Carl Froch retires: Four-time super middleweight champion announces his retirement and joins Sky Sports

Froch retires having won 33 of his 35 fights

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 14 July 2015 16:53 BST
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Carl Froch has retired from boxing with immediate effect
Carl Froch has retired from boxing with immediate effect (Getty Images)

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Four-time world super middleweight champion Carl Froch has retired from boxing with immediate effect after a 35-fight career in order to joins Sky Sports as a pundit.

The 38-year-old twice won the WBC super middleweight title as well as the WBA and IBF belts, and retires having won 33 of his 35 fights with 24 coming by knockout. The one man he was not able to beat remains American Andre Ward, with Froch avenging his only other defeat when he beat Mikkel Kessler in 2013 three years after the Dane beat him in the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament.

Froch’s finest moment came when he defeated arch-rival George Groves with a stunning knockout at Wembley Stadium in May last year after their highly controversial first encounter saw Froch run out a winner in what many felt was an early stoppage after Groves knocked Froch down for only the second time in his professional career.

Speaking after he made the announcement, Froch said: "I'm incredibly proud of what I have achieved in boxing but now is the right moment to hang up my gloves.

"I have nothing left to prove and my legacy speaks for itself.

"Sky Sports is the home of boxing and has followed me throughout my career. I can't wait to join the team and help bring fans the best fighters, the best contests and the best analysis.

"Nothing can replace the thrill of stepping into the ring."

Froch knocks out George Groves in the rematch at Wembley
Froch knocks out George Groves in the rematch at Wembley (Getty Images)

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Froch added: "Making the decision to retire and saying - it's been a year, it's too long, the fighting machine has gone, it's not going to come back - it's still hard.

"The last thing I think about before my head hits the pillow is boxing, and when I wake up in the morning to think what time it is, and I think it's half six, seven o'clock, should I be going for a run, where's my trainers - it's a lifestyle, a way of life, and it's a mindset. I'll always have that and I think I'll always be itching for the big fight.

"There's no greater feeling for me than standing victorious in the arena and I'm never going to get that again now, and I don't know where I'm going to get that feeling from.

"I don't know where it's going to come; maybe it's not. That's what I'm turning my back on and that's what's going to be difficult to do, but there comes a time in every man's career where he's got to say, 'That's it, enough's enough'.

Froch's victory over Kessler in 2013 avenged his 2010 defeat
Froch's victory over Kessler in 2013 avenged his 2010 defeat (Getty Images)

"I feel civilised now. I feel like Carl Froch the fighting machine is still in there - the fire is still in the belly - but it's been too long.

"I just feel like that fighting machine that I love so much and that I need to be to compete at the top level, I feel like it's been put away for too long, and I don't know if I can get hold of him again and go one more time. I really don't think I could."

Froch had been due to fight Julio Chavez Jnr in a Las Vegas showdown, only for Froch to suffer a shoulder injury and admit that retirement was likely should he be unable to fight the Mexican boxer.

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