McCRACKEN LAUDS FROCH EFFORT

Sporting Life - Simon Lewis27th April, 2009

World super-middleweight champion Carl Froch deserves to be appreciated more in his native Britain, according to his trainer Robert McCracken.

The former middleweight contender saw Froch stage a storming fightback against Jermain Taylor on Saturday night in Connecticut to defend his WBC belt with a final-round stoppage having been sent to the canvas for the first time in his programme career.

It was an epic encounter at the MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods but British fight fans had to wait until Sunday night to see it after the fight failed to attract a buyer.

ITV broadcast the fight on a tape delay but McCracken believes broadcasters and the public alike will have no choice but to sit up and take notice of the Nottingham boxer following the Taylor win.

"I say this all the time," McCracken said. "We won't get a Carl Froch again for a long, long time.

"He's a special fighter and he needs to be embraced in Britain because it's a bit of a joke really.

"Carl Froch hasn't been acknowledged but surely he'll be acknowledged now."

McCracken highlighted the unbeaten Froch's punching power as the key to his fighter's success, as was the case on Saturday night when he scored the 20th knockout of his professional career from 24 contests.

"I was a kid and I used to watch the Tommy Hearns fights but this kid punches every bit as hard as any of them," McCracken said.

"His knockout record is phenomenal and anyone who has gone the distance with him has either tried to survive or has not tried to win.

"He's a phenomenal athlete."

The Taylor fight did, though, produce a rare bout of nerves from Froch in his first WBC title defence and only his second fight in the United States.

"I noticed he was a little bit different tonight," McCracken noted.

"The nerves kind of got to him a little bit in the changing room and he wasn't himself.

"I don't think anybody would be coming over here and fighting Jermain Taylor. He's a top, top fighter who beat (Bernard) Hopkins twice so he was a little bit nervous.

"He started out and he was not on it, he was too slow to react. Taylor started great, good jab and Carl left himself open wide a couple of times and he paid the price.

"But Carl Froch is a special fighter, the only fighter I've ever come across that you just know he's going to win, be it in sparring or in a fight, you know he's going to get them.

"It could be the last round, it could be the first round; he's a phenomenal puncher."

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