• Super-middleweight

Froch embroiled in betting controversy

ESPN staff
February 20, 2012
Carl Froch: 'I've done it on more than one occasion ... It's not illegal' © Getty Images
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Former world super-middleweight champion Carl Froch has admitted deliberately extending fights so that family and friends could profit through betting.

Froch has used the example of his 2005 Commonwealth title defence against Ruben Groenewald to illustrate the point; he claims he could have stopped the South African earlier than he did.

He told the BBC: "I've done it more than one occasion and it was round five but that's not illegal. I can say, 'right, I'll stop this kid in round five'. If I'm good enough to do that then fair enough. I don't gamble but my brothers and my friends, they did quite well off it.

"I can openly say that, because if I'm good enough to step on the gas in round five and force the stoppage then that's my privilege, and that's what I did in this particular fight at the arena for the Commonwealth title defence. But the problem with that is I held him up in round four.

"He was there for the taking and I held him up, I got him with a shot, I could have ended up getting done myself in round four."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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