CARL FROCH has bizarrely called out fellow British boxing legend Joe Calzaghe.
The retired pair have been at loggerheads for years, with Froch seemingly still aggrieved he never got the chance to fight Calzaghe during his career.
Carl Froch, 42, has called out Joe Calzaghe, 48, for a grudge fightCredit: Splash News
Joe Calzaghe retired in 2007 with an unblemished boxing recordCredit: Getty
Back in 2008 Froch was the mandatory challenger for Calzaghe’s WBC super-middleweight title – but the Welshman opted to move up to light-heavy.
Froch still went on to become a world champion, but missing out on a Battle of Britain blockbuster still angers him all these years later.
Promoter Eddie Hearn, keen to pass the time in coronavirus lockdown, contacted Froch with the idea of doing a virtual press conference for fights that never happened – and of course the Calzaghe one came up.
But Froch, who retired in 2015 and is now 42-years-old, told the Matchroom boss to sort out a scrap for real against the 48-year-old.
FROCH STILL BITTER
And he was less-than complimentary about “bit of a mess” Calzaghe, who himself retired undefeated in 2008.
Speaking on his Froch On Fighting podcast, the Sheffield-born scrapper said: “Eddie Hearn sends me a message saying, ‘I’m doing some virtual press conferences, I’m thinking about getting you and Calzaghe on.’
“I thought, ‘He’s probably not gonna get Calzaghe on, he probably won’t fancy it.’
“I said to him, ‘Forget the virtual one, we’ll do the press conference, but if we can get him out of retirement, I fancy a bit of that.’
“I’ve always said I’ll come out of retirement for the right dance partner. Obviously I’m not gonna jump in there with a current world champion who’s been active, but someone like Joe Calzaghe, I mean, I’m not being funny.
“I don’t wanna be horrible or disrespectful in any way, but it’s gonna sound like I am, even though I’m not, but have you seen the state of him?
“Have you seen the size of his head? I don’t know why it’s swollen up so badly. He looks like he’s got high blood pressure. He looks a bit of a mess.
“So if he agreed to give me a fight, to come out of retirement, because of my cheek, and because of the way I’m speaking about him, then I’d definitely fancy a bit of that.
“But he ain’t gonna wanna come out because he knows he’d get absolutely flattened, because I’m in good shape.”
COBRA WANTS CREDIT
Froch won 33 of his 35 fights after turning professional back in 2002, becoming WBC super-middlweight champ in 2008 when he beat Jean Pascal on points.
Calzaghe, meanwhile, has an unblemished record of 46 wins with 32 by way of KO.
He won all the belts at super-middle, but some say he was never the ‘undisputed champ’ as he relinquished the IBF version before beating Mikkel Kessler for the WBC, WBO and WBA straps in 2007.
But Froch, nicknamed the Cobra, believes he could be the one to finally send Calzaghe to defeat, and believes doing so would finally make his rival “respect him”.
The now-Sky Sports Boxing pundit added: “I always give Calzaghe credit. He was a great fighter, really tough, unbeaten in 46 fights.
“He’s never, ever given me any props at all. And for that I’d love to punch him in the face really hard.
“But it’s a fantasy fight, there’s gonna be a fantasy press conference with Eddie Hearn hopefully and if it goes the right way maybe I’ll coax him out of retirement.
“And if I do, he’ll be getting ironed out.
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
