Former super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch has given his verdict on the the upcoming fight between Joshua Butasi and Callum Smith.
Froch has been retired since the moment he threw the greatest punch of his career – a right hand to put George Groves to sleep at the end of their famous rematch at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 80, 000 people.
During his career, the Hall of Famers was a famously hard sparer who would bring in up-and-coming talent to his gym to sound them out and test his own skills. Along the way, both former light-heavyweight Olympian Buatsi and super-middleweight world champion turned light-heavyweight contender Smith got the call.
Ahead of the fight, ‘The Cobra’ has assessed both men’s career so far.
“I’ve sparred with both of these guys so I know quite a lot about both of them. We’ve seen Callum Smith in there with George Groves which is probably his best win. He’s a good fighter, a capable fighter, a quality operator.
If he doesn’t beat Buatsi where does he go from here? But he’s got a chance. Buatsi, this step up has been a long time coming. He’s turned pro, not done a great deal, not got no standout names on his record so something needs to happen in his career if he is serious about boxing at world level.”
Froch predicts that Buatsi’s ambition could be enough to see him get his hand raised come fight night.
“If Smith loses, maybe he hangs his gloves up cause he’s had a great career but hasn’t quite cut it at world level. But it’s a good fight, Callum Smith used to give me a good spar, used to box and move, good counter left hook on his back foot.
Both have got good pedigree and are capable fighters, both can move around, throw combination punches, good footwork.
The guy that wins is going to be the guy that goes for it and tries to put shots together and I think Buatsi has a bit more ambition.”
