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Showtime ShoBox Recap

May 10, 2008

Trent FM Arena-Nottingham, England

Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Match:

Carl Froch (22-0, 18 KO's, 167.5 pounds) vs. Albert Rybacki (15-0, 8 KO's, 168.25 pounds)

Froch had a strong amateur boxing career that was capped by winning the bronze medal at 165 pounds for England at 2001 World Championships.

The native of Nottingham is the number 1 contender to one of the title belts at 168 pounds that Joe Calzaghe won from Mikkel Kessler. However, it appears Calzaghe has no interest in facing Froch anytime in the near future.

Froch's last match was a technical knockout victory over Robert Reid at 3:00 of round 5, when the match was stopped in the corner on November 9, 2007 at the Ice Arena in Nottingham. The victory was Froch's fourth successful defense of his BBB of C British Super Middleweight Championship. Froch won the British Board of Boxing Control British Super Middleweight Championship, when it was vacant via technical knockout at 2:10 of round 1 over Damon Hague on September 24, 2004 at the Ice Arena. (Thanks to Mike Sempervive for deciphering that title abbreviation.) However, this title is not at stake in this match.

Froch is The Ring magazine's number 6 contender at 168 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Calzaghe.

Rybacki has been brought in to lose and showcase Froch's skills. Rybacki is a last minute replacement coming in on 3 days notice, and says he is only at 50%. The resident of Poland admits he was not training, before being named the replacement. Rybacki has never been in a scheduled 12-round match, and only 1 match scheduled past 6 rounds. The longest match of Rybacki's career was a match he won by technical knockout in round 9 on October 26, 2002 over Tony Dodson at the Leisure Center in Maesteg, Wales for the WBF Intercontinental Championship at 168 pounds.

However, rather then defend that title, Rybacki did not have another official match for over 2 years. Then on December 19, 2004, Rybacki won a 6-round unanimous decision over Dmitro Gotovsky in Hungary. Rybacki then had another extended absence from in-ring competition. His next match was nearly 18 months later, when he defeated Houssain Osman via 6-round decision on June 1, 2006 at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham, England.

Rybacki last match was following a 21-month layoff against Freeman Taft on March 22, 2008 at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The resident of Poland won the 6-round match via technical knockout at 2:32 of round 6. This is the shortest break between matches for Rybacki, since he had a match on October 28, 2000 and December 8, 2000. Rybacki's first match then was a 4-round decision victory over a 3-17-1, Stefan Stanko. His second match was a 4-round decisionvictory over a 6-16-2, Matt Mowatt.

Rybacki is unranked by The Ring, and ranked number 218 at 168 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 30-years-old, Froch is 7 years younger then the 37-year-old Rybacki. Both boxers stand 6' tall. Froch has the reach advantage with a 76" wingspan, while Rybacki has a 72" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but Froch will be the larger boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

Froch's entrance explains why this match is going on as the main event. When he is announced a drumtroop plays, and that transitions into Queen's "We Will Rock You". As the lyrics for "We Will Rock You" kick in, the curtain that is covering the stand Froch is on raises up. That reveals to the darkened stadium the boxer in a black hooded robe surrounded by the usual fog machines. This gets the crowd into a frenzy for their hometown boxer, after what was for them a boring last match. It is a very impressive site. After this, Froch needs to knockout Rybacki quickly.

The British Boxing Board of Control rules are in effect for this match. There are some major changes in the rules under this format. Only the referee scores the match. In case of an accidental foul that causes a stoppage, the boxer that must retire loses by technical knockout. These are embarrassingly horrible rules. This makes open scoring sound like a good idea. The referee is John Keane from the United Kingdom.

After the blustery entrance, Froch starts deliberately, but still wins round 1, 10-9. Apparently, Froch's friends have money with English bookmakers on this match ending in round 4 or 5. Therefore, Froch has decided to spend the first few rounds seeing if he can not to punch to keep Rybacki around long enough for his friends to make some money off his "efforts" in the ring in this match. With 44 seconds to go in round 2, Rybacki goes stumbling into the ropes. It is ruled a slip, and the action is restarted with 38 seconds to go in the round. Froch wins round 2, 10-9. If this match ends in round 4, there should be a cry of shenanigans. Froch could have easily finished Rybacki in the last 30 seconds of round 3, but appeared to intentionally back up and stop punching for 13 seconds. That way Froch did not accidentally knockout Rybacki. Froch wins round 3, 10-9, but it could have been scored, 10-8. Froch is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Expect the miraculous knockout in the first minute of the next round.

With 25 seconds to go in round 4, the referee waves off the match with Rybacki still standing. It was not any particular punch that caused the referee to step in to end the match. It was an accumulation of punches and the fact Rybacki was not fighting back that caused the referee to stop the match. It was a good stoppage. If Froch was going to finish the match decisively in round 4, he failed. Froch's hands were slow, and he never seemed that interested in this match. However, the lackluster finish can wipe away the questions of shenanigans.

The official outcome from the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr.: is that at 2:35 of round 4 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still undefeated, Carl "The Cobra" Froch. The win moves Froch to 23-0 with 19 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Froch was underwhelming in this performance in this match. His next match will be for a belt, but clearly not against Calzaghe. Calzaghe is going to vacate that title. It would make sense for the WBC isto match Froch up with the former belt holder Kessler. Froch's punching in this match was wild, and his hands appeared very slow. Kessler would likely knock him out, early. This was a glorified sparring match that Froch charged his fans to see. He needed to get a dynamic quick win, after what to the English fans must have been a terrible first match. Instead he was almost as boring as Witter. The best part of this match was Froch's entrance. After that it, was all downhill.

Rybacki has no business on television, and probably should stop boxing. At 37-years-old, it is unclear what the upside is for him to continue boxing. At this point his future in the sport is probably to get paid to get beat by better boxers on small shows so they inflate their records.

The entrance for the Froch match was great and very entertaining. The match itself was awful. The match is an easy skip.