Carl Froch – A look back at 2010
by Ian Ritchie
After back to back wins over Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell through 2009, Carl Froch can be forgiven for suffering his first setback during 2010 – A decision loss to Mikkel Kessler.
Though Carl continues to dispute the loss, and it was certainly a razor thin margin either way, I would concede that the better man won.
Whether his claims that it did indeed finish Kessler in the process ring true, remains to be seen, but there is definitely a call for the pair to meet further down the line in a highly anticipated rematch, if Mikkel can overcome his injury problems.
It was another fight of the year candidate, which Carl has become accustomed to being a part of in recent years, and Kessler has already been guaranteed a shot at the eventual tournament winner, upon his return.
Following on from this, however, he delivered perhaps a career-best performance in utterly dominating the highly-regarded Arthur Abraham over 12 brutal rounds to finish the year in spectacular style and progress to the Showtime Super 6 tournament semi-finals.
Not only did he demonstrate some new parts to his game, which had gone completely unheralded up until that fight, he showed that he could also box clever and adopt a committed and tactical approach to make it look very easy in the process.
He left it in absolutely no doubt who the victor was that night.
Abraham was simply never in it, bar an all-out 12th round where he tried in vain to go searching for the knockout.
In summary, this was a fantastic year for Carl. He is still right up there at the very top of the game, with a guaranteed fight versus Glen Johnson to bring us into 2011, and then versus Andre Ward should he manage to come through that one.
Few predicted Carl to still be standing at the end, during the tournament’s inception, but now he has to be the odds on favourite to progress to the final.
It is also no shame to lose to Mikkel Kessler who has often been regarded as the best 168 lbs fighter in the world, particularly when the manner of defeat was so marginal.
If 2011 can come anywhere near Carl’s 2008, 9 and 10, then we are certainly in for some fantastic nights of boxing.
For a guy often deemed a “crude slugger” Carl has already shown that not only can he punch with the best, put on a great show of heart to overcome adversity and walk over guys he is expected to lose to…2010 showed he is also a far better boxer than he is given credit for, and given his displays so far, it’s about time this was acknowledged with a mainstream broadcaster coming onboard!
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