number1contender.net

Carl Froch (24-0, 19 KO's, 167 pounds) (c) vs. Jermain Taylor (28-2-1, 17 KO's, 166 pounds)

 

Froch won this title in his last match when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over Jean Pascal on December 6, 2008 at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. Froch's last 10 matches have been from the Trent FM Arena which is a 10 minute drive from his house. This title was previously held by Joe Calzaghe who vacated it to remain the undisputed champion of the world at 175 pounds, rather then waste his time with a mandatory defense against the Englishman. Froch is making his first defense of this title.

 

The Englishman had a good amateur boxing that culminated when he won the bronze medal in the 165-pound division at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships.

 

The last Froch match televised in the United States featured an exciting entrance and a mediocre performance in the ring. On May 10, 2008, Froch proved to be a legend in his own mind (and apparently a handful of his fans) as he main evented a card against Albert Rybacki over Junior Witter vs. Timothy Bradley for a title at 140 pounds in the same building where he won the title from Pascal. Froch entered the match in impressive fashion. His entrance started with a drum troop playing. That transitioned to the great Queen song "We Will Rock You" as a curtain rose from around him to reveal the boxer in a black hooded robe on a stand surrounded by smoke provided by numerous fog machines. This was a great entrance that could rival some of Undertaker's. Froch then decided to start the match by barely punching against an opponent looking to be knocked out. The Englishmen nearly did enough on accident to knock Rybacki out at the end of round 3. However, seeming to sense a finish Froch backed away and did not throw a punch for 13 seconds so Rybacki could recover. Froch finally got the stoppage at 2:35 of round 4, when the referee halted the match without a knockdown feeling the out-classed Rybacki had taken too many punches. This was a poor performance. Froch never scored a knockdown and appeared to be employing the Anderson Silva strategy of seeing how long he could make the match last by doing very little. Since then, the Englishman has ridiculously been calling out Calzaghe and accusing the Welshman of ducking him. In reality, there is so little interest in Froch even in Britain that this match is not being broadcast there. Froch said he is coming to the United States to win over the American audience. The truth is no one in England would pay to see this match and he was forced to cross the Atlantic. HBO passed on the opportunity to broadcast this match in the United States. Therefore, it ended up on Showtime by default. A full recap of the Froch-Rybacki farce can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/22/recap-of-carl-froch-vs-albert-rybacki.html

 

Froch is The Ring's number 6 contender at 168 pounds.

 

Taylor had a stellar amateur boxing career that culminated when he took home the bronze medal at 156 pounds for the United States at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

 

The Little Rock, Arkansas native is arguably a much better boxer chasing a title, then as a champion. Taylor's pro career started fast after his Olympic success with 23 wins, 17 coming by way of knockout. Taylor was very active on major shows to start his career. His career probably peaked when he won The Ring Championship at 160 pounds from The Ring's number 1 ranked pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Bernard Hopkins via split decision on July 15, 2005 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. That win earned Taylor an invitation to meet with former President Bill Clinton and made him the de facto pro sports team in Arkansas that has no pro sports franchises. Taylor has not scored a knockout victory in the nearly 4 years since he initially defeated Hopkins, and his reign as champion was lackluster.

 

Taylor first defended his title in a close rematch with Hopkins. Then, Taylor kept his title via a controversial draw in a match many observers felt he lost versus Winky Wright in his next defense. Taylor's next defense, was an uninspiring blowout decision victory of Kassim Ouma that had his fans turning on him. His next title defense was a split decision victory over Cory Spinks. There are no words fit to print to describe how truly awful that match was. (See the last recap for the brutal details.) Taylor's next title defense would be his last. On September 29, 2007, Taylor knocked Pavlik down and nearly out in round 2. However, Taylor let Pavlik make it back to his corner. The powerful Youngstown, Ohio native made Taylor pay for that mistake. Pavlik knocked Taylor down in round 7 and forced the referee to put a stop to the match moments later. However, there was an immediate rematch and Taylor was much better in that match. Taylor lost, but looked the best he had in years.

