Carl Froch admits he likes Simon Jordan, likes what he says and how he says it. But not all of the time.
Jordan, former football club chairman turned broadcaster, is making a big name for himself as a broadcaster on talkSPORT – with his views on boxing right at the forefront. For example his much-publicised spats with promotional behemoth Eddie Hearn.
While former super-middleweight king Froch often likes what he sees and hears from Jordan, the Boxing Hall of Famer has taken major issue with Simon’s view on what a win over Daniel Dubois would mean for Anthony Joshua later this month.
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The two British stars will lock horns at Wembley Stadium on September 21 in front of a record 96,000 crowd with the IBF heavyweight title, now held by Dubois, on the line. A title that Oleksandr Usyk was forced to vacate following his epic unification victory over Tyson Fury in Riyadh in May.
Jordan believes a win for AJ – making him a three-time world heavyweight champion – would earn him boxing ‘immortality’. Froch though absolutely does not agree.
Froch on Joshua, Jordan, and immortality
‘The Cobra’, speaking on his ‘Froch On Fighting’ YouTube channel, said: “He [Simon Jordan] did say that if Anthony Joshua for example wins the IBF title, I think he’s the favourite to beat Dubois, and becomes a three-time world heavyweight champion, he’s in the realm of immortality. Sorry Simon, but that’s bulls***.
“Immortality – so you’re comparing him with the likes of Lennox Lewis for example. I mean, come on, Lennox Lewis – you can’t compare that CV. And you can’t say that by winning a vacant title that’s been stripped off the champ, makes you a three-time world champion. That’s the problem I’ve got with this title being fragmented, or being vacated or taken off the actual real champ, which is Usyk. That’s my main problem.
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“If AJ beats Dubois, he’s gonna hold his hand up with that IBF belt and say ‘I am now a three-time world heavyweight champion’. And everybody with a brain is gonna be looking, saying ‘hang on a minute, didn’t you lose to the guy you’ve just took that belt off’.”
Can Turki Alalshikh save boxing?
The fragmented nature of boxing’s title picture has long frustrated fight fans – just looking at the heavyweight division alone, we effectively had six titles up for grabs in that Fury vs Usyk showdown. Froch believes that could be a thing of the past if that huge Saudi money injection results in a major takeover of the sport.
“Boxing shouldn’t be like that, and that will be solved that will, if we have the boxing league, if Turki Alalshikh does step in and starts running boxing like Dana White [UFC]. You won’t get this.
“I think Simon Jordan probably didn’t fully understand what he was saying there, because he’s [Joshua] not in the realm of immortality by beating somebody’s belt that is taken off them.”
‘The Cobra’ bolsters his case
Froch finished up by using examples from his own glittering career to illustrate the point he is making.
“I’ll go back to what I said earlier, before the fanboys get upset and start writing in to ‘The Cobra’, bitching and moaning about how I fought Lucian Bute for the IBF title. He’d had 10 defences, he was unbeaten IBF champion. So I beat the champ.
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“Okay I’d just lost to Andre Ward, but then I offered Andre Ward a fight for the unification, which he didn’t want. You can check that, that’s fact. So there’s no argument there.
“And also the WBC as well. I fought for the WBC title, which was vacated by Joe Calzaghe because he didn’t want a piece of ‘The Cobra’. But look what Jean Pascal went on to do – in his very next fight, one or two fights, he was WBC champion, he beat Adrian Diaconu. Then he beat ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson, the guy that nobody wanted to fight. He went and beat him, he was still a world champion Jean Pascal was, over 10 years later.”
