• David Haye v Dereck Chisora

Wound-up Froch blasts Chisora v Haye fight

ESPN staff
July 10, 2012

Carl Froch, the reigning IBF super-middleweight champion, admits he finds it hard to keep cool at the thought of a packed house for this weekend's heavyweight fight between David Haye and Dereck Chisora.

Froch, who has twice won the WBC super-middleweight belt, has spent the majority of his career trying to become a household name in his country. That situation has barely changed despite wars with the likes of Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Lucian Bute.

On Saturday Froch knows Upton Park will be packed for the bad-blooded clash of Haye and Chisora, which has sold tickets largely on the back of a shameful Munich brawl, rather than either fighter's recent boxing achievements. As far as Froch is concerned, neither man should be fighting.

"I don't know whether Chisora is mentally ill or unstable," Froch said in the Evening Standard. "But the way he was behaving in the build-up to the fight [with Vitali Klitschko] was totally unreasonable.

"It was disgraceful. He slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in and then spat in Wladimir's face in the ring. That is no way to behave. As a professional you should be leading by example.

"David Haye gave Chisora a smack in the face at the press conference but I don't think he did it deliberately, it was instinctive. Chisora was coming to David in a threatening manner and he did what he had to do to defend himself."

As for Haye's part in the fight, Froch insists Haye has gone back on his word by emerging from retirement. In Froch's eyes, money is governing the Brit's decisions, leading him into a fight with a rival that few believe belongs in the same ring.

"It winds me up," he said. "When people retire, they should stay retired. I was in Jamaica with David for two weeks after he said he was retired. He's made his money.

"He was happy with his career but he said, 'I would come back if I get the Vitali fight.' He had no intention of fighting Chisora. He is not getting Vitali but then money changes everything, doesn't it?"

Comparing the buzz surrounding the Haye v Chisora bout to his own situation, Froch claims it sums up why he has not received the recognition he deserves. The quality of what happens outside the ring is seemingly more important than what takes place inside it, a fact Froch has learned to live with.

"I haven't had the recognition I deserve," he said. "You can go back to anybody's career - Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, David Haye, Amir Khan, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Steve Collins, Naseem Hamed. My record is better than all of theirs.

"I've won against more unbeaten fighters than any of them, had more exciting fights. It's not like I have one hard fight, then a couple of easy fights and then another hard fight. Since I won the WBC world title against Jean Pascal in 2008, every single fight has been against a top-level fighter.

"For whatever reason, I've not had the exposure. I'm not [even] a big enough name to carry the Olympic torch."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close