Carl Froch: what a difference a day makes

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-1, 24 KO’s) was a heavy favorite going into Saturday nights showdown with new IBF champion Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s). And make no mistake about it this writer was among those who gave Froch little chance to pull off an upset. But did he ever come through! In a scant 24 hours Carl went from a fighter who many boxing observers were writing off and calling on to retire to hero status in his native England. Some of the headlines in British newspapers now scream out that Froch may be the greatest fighter ever to come out of England. Everyone loves a good story and this is a great one. The song sung by blues artist Dinah Washington in the late 1950’s could not be more apropos when discussing the amazing swing in fortunes for Carl Froch. The song is titled “What a difference a day makes” and continues with the follow up lyric “Just twenty four little hours”. Like the great British fighter Randy Turpin when he broke the ninety fight winning streak of the immortal Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951, Froch is now the toast of the British Isles. Froch not only defeated an opponent he was thought to have very little chance against, he annihilated him, stopping him in the 5th round. After losing a unanimous decision last December to a technically brilliant Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KO’s) there was little place for “The Cobra” to go if he lost to Bute. It was in essence a do or die fight. Even many of Froch’s supporters were suggesting that he was overreaching in taking on the undefeated Bute, who has a cannon ball of a left uppercut to the body. Froch however never doubted his ability and exuded great confidence in the lead up to his match with Bute. It is worth noting that up until this point Froch has been underrated and under appreciated. That all changed Saturday night and it was what was needed to restore the badly tattered image of British boxing. The low point was reached on February 18 in Munich when Dereck Chisora disgraced himself by his conduct leading up to his match with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and the brawl that ensued afterwards with fellow Brit David Haye. Up until Saturday night 2012 was not the kind of year that British fans would have liked to look back upon with pride. But now boxing fans are talking about boxing again in a favorable way. Kudos to new IBF super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch for his great victory. And for now let him enjoy his moment in the sunshine.