Carey’s corner: Is Froch nearing the end? Time for a Prizefighter shake-up

Having had time to reflect on Carl Froch’s Super Six points victory over Glen Johnson at the weekend, I can’t help but ponder how much ‘The Cobra’ has left? Following several hard fights over the last three years logic would suggest that Carl could be coming to the end of his brilliantly exciting career.

In the pre-fight build-up, speculation centred on whether the 42-year-old veteran Johnson would be as strong after boiling down to make 12st for only the second time in eleven years. We needn’t have worried. Johnson was typically the marauding handful that he’s always been, barely giving Froch a moment’s respite. But whilst making Carl a comfortable winner (by five points on my card), the Nottingham man showed definite signs of wear and tear to me.

Froch (who will turn 34 next month) has never been elusive to hit throughout his nine-year career. He was drilled far too often for my liking by Johnson’s right hand though and, perhaps more tellingly, seemed to remain static when hit this time. Against a younger, faster opponent, Froch could have been made to pay but Johnson wasn’t able to fully take advantage, waiting that split second too long to follow-up as Froch momentarily froze. Carl’s signature granite chin remains one of his greatest assets, but I don’t recall him being shaken up as often previously and he also seemed troubled by Johnson’s body shots, too.

I make Froch a sizeable underdog against Andre Ward in the final of the Super Six. Whilst clearly lacking power, Ward’s considerable speed of hand and foot is all wrong for Froch stylistically. Try as he might, I can’t see Froch succeeding in drawing the American into the kind of toe-to-toe battle that the Nottingham man will clearly favour. A lopsided win for Ward could prompt some to consider whether Froch is on the slide. On the evidence of Saturday the signs, at least to me, appear already there.

Prizefighter was definitely more Prizzzzzzzzzzefighter in last night’s dour welterweight tournament. I’ll confess, the eight man, one-night extravaganza is not my cup of tea and I agree with the growing consensus that Prizefighter is being wheeled out far too frequently by SKY at present. On paper, last night’s line-up held little appeal and so it proved, highlighted by a horrible final between Junior Witter and Yassine El Maachi. When promoters Matchroom get it right, Prizefighter can produce some thrilling action but, overall, the quality does appear to be declining. For now at least Prizefighter seems here to stay, so here are some suggestions to inject some new life into the traditional format.

Do away with the seedings – last night’s four quarter-final winners were far too easy to predict which took the edge off any possible intrigue early on. So what if the tournament favourites are drawn together in the first quarter-final? It may throw the competition wide open to one of the other contestants if the tournament favourite is surprisingly beaten early on, or has to extend themselves to claim a hard-fought victory.

Announce the judges’ scorecards after each round (admittedly this only amounts to a maximum of two rounds). Prizefighter has thrown up some baffling scorecards of late but at least the punters and, more importantly the boxers, will have a clearer indication of where they stand and can adjust their tactics accordingly.

Increase the maximum available prize money (say up to 50K), but give cash incentives to boxers to try and score knockdowns / stoppages. This will encourage fighters to keep throwing leather to the end and may also stop fighters coasting towards victories in the final round.

Regionalise it, either by county (or city) or by a particular gym (Gallaghers, TKO gym, the Wincobank etc). So, instead of having Prizefighter tournaments in specific weight categories, Matchroom could instead form a Prizefighter Constructors league (like Formula One motor racing, 20-20 Cricket and Speedway) and schedule an evening of fights across a variety of weight divisions. This may allow Matchroom to take Prizefighter more often on the road (instead of it being predominantly stationed at Bethnal Green) to create more interest throughout the UK whilst making more intriguing matches instead of scratching to find eight fighters in the same division. The most obvious headache for Matchroom though is determining how to distribute the prizemoney – the major attraction as to why fighters are drawn to Prizefighter in the first instance.

I’m really looking forward to a great summer of action featuring so many hard-to-call fights. Ryan Rhodes and Matthew Macklin will attempt to overturn the odds and return to Britain as world champions against Saul Alvarez and Felix Sturm respectively. Amir Khan surely won’t have his own way with Zab Judah. Closer to home we have some intriguing domestic battles involving Chisora-Fury, Purdy-Watson and Bellew-McKenzie. Then, of course, we have the big one featuring David Haye vs Wladimir Klitschko.

One fight that could fall under the radar but could be equally just as exciting is Ricky Burns’ WBO super-featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook. The Scot will start a clear favourite against the inactive Cook but my gut feeling suggests to me that Nicky can pull this off. It’s the same gut feeling that convinced me that George Groves would prevail on points over James DeGale. Either I’m on a roll or my luck is going to quickly run out!