Carl Froch leaves a lasting legacy in the ring... the Cobra has nothing left to prove

• Four-time world champion Carl Froch won 33 of his 35 fights with 24 KOs
• Froch will now join analysts Adam Smith and Jonny Nelson on Sky Sports
• Nottingham boxer leaves ring 'incredibly proud of what I have achieved' 

By Jeff Powell For The Daily Mail

Published: 09:37 EST, 14 July 2015 | Updated: 16:40 EST, 14 July 2015

Carl Froch bows out of the hard game he infused with high drama saying: ‘I have nothing left to prove.’

Do not argue with Britain’s four-time world super-middleweight champion.

Not only is it still unwise to pick a fight with one of the toughest men ever to lace up the gloves — as George Groves so painfully found out — but he happens to be right. 

Four-time world champion Carl Froch has announced his retirement from boxing and will join Sky Sports

Froch is correct, also, when he adds: ‘The strength of my legacy is now there for all to see.’

The Nottingham Cobra vacates a lofty position among the leading pound-for-pound fighters in the world today, to take his place among the greatest British boxers of all time. 

Twelve days after his 38th birthday, Froch has retired from the prize ring. We will still see him on Sky television, but as a commentator, not a warrior.

The argument as to who would have been the winner had Froch fought the fellow countryman who was his brilliant predecessor as the world’s 12-stone best was rendered subjective the day Joe Calzaghe retired before answering the challenge.

Boxing purists believe Calzaghe the Clever would have prevailed. Those who instinctively favour willpower and primeval guts over fistic intellect go for Froch the Force.

Froch insists: ‘I’ve beaten more world champions and more who have gone on to become world champions. My stats smash his to bits, apart from the fact he ended his career undefeated. 

‘And being undefeated doesn’t mean anything if you don’t fight everyone. He was a fantastic fighter, but I would much rather my career than his, and anyone in the boxing circle will give you the same answer. He’s a bit bitter and can’t say a good word about me.’ 

Froch fought the world’s best with his hands down, trusting that unbreakable chin to absorb all they could throw at him while defeating them with his own punches delivered from unpredictable angles. 

Froch will miss 'that wonderful sensation of standing triumphant in a boxing ring, to the roars of the crowd.'

Froch will now join Sky Sports as an expert analyst alongside Adam Smith and Johnny Nelson

Although he profited from the wisdom of trainer Rob McCracken, the greatness was rooted in Froch’s acquired belief that if you want something done properly you do it yourself.

Once when we chatted in his Nottingham home, he carried on tiling the floor of the conservatory he had built.

On another such occasion he took a phone call from a tenant of one of his properties in the city and promised he would go round personally later in the day to repair the refrigerator.

That work ethic extended to never knowing when he was beaten inside those ropes. 

When his first chance came to win a world title, he refused to seek a postponement despite sustaining a perforated ear-drum and broken rib in sparring. He won a war with Jean Pascal which would have been an achievement for a fully fit fighter. 

Froch defeated George Groves in front of 80,000 at Wembley Stadium back in May 2014

Froch trains ahead of Carl Froch vs. George Groves II

In his first defence, in America, the genius Jermain Taylor floored him for the first time in his career. Froch found a way to knock him out with just 14 seconds of the fight remaining.

He also inflicted Andre Dirrell’s first defeat, whipped Arthur Abraham abroad, and demolished the previously undefeated Lucien Bute in five brutal rounds.

He ended his career by dispatching Groves with the most spectacular one-punch knockout in modern boxing in front of that record 80,000 attendance at Wembley Stadium.

The only times Froch let himself down was with sub-par performances in his two defeats. On both occasions he allowed himself to be distracted by adverse circumstances. Froch avenged his Mikkel Kessler defeat, but with Andre Ward virtually inactive for the best part of two years, that rematch never happened. 

Froch got down on one knee and proposed to girlfriend Rachael Cordingley after the Groves bout in 2014

Now the desire so vital to Froch’s style has waned. But he leaves British boxing in ruder health than through the years in which he sustained it almost single-handed.

Not only is he one of our finest ever prizefighters but he is a highly intelligent human being, splendid company and a devoted family man. Froch has found true happiness with the lovely Rachael and their children and expect him now to find time to wed.

Yet he admits he will miss boxing as much boxing will miss him.

‘Never again will I experience that thrill,’ he says. ‘That wonderful sensation of standing triumphant in a boxing ring, to the roars of the crowd. I don’t know what I can replace that with.’

Perhaps he has no need to do so. Maybe no reason ever to come back.

Not with nothing left to prove.

Froch defeated Mikkel Kessler at the O2 Arena to retain his IBF super-middleweight title in May 2013

Froch defeated George Groves in front of 80,000 at Wembley Stadium back in May 2014

Froch chats to a smirking Groves at intense weigh-in square-up

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