Carl Froch has never been shy to talk up his own achievements and has now included himself in the Top 5 super middleweights of all time next to long time rival Joe Calzaghe.
The Nottingham fighter was renowned throughout his career for his will to win and granite chin, often coming through adversity to get a KO victory.
Arguably none more were as spectacularly as when he knocked out Jermain Taylor with just seconds to go despite being down on the cards back in 2009, while Froch also secured big wins over the likes of Jean Pascal, Lucien Bute and Robin Reid.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine for a rundown of all-time divisional greats, Froch placed Dane Mikkel Kessler in fifth place. The pair fought twice, with one win each, while Kessler also lost to Calzaghe and Andre Ward but held multiple belts several times in his career.
Froch then put Calzaghe at number four. The Welshman went unbeaten in 46 fights, defended his super-middleweight title for a decade and also beat Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr up at light heavyweight before retiring.
“Calzaghe deserves to be at No. 4. He was a top super middleweight, top fighter, many good attributes. Tough, strong, fit, real good work ethic, refused to quit. But there’s a couple of flaws in there for me.
“The Robin Reid fight was so close, as well. He could have lost that Reid fight, many had Reid winning that. That deserved to be an immediate rematch. Guess what? We never got the immediate rematch. Didn’t happen. So that stains it for me.”
‘The Cobra’ then put himself at number three. He lost only to Kessler and Ward, held many versions of the world title and famously stopped George Groves twice in back-to-back fights to end his career back in 2014.
Unbeaten American two-weight world champion Ward then comes in at two.
“He has to be at No. 2, just because of his results. And I’m not gonna talk about Andre Ward, because I’ll fall asleep.”
At the top of Froch’s list is Roy Jones Jr, the multi-weight champion who went from middleweight all the way up tot heavyweight.
“He’s just amazing, he’s supremo, he’s the creme de la creme. Unbeatable, untouchable. Forget losing a fight, he never lost a round — he never lost any second of any round at super middleweight. Roy Jones Jr, what a fighter. He’s No. 1. To me, you can’t even argue.”
Jones’s last fight was in 2023 when he was 54 years old. It was a majority decision loss that left his record at 76 fights, 66 wins and 47 by way of KO.
