Froch smokes Reid's Boots

By Tom Podmore

Carl Froch, in a Hennessy Sports press release in 2004, said he would smoke the boots of Robin Reid if they ever met in the ring. Fast-forward three years and the Nottingham puncher backed up his boasts by forcing ‘The Reaperman' to retire on his stool after five rounds at the Nottingham Arena.

Former WBC champ Reid was pulled out of this twelve-round British super-middleweight title fight by career-long trainer Brian Hughes after tasting the canvas twice and starting to seriously wilt under the ferocious attack from ‘The Cobra'.

Better to be retired on your stool than be knocked unconscious, which could well have happened in the following rounds. Froch always looked as if he could have stepped up the intensity of the attack if needed be.

Reid – famed for his ability to absorb a good shot – could also have had a count given to him in round two, but referee Dave Parris, a former pro, controversially ruled it a slip.

If this is the end for Robin, as he promised before the fight, he can look back on a career that saw him capture a Olympic bronze in 1992, win a recognised world title in 1997 and give legendary Welsh southpaw Joe Calzaghe one of his hardest nights.

Interestingly, Reid is the only fighter to have taken WBC, WBA and WBO champ Calzaghe to a split decision – doing so at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle eight-and-half years ago.

But for Froch, boxing in front of a huge, vociferous crowd in his home-city, its now onwards and upwards in search of fights at the next level, with Canada-based Romanian Lucian Bute (the IBF champ) being mooted for the summer of next year.

However, there is no question who Carl would like to face if he was given the choice. He hopes the destruction of Reid will set up a clash with Joe Calzaghe. But whether the recognised twelve-stone number one will accept the challenge – after all, he has bigger fish to fry – is another matter.

Whilst it's a fight that would generate a lot of interest in the United Kingdom, it would mean little or nothing to the American market, who bring the big bucks to the table.

Froch is a live, dangerous foe who is capable of beating Calzaghe, but Joe – and who can blame him – is looking to step up to light-heavyweight and fight Bernard Hopkins in a money-spinning clash in the USA next year.

After his previous three explosive performances, a lot of people are starting to believe in Froch, 30, with around 6,500 packing the Nottingham Arena for, what was on paper at least, his sternest test.

Another test that ultra-confident Froch passed with flying colours on his march to bigger titles in 2008.

After a noisy crowd booed tanned, confident Runcorn-based Reid like a pantomime villain – something Reid loved and revelled in, by the way – slow-starting Froch watched Robin in the early stages of the opening round, seeing what card he'd play.

By the half-way point, however, Carl looked to assert his authority in the clinches, forcing Reid to (surprise, surprise) moan to the referee about his opponents hitting whilst tied-up.

Brian Hughes, the legendary Manchester trainer, told his man between the first and second rounds that the undefeated Midlander, himself a former world-class amateur (World Amateur bronze), was made for the overhand right.

But it was Froch that took control in the second. Looking cool under pressure, watching the punches go by before viciously hitting back, Carl buckled Reid's legs with a stinging right, drove him back and a right hand-right uppercut put Rob on the deck.

London official Dave Parris deemed it, albeit controversially in my eyes, a slip and let the action continue. I thought that the punches Froch had landed were clean and had forced Reid, hazy of head, to go down.

Froch (11st 13 1/2lbs) found his range, and his breakthrough, in the third session. After ticking off both men for indiscretions, Froch stepped up the attack, forcing Reid onto the back foot – greeted with roars from the partisan crowd – and nailed him a right hand and short left uppercut in his own corner. Reid touched down.

Mr Parris began the count as the bell tolled and even though Reid's trainer tried to get between them and manoeuvre his charge onto the stool, Parris pushed him aside and continued to count.

However, after tasting the canvas in the previous round I gave Reid the next session. He found his range with some looping overhand rights, which got a nonchalant shake of the head from the iron-chinned Froch. But Reid (11st 13 1/4lbs) had got his message across – I'm still here, still punching back.

But Carl's sharp, accurate, whipping punches found him more success in what was the final round. Reid, 36, tried to stand his ground but was tagged by a chopping, downward right hand, making him take a step back and drop to one knee.

He didn't appear to be too perturbed, even winking at his corner, and got up and repelled a Froch follow-up – not a place that many fighters would relish being in the position of.

Then came the retirement with an injury to his right shoulder. The more educated amongst us knew that was an excuse to save the former world-class twelve-stoner, now 39-6-1 (27), from a nasty fate in the ensuing rounds.

Froch, now 22-0 (18), said: “It was a great performance from me, especially after the operation to my knee had kept me out of action since March (eight months). It was the rust-shredder I needed.

“Reid is a class act, a great fighter but I did what I had to do,” continued Carl, making the fourth defence of the Lonsdale belt he won outright at this venue twelve months ago.

“I'm under no illusions about how good Reid is these days – he was past his best. But he still can take a great punch and came to give Carl Froch a fight, a run-for-his-money.

“It's now time for me to make my mark on the world stage in the next year. I will be a world champion by this time next year.

“I utterly destroyed Sergey Tatevosyan, who Lucian Bute had to go the distance with two months earlier, in March.

“So the statistics say it all. Lucian Bute maybe the IBF champion but is not a massive puncher and has not been hit by someone like me yet,” said the Rob McCracken-trained fighter.

But Froch wants a certain Welsh portsider next year: “I've been a big Joe Calzaghe fan over the years but have not been impressed by the way he doesn't want to fight me.

“I think Calzaghe should fight me really. He has had a couple of soft defences rather than fighting me and I've got the hump with him over it. I would be a more dangerous fight than Bernard Hopkins, which he is talking about for his next fight.

“OK, Kessler was a good win and Joe put on a good performance, but he says he wants only big fights now and fighting me would be just that. There would be huge interest in Britain for it.

“I'll repeat this until Calzaghe takes notice and sees sense in fighting me. His greatest danger is not in America against a 42-year-old man but in Great Britain, Nottingham to be precise.”

Welsh dragon Calzaghe be warned: the English cobra wants to spit his deadly and potent venom in your direction.

Terry O'Connor (Birmingham), Ian John-Lewis (Gillingham) and Howard Foster (Doncaster) were the three scoring judges that were rendered irrelevant.