By John Hively

WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch fought the fight of his life against Jermain Taylor last Saturday, April 25th. He showed us his finest skills, and in doing so, Carl gave us enough evidence to suggest he would be no match for Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Mikkel Kessler and perhaps a few others. At least not yet. So Carl, stop calling out Joe Calzaghe - you can’t beat him.

On the plus side, Carl demonstrated he has punching power, stamina and perhaps above average ability to take a pop on his overly active mouth and all other parts of his cranium, but more importantly, he revealed an inability to adjust to his opponent. He had to wait for his adversary to get tired, which was expected, since Taylor almost always fades as his bouts progress.

Froch looked awkward, mechanical and wide open the whole fight. He shuffled around the ring as though he was being slowed down by some kind of sticky stuff that had been sprayed on the bottom of his shoes. As for his defense, nobody is going to confuse him with Bernard Hopkins since his head movement is only slightly better than the Rock of Gibraltar. His skull was not as sturdy as Gibraltar, and this was proven when Taylor reddened his nose with three right hands early in the first round and then sent him tumbling to the canvas in the third.

Appearing a little frayed, but still coherent and with his legs solidly under him, the fighter rose from this humbling experience and faced his opponent, hands held waist high. So Taylor fired away at him with more right and left hands, some of which landed, while others whistled harmlessly past their target.

The fifth round saw Taylor at his zenith, at least in terms of scoring on my card; he fired left jabs and hooks and right hands. Froch got in some good licks, but it was Taylor’s round, just like the first four.

And then Jermain wheezed more, breathed out of his mouth more, held his hands a little lower than before, and as the following rounds passed by, he tossed fewer punches.

From the sixth round onward, Froch landed blows that Taylor had previously avoided. Jermain now tried to steal rounds from his cement footed foe by flurrying late. This tactic was successful on my card in the eighth round, but one could easily have scored this session a draw or for Carl. The ninth heat was close and I scored it even. After that, Taylor was clearly winded and outgunned, but since he was way ahead on two of the three offical scorecards (as well as mine), all he had to do secure the official nod was to survive.

The bell clanged for the twelfth round. Taylor rambled out of his corner and didn’t appear ready to be knocked out. But then Froch suddenly staggered his foe with a lusty right hand a minute into the round and forced Taylor to scurry away. Hands at his sides, Froch pursued his rubbery legged opponent all around the ring, trapped him in a corner and sent him to floundering to the canvas with an explosive right hand.

Taylor rose unsteadily and fled to a corner where Froch hammered him. Then Taylor stumbled a few feet to his right, his back along the ropes, his hands held high trying to block the bombardment of his rival. Why he didn’t clinch to buy time I don’t know. Regardless, it was there that Carl bludgeoned Taylor with blockbusting lefts and rights until the referee stopped the slaughter as Taylor helplessly dropped his arms to his sides and drooped forward at the waist. 

This was an outstanding win for Froch, but it showed us his weaknesses. He doesn’t have Calzaghe’s or Dawson’s speed, Kessler’s all around skills, or Hopkins skills and guile. Froch needs to avoid those guys for the time being because they would likely give him an unmerciful beating since he is made to order for them.

On the other hand, Froch can improve his technical skills; and maybe even his foot and hand speed. Over the next couple of years, he might have an opportunity to reach greatness, something he can only get by successfully battling great contemporaries. Dawson and Kessler have yet to reach that plateau. And it took a good many years for people to appreciate the greatness of Calzaghe and Hopkins. Of course, it didn’t help either that both were carefully managed fighters until the last few years.

Froch’s victory over Taylor has put him a step ahead of where Calzaghe and Hopkins were at similar stages in their careers. As long as Carl keeps improving and is willing to face the best, he has a chance at reaching the top of the historical mountain and being considered great. But for now, based on what he showed us on Saturday, he should not challenge Calzaghe, Hopkins, Kessler and Dawson - not yet anyway. First, Froch needs to work on improving his skills.

John Hively is a writer based in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of the internationally released book, The Rigged Game: Corporate America and a People Betrayed.  Mr. Hively also is the webmaster for his economic blog, www.johnhively.blogspot.com.