Froch apologises to his trainer

Nottingham Evening Post - Ray Yoemans28th April, 2009

CARL Froch apologised to trainer Robert McCracken after retaining his WBC super-middleweight title in dramatic style in America.

The Nottingham boxer was only 14 seconds away from losing his title to Jermain Taylor - after ignoring McCracken's instructions to keep his hands up

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"I'm on top of the world right now and I intend on staying there," said Froch, who arrived back home in Nottingham yesterday.

"There's some really big fights out there for me now and I'm ready for any of them.

"I have apologised to Rob for my performance. But even on a bad

Froch admitted he was hurt by Taylor.

"I was in pain," he said. "But I showed what a warrior I am. I knew I was behind on the score-cards and needed to catch him. But he was cute.

"He hurt me. He was on a par with Jean Pascal. I was surprised how hard he punched."

Froch is unlikely to box again until September at the earliest. His last two fights have been wars and he needs to rest a troublesome hand injury. He certainly won't be fighting in November - he is best man at brother Lee's wedding.

Froch was desperate to make a statement to the disbelieving world by making the first defence of his belt in America.

But he missed the backing of the fans at the Arena, who lift him to another level when the going gets tough.

The two big questions now are: Who will his next defence be against and where?

A rematch with Taylor is a possibility - Froch says the American deserves a second bite. But Taylor would have to do the travelling this time and that seems unlikely.

Would Joe Calzaghe be tempted to return to the ring for an all-British £5m super-fight after settling into retirement? Would he even be able to make the weight? I doubt it.

Edison Miranda - if he can get past the unbeaten Andre Ward on May 16 - fancies a crack at Froch, as does unbeaten Allan Green, who was on the undercard at Foxwoods.

Bernard Hopkins, Kelly Pavlik, Mikkel Kessler and Lucian Bute are other names that have been bandied about.

A unification fight with IBF champ Bute seems a logical choice given Hennessy Sports' Canadian connections and the fact that Froch v Taylor was beamed all over Canada live.

Froch says he would make mincemeat of Bute. But Bute v Green seems more likely at the moment.

Froch would prefer Kessler at the City Ground but the great Dane is out of commission at the moment over a contract dispute.

Froch's promoter, Mick Hennessy, believes that the win over Taylor has established his man as a world-wide star.

"This is exactly the kind of fight that boxing needed," said Hennessy.

"It was a big gamble taking this fight but it's paid off. There are endless options open to us now but ideally I'd like to have Carl in a massive fight back in Britain

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