Carl Froch has called for a heavyweight to hang up the gloves and ‘take up darts.’
Froch’s own retirement in 2015 came off the back of an emphatic stoppage of rival George Groves at Wembley Stadium, however many fights cannot boast leaving the game on such a good note.
There are many stories from the history books on boxers retiring later than they should have, and Froch believes that is the case with Joe Joyce.
Joyce was recently beaten over the distance by Filip Hrgovic, once again showing brave durability against the Croatian who stepped in on late notice. Prior to the fight, Froch had already called for ‘The Juggernaut’ to call it a day, referencing his two punishing stoppage losses to Zhilei Zhang as supporting evidence.
Speaking to Casino Beats, the former super middleweight world champion and Hall of Famer said:
“Joe Joyce should retire. Hrgovic will probably punch his head in, but Joe Joyce might just beat him if he doesn’t get chinned. It’s quite an interesting fight. Joe Joyce for me has always been a good fighter in terms of he’s just fit and strong and ruthless.
“He’s got that ring name the juggernaut and the juggernaut just keeps going, prodding along and he can’t stop. He’s big and heavy and he just walks through f**king walls. And that’s what he’s done. But as soon as he got hurt by Zhilei Zhang, it showed signs of fragility around his chin. His biggest asset was the ability to take a punch and his fitness. And when you start getting hit on the chin and lying down and go to sleep, you say to yourself ‘this is the end’.
“So he’s about 40. And when he talks, I know he is not the most vibrant sort of enthusiastic talker, but there’s moments in there where you’re saying, ‘hang on a minute, you should be speaking now.’ So what’s going on up there? What’s wrong there? Why are you not talking? And I don’t want to say any boxer has got brain damage. But unfortunately that is potential serious injuries from taking repetitive blows to the head.
“He’s got one way which involves getting hit in the face a lot. When you can’t take the punch anymore, it’s time to f**king hang the gloves up and take up darts.”
Despite many suggesting the same as Froch – including Tony Bellew and Joyce’s own promoter Frank Warren – ‘The Juggernaut’ has said that this is not the end.
