Carl Froch had a famous granite chin throughout his boxing career.
‘The Cobra’ was always a strong, come-froward fighter, big puncher for his weight and someone who relied on the fact that he could take a shot to land a shot.
Taylor started strong and put Froch down in the 3rd round to mark the first knockdown of the Brit’s professional career, and he went on to dominate much of the fight with his sharp boxing skills and speed.
Come the 12th round, knowing he was behind on the scorecards, Froch launched a final assault and with just 14 seconds left he knocked Taylor down with a barrage of punches. Though Taylor got back up, Froch continued his attack and forced the referee to stop the fight with just six seconds remaining in the fight.
Although ‘The Cobra’ was knocked a couple of times throughout his career, speaking to Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips, Froch revealed the one former champion who was the only man to ever knock him down in sparring – Tony Bellew.
“When I used to spar Tony Bellew, I was trying to f****** knock him out ’cause I knew he was trying to knock me out. He’s bigger than me, he’s 14 stone, I’m 12 stone, so he’s a bully as well. He’s a big strong **** and he can punch hard. He’s the only man to ever drop me in sparring. I got up, carried on, gave him as good as I got, but it was good for me to be involved in hard competitive spars.”
Froch retired after a one-punch knockout victory over his great rival George Groves in a rematch at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 people in 2013.
