Quote Originally Posted by Rantcatrat View Post
Lest we forget, Ricky Hatton was the lineal champ at 140 for a good four years. He defeated two future HOF's in Kosta Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo. He held the IBO, IBF, and WBA belts at one point.

Carl Froch has done very well, but at this point, his resume is at best on par with Hatton's, not much better than Hatton's. His best win is over Jean Pascal. Glen Johnson is a good win, but let's not get too carried away, he does have over 10 losses and he is 42. The Dirrell win was just a horrible fight, and objectively, Dirrell wasn't a champion, and Dirrell's biggest true victory is over Curtis Stevens (AA win was a DQ). Abraham is a former champion at middleweight, but he isn't a super middleweight. Jermain Taylor same. Don't get me wrong, Carl gets credit for those wins without a doubt. However, when Froch stepped up to an elite level fighter (although I would say overrated too) at his weight in Kessler, he lost. Froch also has never beat an assured HOF although perhaps arguably Jermain will make it to the hall. Froch's career at this point and Hatton's career overall are comparable, but Carl just doesn't have the career-defining win that Hatton did in Tszyu. I don't consider his win over Taylor or Pascal to be as good as Hatton's over Tszyu. A win over Ward might just be such a win.

Please don't mistake this as an argument that Froch isn't a badass dude because he is - he fights anyone, anywhere, and always comes to fight. I was at the Jermain Taylor fight rooting for Jermain (as a patriot should ), and Carl won me over in that fight. He never gave up when he was down on points and he fought till the end with the crowd rooting against him.
This sums up how I feel. Over their careers it's about even. Froch would need to either beat Ward or have a real close fight to surpass him for me. I think Hatton gets a lot of criticism these days, but his resume is not as bad as some make out.

On the Dirrell thing, I'm one of those 'fools' who believes he didn't fake the reaction, as I've seen someone react near on exactly the same after getting sparked in sparring & I also know from personal experience how contrived genuine responses can look on camera. Still, maybe if I hadn't seen those I'd also believe he was acting, but I have & the fighter deserves the benefit of the doubt.

However, I don't believe the neurological thing that came up afterwards, I'm sure that was his team's way of getting out of the fight with Ward, which could have seriously derailed his marketability. So no imo the neurological issues weren't legit. His team have seriously fucked his future, keeping him out of the ring for a year & half & making every commission look extra hard at him.