 

Taylor's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision over his roommate at the 2000 Olympics, Jeff Lacy, in the main event of the show that featured Green vs. Daniels. Taylor went to the canvas in round 5 arguably from a punch that glanced off his right shoulder and then hit him behind the ear. However, the referee ruled it was a slip. That was the only appearance of offense the muscle-bound Lacy would show in the match. Taylor won in dominating fashion winning 11 of the 12 rounds on 2 of the judges' scorecards. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/21/recap-of-jermain-taylor-vs-jeff-lacy.html

 

Taylor is The Ring's number 5 contender at 168 pounds.

 

At 30-years-old, Taylor is 1 year younger then the 31-year-old Froch. Froch has the height advantage standing 6' 1" tall, while Taylor stands 5' 11" tall. The champion has the reach advantage with a 75" wingspan, compared to the challenger's 74.5" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, the Englishman should be the slightly heavier boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Taylor is the slight betting favorite.

 

The official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Mexico, Japan and Canada. The referee is Michael Ortega.

 

This match starts out promising with both boxers coming to the ring to great music. Taylor enters to the same song Matt Hughes enters to, "A Country Boy Can Survive". Froch wearing a black hooded robe and a snarl, once again enters to Queen's "We Will Rock You". With over 1:30 to go in round 1, there is already some redness developing on the nose of Froch. Froch has already been hit several times in the face with hard right hands. Taylor wins round 1 easily, 10-9. Froch landed 1 good left hook in a very deliberate round 2, and that was enough to win him the round, 10-9. With 42 seconds to go in round 3, Froch is hit with a huge right hand and drops to the canvas. That is the first time Froch has ever been knocked down in his professional or amateur boxing career. Froch looked stunned that someone was finally able to knock him down. The referee allows a still shaken Froch to continue with 30 seconds to go in round 3. Taylor did not go hard to finish the shaky Froch in the remainder of round 3, allowing the Englishman to make it back to the safety of his corner. However, the knockdown means Taylor wins round 3 huge, 10-8. In the corner after round 3, Froch's trainer yelled at him for charging at Taylor with his hands down and generally being terrible defensively. Froch had a game plan, but abandoned it to try and land reckless power punches. Taylor landed a few more clean power punches to win a close round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Taylor leads on my scorecard, 39-36. The members of the press keeping unofficial score of the match from ringside for Showtime all have Taylor ahead after 3 rounds: 40-35, 39-36, 39-36.

 

Taylor uses his left jab to win round 5, 10-9. The challenger lands a combination at the end of round 6 to win the round, 10-9. However, round 6 was Froch's best offensive round in a while. Taylor lands several good left hands to win round 7, 10-9. With around 1:15 to go in round 8, Froch started blinking his right eye. Something happened that is giving him vision problems with the eye. Taylor flurried in the final 10 seconds of round 8 in an attempt to win the round. However, Froch had landed too many good right hands earlier in the round and takes round 8, 10-9. Froch wins a deliberate round 9 by being a little bit busier then Taylor, 10-9. However after 9 rounds, Taylor leads on my scorecard, 87-83. After 9 rounds, press row scoring all has Taylor ahead: 87-83, 86-85, 86-84. Al Bernstein, Showtime's color commentator for this event, has Taylor leading after 9 rounds, 87-83.

 

Round 10 is Froch's best of the match and he wins it easily, 10-9. Taylor has been much less active in the last few rounds and that has allowed Froch back into the match. All of the members of press row scored round 10 for Froch, 10-9. They now have Taylor winning, but only via majority decision: 96-93, 95-95, 95-94. The scorecard that has this match even is the member of the press from Britain.

