Pundit Carl Froch is as fearless outside the ring as he was in it, taking aim at Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury

5 months ago 30

CARL FROCH has come straight out of the Suella Braverman school of trenchant opinions.

He is as fearless behind a microphone as he was when he was world super-middleweight champion.

Froch dislikes crossover bouts – but says he had MMA star Francis Ngannou beating Tyson Fury by two rounds in their recent fight[/caption]

The Cobra also says he doesn’t understand why Anthony Joshua is still fighting[/caption]

Unfortunately many TV boxing commentators, analysts and interviewers are reluctant to criticise the often tedious and mundane contests viewers have to sit through before the main event.

Mindful that their employers have paid large sums of money for a show lasting several hours, they tend to act as cheerleaders.

Listening to them trying desperately not to make harsh judgements, more often than not I feel it’s the bland leading the bland.

They should be made aware that Sir Winston Churchill said: “Criticism may not be agreeable bit it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body.”

Froch a veteran of 12 world championship fights who was inducted into America’s Boxing Hall of Fame, in June never pulled his punches in the ring.

And Carl, known as the Cobra in his fighting days, is certainly not afraid to spit his venom when it comes to expressing forthright views on his You Tube podcast or talkSPORT.

He was scathing about Tyson Fury’s degrading desert escapade against MMA star Francis Ngannou a couple of weeks ago, because he felt it was demeaning the sport.

Froch, 46, said “I don’t like the way some boxing promoters are going down the route of crossover fights.

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“That tells us something about the state of boxing at the minute and I’m sure true boxing supporters are unhappy about it.

“I made Ngannou win by two rounds and I’m sure Fury having been floored by Ngannou must have suffered psychologically damage – that’s got to have done his head in.

“By taking that fight Fury said he didn’t care about his legacy – it’s a good job because at the minute his legacy is in tatters. I think he’s got one eye on retirement.”

“The fans are turning against Tyson and that’s sad to see – because deep down I think they feel he’s hurting the sport.”

Froch doesn’t spare Anthony Joshua from a tongue lashing either after seeing AJ’s far-from-impressive performance against Jermaine Franklin and his labouring against Robert Helenius before scoring a spectacular KO victory.

Carl doesn’t mess about and he said: “Joshua is frightened of his own shadow after being stopped by Andy Ruiz (in 2019) and he hasn’t been the same fighter since.

I know what I have to say about fellow fighters is likely to upset them but I’m telling the truth – as the saying goes the truth hurts.

Carl Froch

“I don’t understand why he’s still fighting – money can’t be a motivation when you’ve earned more than £100million.

“He will be remembered for beating an old Wladimir Klitschko who had been sat on his sofa for 18 months.”

Froch told me: “I know what I have to say about fellow fighters is likely to upset them but I’m telling the truth – as the saying goes the truth hurts.”

Carl’s never-to-be-forgotten last fight was when he pole-axed bitter rival George Groves before an 80,000 Wembley stadium crowd nine years ago.

It was one of the few genuine grudge matches.

Groves, who went on to become a world super-middleweight champion after Froch retired, also has a popular podcast and they were supposed to hate each other.

Now they are firm friends and have appeared many times together as TV pundits and doing gigs throughout Britain, reminiscing about theit two ring wars.

Groves laughed: “Carl definitely hated me back then – but I didn’t hate him until after he knocked me out”.