Andre Ward calls Carl Froch an overachiever, Froch doesn’t really disagree

Andre Ward and Carl Froch met in the finals of Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic back in 2011, with Ward beating Froch via decision in Atlantic City to win a big trophy and unify the WBC and WBA super middleweight titles.

Ward would go on to retire undefeated, with a record of 32-0 (16 KO), while Froch never lost again, winning five straight and retiring 33-2 (24 KO). Both men can legitimately be called among the very best ever in the still-short history of the super middleweight division, and they’ve also had a lot of words about one another over the years.

That part is back here in 2020, over eight years since their fight.

Ward had this to say about Froch on Sky Sports’ Toe 2 Toe podcast:

“The thing about Carl Froch, and I always respected about him, is his competitiveness, because he’s not really athletic. He’s an overachiever. You look at him and just the way he fights, there’s nothing that jumps out at you that says, ‘Wow, that’s a great fighter.’ But his work ethic, his attention to detail. I know he used to keep binders full of his every workout that he did. He was tough, he could take a shot, so he had other qualities that were intangible that you couldn’t really see, and I think he was an overachiever, but for me he got hit too much.”

Ward went on to say that if Jermain Taylor had been in better shape in his 2009 bout with Froch, he wouldn’t have faded and been knocked out in the 12th and final round. Taylor was up on two of three scorecards when he was stopped with 14 seconds left in the fight, one of the most dramatic finishes in recent memory.

It’s also worth noting that for Ward, basically everyone gets hit too much.

Froch, meanwhile, didn’t have nearly the fiery response Ward might have expected:

“I think that was absolutely spot on, to be honest, that was really good. Overachiever? Maybe. Andre Ward, a top fighter, and the opinion that he says, I can’t really argue with it, if I’m honest. This is coming from a guy who beat me quite conclusively on points.”

But Froch, who retired in 2014 after beating George Groves in front of 80,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium, also noted that Taylor faded because Froch beat the fight out of him, and I think that, too, is a fair assessment.

Froch also stated that Ward was a boring fighter and a bit dirty, saying, “He wins ugly, but he knows how to win.”

Frankly, I think the two of them are pretty on the money about one another.