Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch hasn’t been in the ring since his 2014 rematch win over George Groves in front of 80,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium, but “The Cobra” is still in the sport, working as an analyst in the United Kingdom.
And Froch, now 43, is always still a good interview. He was asked by Kugan Cassius of iFL TV about his thoughts on YouTube boxers and whether or not he’d accept $50 million to fight Jake Paul. The replies were classic Froch.
On Jake Paul and YouTube boxing
“I wish he’d call me out. Easy money. All them YouTubers are easy money, let’s be honest, come on. They can’t fight. Swinging handbags. Remember KSI and Logan Paul? I mean it was a decent little fight, white collar fight, it was OK. They had a go. They properly had a go, as well, they were swinging away. Swinging howitzers, weren’t they? From the canvas.”
On his lack of interest in “novelty” fights
“I’ve got to be honest, mate, I’ve got zero interest in them white collar, YouTube, whatever, exhibition fights. The one that really got me interested was Mayweather-Conor McGregor. That got me interested, thinking, ‘Hang on, this Conor McGregor is really a top fighter, top mixed martial artist.’ You watch him scrapping away, rolling around the floor in the pentagon, or the cage or whatever, and you think to yourself, ‘How’s Mayweather gonna be now? He’s been retired (two years).’ I genuinely thought it would be a bit of a fight while it lasted, I always thought Mayweather was gonna win. But it was such a mismatch.
“Mayweather was, like, laughing from round one. Laughing, physically laughing to himself, thinking, ‘This is so much easier than I thought it would be.’ Mayweather’s not stupid, he knows boxing so he knew it was gonna be easy, but I don’t think he realized how easy it was gonna be. Then he just held him up for a few rounds and then got him out of there when he fancied it.”
“Jake Paul, Logan Paul, whichever other YouTuber you want to pull out of the bag, I’ve got absolutely no interest at all, unless, I don’t know, unless they want to call me out. Then I’ll go and smash them all to bits.”
On getting a $50 million offer like Jake Paul offered Conor McGregor
“What am I gonna do with $50 million? Here’s what I’d do with $50 million, I’d stick it in a limited company. I’d pay 20 percent corporation tax, yeah? So then it’d be down to something like $30 million, I can’t be arsed with quick math. And then — no, 20 percent, that’s $10 million. Then it would be sitting — if I wanted to get my hands on that money, I would have to pay a further 40 percent tax on any money that I take out. Or I just leave all them millions in that company, and never, ever touch them and never spend them, because I don’t need to. I’m not being big-headed or anything, but I don’t need that money, I’ve got enough of that stuff in my life to last me and my kids.
“That money would just be pointless. It would be money that would just then go to the government, diluted with inheritance task even further, and then probably wasted. The money is not an incentive, $50 million is of no incentive to me at all. What motivates me is having to still go out and graft a little bit.”
“And it’s risk-reward, even though I think it’s an easy fight with any of them YouTubers, you’ve still got a chance of getting hurt. Boxing’s a dangerous sport. At 43 years old, to answer your question, I wouldn’t be fighting anybody for any amount of money, including $50 million for who, who’s the other geezer? Who’s the other guy? Jake Paul. Yeah, I’d probably fight him, actually. I’d probably fight him for $50 million, actually.”