Boxing

Carl Froch became WBC super-middleweight champion with a unanimous points success over Jean Pascal on Saturday night.

Froch came through a brutal, action-packed encounter to earn the decision by margins of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 in front of his home-town crowd in Nottingham.

The 31-year-old did it the hard way, engaging his powerful Haiti-born Canadian opponent in a slug-fest for the opening eight rounds and, at times, both men looked on the brink of going down.

Froch's style of dancing around with his guard low looked fraught with danger, particularly during the opening half of the contest.

Both fighters attempted to unload huge punches from the first bell, each man also showing a granite chin to take some big shots before coming back for more.

The high tempo began to take its toll on Pascal in the final three rounds, with Froch seizing control behind his right jab, despite a cut around his left eye.

And Froch dominated the closing stages to ensure the judges could not overlook his claims.






From a personal point of view its nice to see a local lad do well


After the reputation of Nottingham being notorious for gun crimes its nice to see it reflected in a more positive light, for a small city it can be proud of carls achievement & count Forest being double European champions in football.

The feel good factor is back in Nottingham after a long wait




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Froch arrives on world stage
1 hour ago

Carl Froch ended years of frustration in exhilarating fashion in Nottingham on Saturday night when he claimed the WBC super-middleweight title in a manner which will stand comparison with some of Britain's 12-stone greats.

Memories of ring wars involving the likes of Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank came flooding back as Froch pounded out a unanimous 118-110, 117-111, 116-112 victory over brave Canadian Jean Pascal.

From the first bell to the last the Nottingham 31-year-old threw caution to the wind and teed off on his previously unbeaten opponent, who replied with right hands at will in a contest where the pace never let up.

While Froch stepped up the pace in the later rounds to make his scorecard victory seem a formality, the reality was that he had had to remain on his guard for every second to secure his stunning win.

Froch had opened the fight in front of 6,000 partisan home fans by blasting Pascal back into a neutral corner and also had him in trouble in rounds five and nine to name but two.

But Pascal frequently drew gasps from the fans by reacting to moments of danger by coming out swinging, landing his right hand all night long, and he continued to do so until the crowd rose to acclaim the action at the final bell.

Froch's searing talent had been much in evidence during his previous 23 consecutive victories but all he had lacked was the suitable big stage on which to impress his credentials.

For two years he had called out Joe Calzaghe to little effect and was delivered a snub prior to being matched with Pascal when former middleweight king Jermain Taylor shrugged off the notion of a clash with the Nottingham man.

Taylor may be forced to think differently with Froch now the proud holder of the most prestigious 12-stone title and a showdown at Madison Square Garden next summer now already being mooted.




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LS. Wrote:
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> [img.skysports.com]
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> Carl Froch became WBC super-middleweight champion
> with a unanimous points success over Jean Pascal
> on Saturday night.
So that was him ! Shame for Jean btw, Lucian Bute will fight against Fulgencio Zuniga to defend his IBF super-middleweight crown. Let's hope for a better fight than the one against Librado Andrade, with less controversy.