Carl Froch defeated Glen Johnson by majority decision last night in Atlantic City, advancing to meet Andre Ward in the finals of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which should happen later this year. Here's Showtime's Al Bernstein with a recap and some highlights of the fight:
I have seen just a bit today from those who think Johnson won the fight, but nobody really outraged about it. I've also seen some guys whose opinions I feel hold water, including USA Today's Mike Coppinger (who was on press row scoring for Showtime), who had it very wide for Froch. Mike scored it 118-110 for Froch. ESPN's Kieran Mulvaney scored it 117-111 for Froch. I had a slightly more conservative 116-113 for Froch, but I think Carl clearly won the fight. Johnson was in there and competitive, but a handful of big right hands just don't win a fight, at least in my view, plus he was never really hurting Froch. Sort of stung him a few times. There's the fact that Froch has a great chin, but I also have the suspicion that those punches weren't as devastating as they looked, sort of like Celestino Caballero's loud, slapping body attack last year on Daud Yordan.
The best thing, though, was that it was a good fight, meaning that in my opinion, Froch has helped to provide easily the two best fights of the tournament (vs Kessler and now vs Johnson), while he also was part of the worst (vs Dirrell).
I do wonder what's next for "Gentleman" Glen -- might he hang it up? Does he go back to 175? He's still a good fighter, but I just don't see him beating top talents at 168 or 175 anymore. Not the true top tier guys, anyway.
Actually, I'll tell you what I would like to see: Johnson back at 175 against Beibut Shumenov or Nathan Cleverly, both of whom hold trinkets and would be up against someone who could be a great veteran challenge on paper.