 

With around 1:30 to go in round 11, blood begins to flow from Taylor's nose. If Taylor is fatiguing, losing the ability to breathe out of his nose will make things much worse. Taylor is a lot more active in round 11, but Froch out-worked the challenger to win the round, 10-9. In round 11, Taylor would land some good punches then hold, because he was exhausted. Once again, Taylor has come into a match out of shape and it may cost him a title here. After 11 rounds, Taylor leads on my scorecard, 105-103. Press row scoring has this match a draw after 11 rounds: 105-103 (Taylor), 105-104 (Froch), 104-104.

 

This final round will probably decide the match. Froch poured on the offense and after having Taylor hurt for nearly 1.5 minutes finally drops the challenger with a right hand with 44 seconds to go in round 12. Taylor is exhausted with his head lying on the turnbuckle pad. He does not look like he is going to be able to beat the count. Taylor barely makes it up at 9 and is going to be allowed to continue with 29 seconds to go in round 12. Froch may still need another knockdown to win. Under normal circumstances, the referee may have stepped in to stop the match as Froch was hitting a dazed a Taylor for nearly 1:30. However, these are not normal circumstances. Froch pins Taylor in the corner and forces the referee to step in and stop the match with 16 seconds to go in the final round. This is a scene almost identical to what Pavlik did to take Taylor's 160-pound titles. The crowd that had been chanting "USA" at times during this match is screaming themselves hoarse cheering for the Englishman. The look on Froch's face shows the champion knows how fortunate he is to be leaving with his title. Froch delivered an exciting ending and a match that should be remembered for quite a while.

 

The final outcome of this tremendous match courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 2:46 of round 12 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by spectacular technical knockout, still undefeated, and still the WBC Super Middleweight Champion of the World, Carl "The Cobra" Froch. For the record, Froch had to knockout Taylor in round 12 to win. Had Taylor been able to finish the round standing he would have won despite being knocked down. The official scorecards had Taylor ahead in the match after 11 rounds via split decision: 106-102 (Taylor), 106-102 (Taylor), 106-102 (Froch). The win moves Froch to 25-0 with now 20 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Froch said in his post match interview that he thought Taylor was getting tired from the constant pressure. That is why he decided to get recklessly aggressive in round 12. In regards to getting knockdown in round 3, Froch said Taylor threw an overhand right that the champion never saw. Froch said it was a good stoppage, because Taylor was unable to defend himself. Taylor was not even looking at Froch when the referee stepped in and it was a good stoppage. Froch said he would give Taylor a rematch. However, Froch said he wants Calzaghe next. Froch said this win makes him a big name in America. Therefore, Calzaghe has no reason to not come out of retirement and face him.

 

Taylor said in his post match interview that he wants a rematch. The Little Rock native, said that when he failed to finish Froch in round 3, he was thinking about not finishing Pavlik in their first match after he knocked Pavlik down early. Taylor said he did not have stamina problems in this match. However, it looked very different watching this match. Taylor said he had no problem with the stoppage.

 

Now the referee, Ortega, is going to be interviewed. Ortega is a great referee and said he stopped it to protect Taylor's safety. Taylor was not intelligently defending himself and had stopped punching back. It was the right call.

 

Froch is not good defensively. That made his match tonight very exciting. Froch has a great trainer who will spend the next several years getting him better in the gym. Calzaghe is not going to face Froch, no matter how much Froch talks. Froch's likely next opponent will be Allan Green, probably in September on Showtime.

 

Taylor lost this match due to his poor conditioning. His inability to maintain a high work rate allowed Froch to comeback in the match and eventually win. Taylor showed the same hesitation to finish Froch that cost him against Pavlik, because he was afraid of running out of gas. The Little Rock native can be very good if he demonstrates his current commitment to boxing. However, until he shows a championship level commitment to training he will not be among the boxing elite, again. Unless Taylor gets an immediate rematch with Froch, Taylor's next match will probably be an undercard match of another major show on HBO or Showtime. Taylor is in serious jeopardy of becoming a larger version Zab Judah. A boxer that used to be elite, but now loses all of his big matches.

 

 

 

This event was very enjoyable to watch and is a recommended watch. This match has its slow points, but the exciting finish more then makes up for them.