Mexico’s Rafael Marquez and USA’s Tim Bradley as the male Class of 23 in Canasota, New York next summer.
The IBHOF recognises boxers and trainers, legends of the sport, who have significantly contributed to worldwide boxing over the years and Froch joins previous inductees including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, George Forman, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Oscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Jnr and a whole host of greats that over the years have donned gloves and won world championship belts.
Carl Froch was born in Nottingham on 2nd July 1977, living his early years in Colwick and Gedling he attended the St Johns Junior School in Colwick and Gedling Secondary School as a boy, first training at the Phoenix Boxing Club in Gedling where he went on to win ABA middleweight titles as an amateur early in adult life.
After turning pro in 2002 he won his first ten fights which included victory for the vacant British super middleweight title, a seventh-round stoppage of Alan Page at Storm Arena in Derby.
In his twelfth fight he won the commonwealth super middleweight title with a points decision over Charles Adamu at Nottingham Arena, winning the British super middleweight title he finally got a chance at a World title shot in 2008, against Canadian Jean Pascal who he beat in Nottingham during a thrilling encounter to go 24-0 as the WBC champ.
After Pascal, Froch came to global fame with an astounding victory from the jaws of defeat against Jermain Taylor, a twelfth round stoppage with just seconds on the clock, shocking the crowd in Connecticut, US after being down on the scorecards where he himself had been put down for the first time in his career earlier in the fight.
That win escalated Froch to elite level and he joined Taylor, alongside Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Andre Ward in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which was a mini-tournament to find the best super middleweight on the planet.
Froch beat Dirrell in Nottingham to go 26 unbeaten but lost a unanimous decision to Kessler in Denmark, the first in his career, before beating Arthur Abraham and Glenn Johnson which set up a super six World Boxing Classic final against Andre Ward, with the WBC, WBA and ring magazine titles on the line.
Ward outboxed Froch to take a unanimous decision and all the belts in New Jersey but the Nottingham boxer returned home, with a bang as he saw off Lucien Bute in his next fight in front of a home crowd to win the IBF super middleweight title, becoming a three time world champion in the process.
After retaining against Yusaf Mack with an early stoppage, he gained revenge over Mikkel Kessler at the O2 Arena in London to add the WBA belt to his waist, taking on Britain’s George Groves in Manchester for one of the biggest domestic fights of the era (Nov 2013), he was unexpectedly knocked down early in the bout before eventually getting on top and punishing his challenger in round nine, the Referee on the night blamed for stopping the fight too soon, the two boxers doing battle again at Wembley six months later, in front of a sell out crowd where an unstoppable shot knocked out Groves once and for all, Froch retiring at the top, as a double world champion with a 33-2 record.
Amongst legends, but not many, Froch isn’t the first Brit to be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He joins Naseem Hamed, Jack Kid Berg and Randy Turpin, along with Heavyweight great Lennox Lewis as Modern Era inductees.
He’s not the first local named star to be inducted either. William Bendigo Thompson in 1991 was remembered as a Pioneer for Boxing also inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1955.
The bare knuckle boxer from Nottingham was English champion in the mid 1800’s renowned for being credited with what we know today as the southpaw stance. Froch joining Bendigo as two of our cities best, respected and acknowledged across the Atlantic and around the world.
On receiving the induction, Froch stated on his Twitter “Such an honour to join so many legends of the sport” having previously stated “Boxing is the best sport in the world. It tests everything in a man and a woman. The mentality, discipline, grit, determination, heart, desire, everything is all in that ring and it is just you on your own with your opponent.”
Throughout his life Froch has given his all to boxing, something very pleasurable on a personal level that boxing, should give something more than deserved, back. IBHOF Executive Director Edward Brophy stating “We’re extremely excited about the Class of 2023 and are very much looking forward to honouring the newest class of inductees to earn boxing’s highest honour.”
*Main image @BoxingNewsED Carl Froch is inducted into the Class of 23.
