After Carl Froch’s success in another thrilling fight against Jermain Taylor in the US, Froch and team on the lookout for their next opponent. One potential opponent is Bernard Hopkins. In a recent interview for the BBC, Froch was seen to be very excited about the propect of fighting the legend but we think this would be a bad move.
Bernard Hopkins is a veteran of the sport, and has had more title fights than most boxers have had fights! He is a very experienced, and defensive fighter which combined with his clean living outside of training has allowed him to fight til the ripe old age of 43! Although he is still very fit, his tactics will undoubtedly be to spoil Carl’s work and basically rough him up and steal the fight. Even if Carl was to win the fight, no one ever looks good against Bernard Hopkins and it won’t be a pretty fight! Carl has only really just been exposed to the US, and he should aim to fight another American fighter before taking on someone like Hopkins so that he can increase his popularity. Carl also looked quite stiff and nervous in the opening rounds against Taylor, so the more experience he can get fighting in America the better! Although I hate to say it, Carl has also looked easy to hit in both his last fights against Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor. He keeps a characteristcally low left hand which he normally uses to intice fighters in, but this is something you can’t really get away with at the top level, as shown when he was put down for the first time against Jermain in round 3. Bernard would definitely look to capitalise on this, and showed against Kelly Pavlik that he still has the potential to break fighters down.
What Carl decides to do next is ultimately his choice though. A fight with Bernard Hopkins would no doubt take place at the MGM grand in Las Vegas and would be very good financially – which I’m sure is very appealing! Froch has also been a fan of Hopkins for a long time, so being in the same ring as him would be a great experience. He could also try and improve upon Joe Calzaghe’s performance against Bernard in an attempt to show the world that he is better.
Bernard also probably doesn’t have that many options available to him. He is normally a fighter to avoid anyway, but that combined with his win over Pavlik definitely makes him a danger fighter. Other options for Carl include Lucian Bute, who is the IBF title holder. This could take place in the UK, and would be an opportunity to start unifying the division.
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Posted in: Boxing News
Tags: bernard hopkins, carl froch, jermain taylor, Kelly Pavlik, lucian bute
Good article, but you’ve not mentioned the possibility of Carl beating Hopkins, or even knocking him out! He’s an old man now!